There’s a real chance fans will look back on December 2024 as the month that forever changed the trajectory of Vanderbilt’s football program, and not because of a bowl game.

I certainly didn’t expect Vanderbilt to be back playing football in December 2024 after posting a 2-10 record in 2023 and losing a number of its best players to the transfer portal. For head coach Clark Lea, go 6-6 and make a bowl game – with the No. 8 seed Strength of schedule in FBS, however, is simply impressive. He managed to put any preseason questions surrounding his job security to rest and get Vanderbilt back to the postseason for the first time since 2018. He and his employees deserve recognition for this.

Vanderbilt dropped its final three games of the 2024 regular season in disappointment, losing to South Carolina, Tennessee and LSU by an average of two touchdowns. I’m not sure if these issues were due to personnel issues or injuries after a grueling SEC stretch. In reality, it’s probably a combination of both (and more).

Will Vanderbilt capitalize on the momentum it built at the start of the 2024 regular season and continue its upward trajectory? Or will it miss the opportunity and fall back to Earth?

The answer to these questions rests squarely on the shoulders of Lea, Athletic Director Candice Storey Lee and Anchor Impact. The good news for them? There is a three-word solution to all of these problems, starting December 9th.

The transfer portal.

The portal has fundamentally changed the landscape of college football since its launch in 2018. Each year, teams rely more and more on transfers to bolster their rosters, opting for experienced players who can step right into impact roles as opposed to high school players. This reliance on transfers only skyrocketed with the implementation of the NCAA’s name, image and likeness program in 2021.

Vanderbilt’s predicament

NIL collectives have since become the heart and soul (or, perhaps more appropriately, the bench) of college football programs. Schools like Texas ($22 million), LSU ($20 million) and Georgia ($18 million) spent big in 2023 and are expected to recoup the spending three of the four most heavily funded collectives in the country. Texas A&M, Alabama, Florida, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Auburn, Arkansas and Kentucky also rank in the top 20 in the country in NIL fundraising. Expect these schools to spend even more this offseason.

Most SEC football programs benefit from a cyclical phenomenon: They succeed on the field, and boosters reward that success by lining the school’s pockets with cash. SEC fans are football crazy, to say the least. They will do whatever it takes to make their favorite team successful, even if it means opening their wallets.

Vanderbilt has not reached the SEC standard since Lea arrived in 2021 and has an overall record of 9-27 in his first three seasons. These on-field struggles have made it more difficult for the Commodores to attract the high-end talent they need to compete in the SEC – where it just means more.

Driven by their most successful season since 2018, the black and gold now have the chance to break this vicious circle. Commodore Nation has a passion for football unlike any seen since the end of the James Franklin era in 2013.

Now it’s time for Vanderbilt to deliver.

Lea, Lee, Paul Grindstaff (the CEO of Anchor Impact) and their respective staffs have almost certainly been on a fundraising warpath this fall. They know better than anyone how important it is to acquire talent through the transfer portal. This is not possible without financial support from sponsors.

The winter transfer portal window, scheduled to open Dec. 9-28, represents the most important part of 2024 for Vanderbilt football, more so than fall camp when it was drafting its starters for the regular season. More than any other part of his non-conference schedule. Even more than the three-week span between the upset against Alabama and the thrill against Texas.

Vanderbilt will lose a lot of its starters when this season ends. Let’s break it down.

The departures

Eight of Vanderbilt’s 24 starters will be ineligible after the bowl game (that number could rise to nine if Diego Pavia loses his lawsuit against the NCAA). Steven Hubbard, Steven Losoya and Xavier Castillo – three of Vanderbilt’s starting offensive line – will be gone, along with Gunnar Hansen, who entered the transfer portal on December 6th.

Wide receiver Quincy Skinner Jr. will also play his final game in the Black and Gold this month, as will secondary starters De’Rickey Wright, CJ Taylor and Tyson Russell. Punter Jesse Mirco completes the list of eight.

There are also juniors and seniors – all starters – who are still eligible but could try out for the 2025 NFL Draft. This list includes Eli Stowers, Khordae Sydnor, Langston Patterson and Miles Capers. While there is no way to know if they will declare for the draft and advance to the next level, anyone (or all) could leave Vanderbilt this offseason via the draft or portal.

A number of Vanderbilt’s standout players – Moni Jones, Loic Fouonji, Kevo Wesley, Gage Pitchford, Aeneas DiCosmo and Christian James – will also be ineligible at the end of this season.

