Monday night’s “Commodore Hour” on 102.5 The Game with Andrew Allegretta and Kevin Ingram featured an interview with Vanderbilt football general manager Barton Simmons. In the discussion, Barton broke down the current state of the program in year three under Clark Lea, inexperienced players playing important roles, tough injury luck, final four games of the season, recruiting during the bye week, and transfer portal activity.

On the positive takeaways from the Georgia game:

“I don’t ever want to be in a place in this program, where we’re congratulating ourselves for losses. That game represented a lot of what this season has been. The execution and attention to detail just haven’t been there. That’s been encouraging to feel that way when you don’t quite turn that corner. In year 1, we didn’t have that much of a chance in those games. It doesn’t feel that way anymore. What’s missing here? Why are we falling short of expectations? The turnover issues early in the season, a lot of those were returned for touchdowns.”

On the inexperience:

“When you really looked at who we were playing and the difference between this year and last year…while it feels like we are closer from a talent standpoint, we are so much younger this year.”

“We knew this was the plan, we’re at a moment in time right now where we’re falling short of the results we want. I’ve told myself, ‘Listen, what’d you expect Barton, you’re playing a bunch of freshmen and sophomores in the SEC.’ The execution and detail will keep cleaning up as these guys get more experience. It’s exciting to think about what this experience for these young guys is going to turn into with time.”

“This freshman class this year and last year’s class…those guys have been who we’ve hoped they’d be. We’ve got to continue to be able to retain our roster in the right spots. This roster likes each other. There’s more for this team on the back end of this season.”

He added that he’s excited for these last four games, with two bye weeks included.

“It’s going to be nice for these guys to get a chance to catch their breath and get healthy for what I think will be a really fun end to the season.”

Recruiting during the bye week:

“At this point, it’s interesting. We’re almost full in the high school recruiting class. We’re going to send the coaches on the road. It’s much less about the coaches heading out to all corners of the country as opposed to getting more looks at our commitments to show support for those guys. We feel like we have a really exciting class in this 2024 cycle.”

“In a perfect world, Vanderbilt University is finishing their recruiting class in the fall of the players’ senior years. We had essentially all of our class filled out in June. The new dynamic has sped up the process and forced you to be really good on the front end. On the back end, you’ve got to check your work and have honest conversations about your current commits.”

Learning to recruit to Vanderbilt:

“We wanted to be a developmental program. Right now, we are feeling the early stages of that plan. When you’re in a developmental program, the goal is to develop over time. There’s always going to be a little of an attack on what the roster needs. Where are the areas we need to supplement our growth?”

“Next season is a real opportunity to see both developmental players take that turn, but also for those guys to be pushed forward with the competition of the guys we’re bringing in next year.”

Attacking the transfer portal:

“We’re always going to be surgical and strategical about the portal. We are positioned to be really successful in regards to building through high school players. There have been some developments that have allowed us the ability to be a little bit more aggressive in the transfer portal when that time comes. It’s so important for us to protect the culture in this building. We are not at all averse to being active participants in the transfer portal. We’re going to use it differently than our peers, but we’re going to use it, we need to use it. I think we’re positioned better in this cycle than we were the last to attract players in the portal…ours is going to be a little bit of a hybrid model.”

The full interview will be available in the coming days on 102.5 The Game’s website, but also on Spotify.

Vanderbilt heads into the bye week at 2-6 overall and 0-4 in the SEC, but awaits a trip to Oxford, MS against a talented Ole Miss team under the lights.