The biggest recruiting win of Jerry Stackhouse's Vanderbilt tenure came with one of his own players. That recruitment was sealed on Thursday.

Tyrin Lawrence has announced that he will return to Vanderbilt for a fourth season as a Commodore.

Lawrence had previously put his name in the NBA draft and entered his name into the transfer portal but Vanderbilt was able to beat out suitors like Texas Tech, Memphis, Auburn, Texas, and Georgia to secure a recommitment from its star guard.

To say that this one is a gamechanger would be an understatement.

The 6-foot-4 averaged 13.1 points per game while shooting 50.2% from the field and 36% from 3-point range in 2022-23, he'll step into an even bigger role in 2023-24. A role where he'll be Vanderbilt's go-to scorer and likely its all around best player.

Even after a season in which Lawrence averaged well into double figures and led Vanderbilt to its best season in recent memory, it feels as if there's still room for Lawrence to grow as a player. Stackhouse seems to think so, too.

"'Your talent and your ability, not to take anything away from the guys on our roster, is different'," Stackhouse said he told Lawrence in February. "I think he has the potential to play at the next level."

Lawrence showed that ability in the first game of G League Elite Camp in which he scored 11 points while shooting 4-of-5 from the field.

The star guard was featured as a ballhandler at the pre-draft event but will likely be featured in a similar role to the one he played last season at Vanderbilt. Ezra Manjon will likely be the primary ballhandler while Lawrence plays off the ball looking to score.

That last sentence should be as exciting as they get for Vanderbilt fans.

The duo of Manjon and Lawrence instantly becomes one of the SEC's top backcourt pairings. Guards win in March and with Lawrence's return, Vanderbilt has the chance to do the same. This team's tournament hopes are as real as they've been since they walked off the Memorial Gymnasium floor in their final NIT game.

Lawrence completely changes what Vanderbilt is capable of on the floor and the way in which Vanderbilt won his recruitment may prove that it is capable of being a major player in the current climate of college basketball.

When Lawrence entered the portal it seemed as if Vanderbilt was behind the curve. How would it compete with its peers who were willing to throw around big NIL money? Could it even retain its players that performed?

Those questions seem to be answered.

This program will always have the academic hurdles and it may not be able to use the portal to the same degree that its SEC counterparts can, but it certainly isn't a pushover. This is a program that is now capable of winning high-level recruitments, it's capable of being competitive in the NIL space and most of all: it has proven it can be competitive in a league like this, in a time like this.

Vanderbilt has all the momentum in the world and it has the personnel. Stackhouse's fifth season just got a heck of a lot more interesting.