James Franklin Rumors & News

Vanderbilt CB/WR Jacquese Kirk announced that he was transferring to Jacksonville State earlier this spring. The official team reason, according to head coach James Franklin, was due to a "violation of team rules." It turns out that stabbing a former teammate is one big violation of said rules. Kirk admitted on Monday that his transfer stemmed from an incident at the Tin Roof bar on Demonbreun Street where he stabbed former teammate Justin Cabbagestalk with a pocket knife. Cabbagestalk declined to pursue charges against Kirk, and no charges were filed against the redshirt sophomore. Th...

College football insiders might not think much of the Brand New Vanderbilt. Despite returning a stacked receiving corps and much of the defense that ranked 15th nationally in points allowed, Football Outsiders is projecting a 6-6 season for James Franklin's third year. That outcome is the most common result of 1,000 simulated seasons - not one of which includes a SEC title for the Commodores. While dreams of a December date in Atlanta might still be a few seasons away, a return to .500 football seems like quite a letdown for a team that finished their 2012 season on a seven-game winnin...

We're a bit behind on this, but Vanderbilt added a huge commitment to their class of 2014 last week when 4-star tailback Mikale Wilbon gave James Franklin his verbal bond. Wilbon, a 5'8", 191 pound runner out of Chicago, is a Rivals Top 250 selection and rated as the 14th best back in the country by the service. He chose Vandy over offers from Missouri, Arizona, Arizona State, and Arkansas. Wilbon joins quarterback K.J. Carta-Samuels as the team's four-star recruits early in the 2014 process. He'll add to a backfield that will lose senior Wesley Tate after this season, one year after t...

When you look at James Franklin's decent-not-great spring game stats -- 9-for-15 for 80 yards -- realize this: If receivers had held up their end of the bargain, he'd have been 12-for-15 for about 115 yards. Marcus Lucas dropped a well-thrown ball 10-15 yards downfield early in the scrimmage. Then, on a well-setup screen, Bud Sasser got starry eyes about a big gain and dropped the pass. And on a third down, Franklin was slightly off-target to Dorial Green-Beckham, but DGB alligator-armed it a bit and still should have caught the pass. A 60 percent completion rate at 5.3 yards per pass ...

Missouri quarterback James Franklin throws a pass during their spring NCAA college football game, Saturday, April 20, 2013, in Columbia, Mo. (AP Photo/Columbia Daily Tribune, August Kryger)

When you read practice reports for long enough, you yearn for balance. You want to see examples of offensive players making great plays ... but not too many great plays. You want to see the defense dominating ... for a while. You want a give and take. Not that it actually means anything down the line, but it does appear that both units have shared the spotlight so far this spring. MUtigers.com: Spring Football Camp Report Senior QB James Franklin had a productive day Thursday, as the top three Tiger quarterbacks continued to share snaps with the first three units. Franklin made the mo...

2013's rebuilding effort on the defensive line just got a bit tougher. The Tennessean's Jeff Lockridge reported today that junior defensive tackle Jared Morse, who started six games in 2012, is no longer a Commodore. Morse broke an unspecified rule and now is no longer enrolled at Vanderbilt. However, according to coach James Franklin, there are avenues for him to return to the team this fall. "Jared broke a team rule and is not here this spring," Franklin told Lockridge. "We're hoping that Jared will have a chance to come back. We'll see." The run-stopping veteran would have likely be...

Thanks to James Franklin, National Signing Day is no longer just an irrelevant weekday in Nashville. The third-year head coach has brought new enthusiasm to the Vanderbilt football offseason by bringing in class after class of talented athletes the likes of which have never been seen before at Dudley Field. Franklin earned headlines by pushing Vandy into the periphery of the top 25 recruiting rankings in 2012. In 2013, he should firmly place the Commodores into college football's elite. As of 12:15 CST, the Commodores have landed 24 big commitments from players from all over the countr...