Vanderbilt’s final touchdown against Hawaii fit the bill of the classic storybook play, it was the hometown guy on his home field in front of his family and friends. Can’t draw it up much better than that.

What may make it more remarkable is the fact that despite his Nashville roots, London Humphreys’ 32-yard score isn’t your typical “long time coming” story. In some forms it’s far from it.

This time four years ago, Humphreys says he couldn’t have imagined this. Back then, he could barely have imagined a four-year high school football career.

“Freshman year of high school I thought I was gonna play baseball or run track, football was the last thing, I was just out there because a lot of my friends were like ‘oh it’s so fun, c’mon,’” Humphreys said.

It wasn’t love at first sight, either.

“I ‘played’ my freshman year, I say played in quotes because we didn’t even have enough people for a freshman team,” the now-Vanderbilt receiver said. “I’m like this skinny little freshman, I’d never played before and to be honest hated it," the now Vanderbilt freshman said.

That point almost marked the end of a short football career for the former Christ Presbyterian Academy student.

“I played four sports my freshman year, sophomore year I was like ‘football is the one I like the least, let’s drop that.’”

CPA’s coaching staff saw too much in Humphreys to let that happen, though. Particularly special teams and receivers coach Brian Epps as well as head coach Ingle Martin.

“Our strength guy who’s the wide receiver coach, Coach Epps, was awesome, he was always on my tail about coming out and Coach Martin, too. He was talking to me saying ‘hey man, I think you could do something special with football and get your school paid for,’” Humphreys said.

That encouragement and the promise that Humphreys would no longer have to play defense was enough to keep him playing on Friday nights.

“I told him; ‘this defense thing, I’m not a fan of it.’ He was like ‘alright we’ll figure it out,’ so I ended up punting, too to spend my defense time at practice. So I came back out junior year, had a good time learning the game of football,”

The time investment paid off quickly for the 6-foot-3 receiver, who committed to Vanderbilt before his senior season. That commitment came with an opportunity for Humphreys to represent his hometown and a university that he’s had ties to for most of his life.

One of those ties involves his dad, Clark, who was the associate head track and field coach at Vanderbilt from 2005 to 2021.

"It is quite cool because his (Clark's) office used to be in McGugin near the track offices so I’ll pass it once and awhile, so it’s pretty cool to see," The former track coach's son said. “The stadium obviously is construction but I’ve been here my whole life almost and have seen the same stadium and the same Jess Neely which is getting all redone.”

Humphreys isn't just at Vanderbilt because of a family connection, though. The freshman receiver is a legitimate Southeastern Conference talent.

That showed in Vanderbilt's opener when the freshman streaked up the sideline, got a step on his man and made his first career reception in the south end zone of FirstBank Stadium.

"I got out there, I think it was like fourth and seven so not ideal down and distance but we were just hard-counting to see if they would jump or if we could get a free play off of it and they did so we just took off, " Humphreys said.

That touchdown came on the same hardcount as Sophomore receiver Jayden McGowan's first college touchdown.

Humphreys took time to feel the full emotions of that moment but has his eyes set on more.

“I was so excited about it, hopefully more to come, there’s a lot more work to do but it was quite the experience," Humphreys said. "I think there’s a lot of room to grow for sure, but it’s not just gonna happen naturally, I gotta keep working on it.”

That speaks to the maturity that the freshman receiver has, something that Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea has quickly noticed.

"Every once and awhile you get a freshman that you feel like you’re coaching an older player and he’s one of those," the third-year head coach said of Humphreys on Thursday.

The freshman receiver doesn't only have his sights set on his future success, he's also heavily invested in what other Nashville natives like Lipscomb Academy products Junior Sherrill and Bryan Longwell can contribute to the program.

It's more than football for that trio, its about representing a city and a program that they've all grown up in the shadows of.

“It’s awesome, It’s a really cool part of what me, Junior and Bryan get to do. I love getting to work with them and represent and just build that team," Humphreys said of representing Nashville. “That’s the thing coach (Clark Lea) wanted, hometown guys that are playing at high levels and I love the fact that he’s doing that. It just opens opportunities for me that I don’t think I could get out of state at other schools.”

“There’s definitely Nashville flavor," Humphreys added when referring to Vanderbilt's football program.

It's not just about the flavor of the city for Humphreys, it's also about community.

“It was awesome, especially after the game getting to talk to family and friends who were in town. That’s a huge thing, just all the support from these distant connections that I have, like friends of friends and stuff like that," Humphreys said of the night after his first touchdown. “It’s honestly a really unique feeling, I'm really grateful for that and all the supporters that there are here for me and just the whole team, it’s pretty awesome.”

Humphreys' story at Vanderbilt is one that is defined by hometown connections, early success and relationships. What Clark Lea hopes is that this is just the beginning.

“He’ll build over the course of the year a great freshman campaign and what will be the start of a great career.”