Clark Lea reaffirms commitment to develop from within, not use transfer portal ‘shortcut’

The impact of the transfer portal is already being seen just three weeks into the college football season, as a multitude of teams across the country have benefited from elite play from new additions.

Unfortunately for Vanderbilt, Kentucky is one of those teams after former Commodores running back Ray Davis transferred there following a 1,000-yard rushing season last year. Vanderbilt now relies on their running back room as a committee, which has ranked second to last in the conference in rushing so far this season.

Ahead of Vanderbilt’s first SEC game of the season versus Davis and the Wildcats, head coach Clark Lea was recently asked if he considered signing a running back through the transfer portal this offseason. Revealing his philosophies regarding the portal and player development in the process.

“Well we stick with the players we have because that’s what this program’s defined by, and that’s an essential part of being developmental,” Lea said. “And I said this early on, I forget when if it was my first press conference or first SEC Media Days, but we’ve never insinuated that we’re going to skip steps here. That we’re somehow looking to find a cheat code or a shortcut to results, we want to build the foundation first and that is hard.”

Lea inherited the Vanderbilt program following a 0-9 season for the Commodores in 2020. He improved the team to a 5-7 record last season, the best so far during his tenure, and he believes that the best way to maintain that growth is to continue building from within.

“We’re dealing with the last two weeks some really painful things that we have to fight through and grow through. But you’re also seeing a big part of my job is to hold the vision for the program, and I can see on the field the program that we’ve set out to build and I wish that the world could see it,” Lea explained. “Because I understand that people are impatient and they want to see the results happen now, but again, this is where for me it’s about staying the course.”

Between the transfer portal and name, image, and likeness, there’s no question that the college football, and athletics landscape as a whole, have seemingly transformed overnight. And through those rapid changes, Lea wants to continue leaning into what he knows and his initial vision for the program.

“And the other part is the portal in it of itself, and NIL, and all that stuff, that is a behemoth,” Lea admitted. “That is a whole subculture to college football. And for us here agin we’re focused first on the foundation of our program, on the foundation of the developmental program, on supporting the experience of the players that we have, paying attention to our roster as it is right now, and growing and developing people through the experience.”

Lea made it clear that he isn’t against the portal, adding a modest six players to his roster through the transfer portal this offseason. But he also made it clear that development from within his where he plans to build the foundation moving forward as he looks to continue turning the program around.

“Opportunities to supplement our roster through the portal, we’ll always look at that, but we also have to recognize the fact that by definition is transactional. So we’re developing those systems and that ability to be involved where we need to and that will never be for us in a way that’s you’re gonna look up at the roster and see have the roster in and out. I just don’t think that’s sustainable here,” Lea said. “So what we’ll do is look to have a strategic approach there that allows us to support the roster that we built, that we’ve retained, that we’ve developed and keep the culture intact as we strengthen our team.”