Vanderbilt’s football team lost its fifth straight game yesterday, and we can probably close the book on the 2026 season. Jared Curtis shows a lot of upside, and they even controlled most of the first half against Kentucky last night, but for now I’m putting a pin in the football program until next season when hopefully they can put a better offensive line in front of Curtis. If you can’t tell from my short answers to mailbag questions and minimal presence on here the last couple of months, I’m tired.
There are only so many ways that I can answer “is Clark Lea a bad coach who got elevated by Diego Pavia,” “why would Jared Curtis stick around this dumpster fire,” and “what staff changes are going to be made after this season.” (The answers, and I’m not going to repeat this in the mailbag the rest of the season: maybe, but he wouldn’t be the first coach to look a lot better than he actually is because of a good quarterback, and anyway he might have another one of those; the same reason he would sign up to play for Vanderbilt in the first place; and maybe Steve Gregory, but probably no changes.)
It’s whatever. Mark Byington is rolling out another top 15-ish basketball team in a week.
The Returnees
Only three players return from last season, which seems about par for the course for college basketball in 2026. Of course, most of this is not a result of the transfer portal; Vanderbilt just had a lot of guys who ran out of eligibility after last season, though that hasn’t stopped Jalen Washington from attempting to turn heel (suing for a fifth year of eligibility and using it to play at the school to the east.) The portal departures otherwise are Tyler Harris (UNLV) and Jaylon Dean-Vines (McNeese.)
The Tylers are now down to one, with Tyler Tanner pulling his name out of the NBA Draft at the last possible minute and returning to Vanderbilt. I don’t need to write much about how important this is for Vanderbilt. The other two returnees were both freshmen last season: Chandler “Chanandler Bong” Bing and Jayden Leverett. I was surprised to learn that Bing only averaged 3.6 ppg last season, because it seemed like he played a bigger role than that… but he’ll play a bigger role this season. Leverett has size at 6’11” and actually saw his minutes pick up late in the season, though he didn’t appear in any of the NCAA Tournament games. He remains a project but he’s closer to being a contributor than he was last season.
The Transfers
Vanderbilt adds five transfers, and most of these aren’t intended to be one-year rentals.
Two are listed as seniors, which starting this year means they have an additional year of eligibility. Bangot Dak averaged 11.5 and 6.5 a year ago at Colorado, which is fine. He’s listed at 6’11” and 210 pounds after four years in a college weight room, which is an achievement. Berke Buyuktuncel, 6’10” from Turkey (screw you, I am not calling it “Turkiye”), averaged 6.5 and 5.6 at Nebraska, including 12 points against Vanderbilt in the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Byington also swiped 6’4” junior guard T.O. Barrett from Missourah (spits), where he averaged 8.6 ppg and 3.0 assists last season, and also bears a weird resemblance to Tyler Tanner. No, seriously, I will get them mixed up at least three times in November. 6’3” sophomore guard Ace Glass averaged 16.4 ppg as a freshman at Washington State and promptly hit the portal. 6’8” sophomore Sebastian Williams-Adams averaged 7.0 ppg and 3.5 rpg as a freshman at Auburn and looks like much more of an upside play; he was a top 50-ish recruit out of high school.
The Freshmen
There are seven freshmen on the roster, though three of them are walk-ons: Mavrick Hawkins, Baylor Allen, and Chase Byington, the last being here because he’s the son of Mark Byington. There are also three top-100 recruits in forwards Gabe Nesmith and Ethan Mgbako, and guard Ant Brown. 6’9” forward Jackson Sheffield, the #136 recruit according to 247 Sports, rounds out the class.
The Rotation?
The starting five is somewhat easy to figure out: Tyler Tanner at the point, because did you really have questions about that one? I think Chandler Bing starts on the wing, and I think Buyuktuncel and Dak are the four and the five, respectively. The guard spot opposite Tanner is the difficult one to figure out: it could be Glass if Byington wants more scoring punch, or it could be Barrett if Byington elects to have two defensive pests on the perimeter and figures Tanner will provide enough scoring for this to work.
I figure Leverett is ready to play backup minutes in the frontcourt, or at least more ready than Jackson Sheffield is. Whoever isn’t starting between Glass and Barrett will play plenty, and Ant Brown should play significant minutes in the backcourt. I feel like the wing only has room for two of Bing, Nesmith, and Mgbako, and there’s going to be an odd man out there. Sebastian Williams-Adams will play.
The Schedule
It starts next Monday with a home game against Bellarmine. One thing that sucks and is indicative of where we are in 2026 is that there’s no early-season tournament. Wake Forest, Memphis, and UCF come to Memorial in November, and there’s a trip to Ohio State the week of Thanksgiving. They’ll visit Notre Dame (in the SEC/ACC Challenge) and Cal in the first week of December, and then you can take a nap from there until the SEC opener at Tennessee on January 2. Strangely, both games against Tennessee bookend the SEC schedule, with the return game in Memorial on March 6.
This should be a fun season. Strap in.