The portal doesn’t officially open until December 9th. Still, Vanderbilt has already lost a number of transfers, including Hansen and Nate Johnson, they announced via social media earlier this week.

What does it all mean? Lea will have a busy December.

““We will have a lot of work to do in the next few weeks as the transfer portal opens,” Lea said on Dec. 4. “We’ll be a little more portal-heavy (this offseason).”

If the Commodores fall below .500 again in 2025, I fear they will lose the support (and momentum) they worked so hard to earn this year and we’ll be back to 40-point failures in FirstBank Must watch stadium. Vanderbilt must be prepared to spend a lot of money if it is serious about starting a business Championship contender.

The needs

Let’s assume that Pavia either loses his legal battle or wins and decides to move elsewhere – Vanderbilt needs to get a quarterback out of the portal, especially after Johnson’s departure.

Lea will have plenty of options, but he will need to field a dual-threat quarterback that fits into offensive coordinator Tim Beck’s plan. Oklahoma’s Jackson Arnold and Liberty’s Kaidon Salter immediately come to mind, but as we get closer to December 9th other qualified signal callers will become available. A quarterback will likely be Vanderbilt’s biggest NIL-related expense in this portal period. Once the Commodores get that sorted, they can focus on their other key offensive needs.

The Commodores desperate I need some game-changing pass catchers. As good as Stowers – a real NFL candidate — was that he was Vanderbilt’s only consistent outside playmaker. After his sensational performance against Ball State in October, teams focused on him – he failed to get more than 41 yards in the team’s last five games – and that completely hindered the Commodores’ passing game. The lack of verticality made the offense one-dimensional and also kept the ground attack largely under control. Beck’s side have failed to break the 24-point mark in their last seven games, having done so in each of their first five.

Transfers Fouonji, Dariyan Wiley and Jeremiah Dillon were all disappointing in 2024, forcing junior Sherrill – a natural slot receiver – to play on the outside. Beck posted 1,139 receiving yards from his wide receiver unit this year lowest production in the SEC with a clear distance. There will be no shortage of wide receivers available in the portal, but Vanderbilt needs to do a better job of attracting contributors.

At the top of my list of (realistic) targets for this room is Omari Kelly, a transfer from Middle Tennessee State. I expect Vanderbilt to make a serious effort to keep him in Central Tennessee. Trent Hudson, a transfer from Mississippi State, formerly played at New Mexico State with Beck and the rest of the Aggies-turned-Commodores. CJ Daniels, an LSU transfer who formerly played with Salter at Liberty, could follow the quarterback wherever he goes.

Then there is the issue of Vanderbilt’s offensive line. The good news is that there are plenty of options in the portal for both the tackle and interior offensive lines. The bad news is that it will be a challenge for offensive line coach Chris Klenakis to build chemistry between a unit that has never played together before.

Defense will also be a focus in the portal. Vanderbilt will need to bring in some secondary members — namely safeties — following the departures of Taylor and Wright. Lea’s cornerbacks have struggled this year, but next year he’ll get Marlon Jones Jr. and Mark Davis back after missing both of them for the entire 2024 season.

I’m more worried about the Commodores’ edge rushers. They were the weakest position group on the roster outside of wide receivers last season and were completely outclassed in size and athleticism by opposing SEC offensive lines late in the season. Zaylin Wood’s return from injury should help, but I still expect Lea to bring in a handful of pass rushers from the portal.

The Commodores have scheduled Alabama transfer Keanu Koht to visit in the coming weeks. Koht was a former 4-star linebacker who had two years of eligibility remaining and would represent a huge portal win for Lea and company. I also have my eye on Aiden Gobaira, a transfer from Notre Dame who was recruited by – you guessed it – Lea.

More broadly, Vanderbilt needs to bolster its depth in 2025. The Commodores’ starters were great heading into 2024, but as the season wore on and they struggled, it became clear they lacked the depth to fill the gaps. Not every signing this offseason will be flashy and inspiring right from the start, but they all need to help build this season’s momentum.

Ultimately, it doesn’t matter which specific players and positions Lea brings in. The results do.

Vanderbilt had a magical season in 2024, but there isn’t a single person involved in the program who sees 6-6 as a pitfall for the program’s abilities: They’re aiming higher. They want to be a contender year after year, not just in the SEC but throughout the NCAA.

Winning a bowl game and getting complacent isn’t enough. The transfer portal is destroyed.