Will Wake Forest Face “The Next Jay Cutler” Saturday?

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Ask 100 football fans who the most famous Vanderbilt football player of all time is and 100 of them will tell you it’s Jay Cutler.

He starred at quarterback for the Commodores from 2001-2005 and in his senior year was named SEC Player of the Year. He went on to play 12 NFL seasons. Now there are hints from Vanderbilt’s The Dore Report football podcast that this year’s starting quarterback, sophomore A.J. Swann, is somewhat reminding Vandy fans of the great Cutler.

Not that he has the ability and potential to be quite as good as Cutler was or ever will be, but Swann’s got the same tall look and hefty build. He’s approximately 6 foot 3 and 230 pounds, uncannily similar to Cutler’s size, and, like the Vanderbilt legend, Swann has a strong and accurate arm. In the team’s victory over Alabama A&M last Saturday, he threw 3 TD passes. This is the hype emanating from The Dore Report podcast about all things Vanderbilt football.

The Cutler-esque QB will be calling signals and hurling passes this coming Saturday at Wake Forest, and the Demon Deacons better be ready. You may not recall, but this high school Under Armour All-American threw two second-half touchdown passes against Wake last season to make his team’s loss respectable, losing 45-to-25, connecting on 72% of his passes.

Later last season, he led his team to a win over Northern Illinois passing for 255 yards and 4 TDs, a performance that won him SEC Freshman of the Week honors.

“AJ is uber talented,” said his coach Clark Lea.

Avoids interceptions

One of Swann’s strengths is he doesn’t throw many interceptions, giving up only two last season compared with 10 TDs for 1,274 yards. Against superb defensive teams, Alabama and Georgia, he committed no turnovers – impressive when you think about it. Cutler had similar skills protecting the ball connecting on 21 touchdowns versus only nine interceptions his senior year.

For Wake Forest to win on Saturday, they’re unlikely to pick off several of Swann’s passes so will need to try stripping the ball for turnovers.

Tall and talented receiver: Will Sheppard

Swann’s best receiver will be another relatively tall player, 6 foot 3 inch Will Sheppard. In each of Vanderbilt’s first two games this season wins over Hawaii and Alabama A&M, he’s caught two touchdown passes along with a total of 12 catches and 142 yards.

Last season he was named second-team All-SEC and is on the Biletnikoff Award Watch List given each year to college football’s top receiver. He says his goal is to be the best receiver in the nation and a high-round NFL draft pick.

This guy’s an excellent athlete with unusually large hands. Wake’s secondary will need to cover him effectively or there will be big problems. In addition to being a star in high school football, he also averaged 19 points and 10 rebounds as a high school basketball player. And he’s good in school, too, earning SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll last year.

As a team, Vanderbilt is riding momentum from last season’s 5-win and 7-loss record after going 2 and 10 and 0 and 9 the two previous seasons. The Commodores are hungry to reach a bowl game for the first time in five years. Historically and a bit surprisingly, Wake Forest has struggled against Vanderbilt, losing 10 times while winning seven.

What to Expect

Swann will throw jump ball passes to Sheppard in the endzone. If Wake defensive backs can’t knock those balls away, Sheppard will catch them and Vanderbilt has a good chance to win.
Vanderbilt won’t turn the ball over more than once or twice, so Wake will have to turn it over once or twice also, or they will risk losing the game.
Demond Claiborne will become the lead running back for Wake Forest because he ran the ball the best of all backs last week against Elon.
Wake Forest QB Mitch Griffis will release the ball sooner from the pocket and not get sacked as often as it did against Elon.
Wake Forest defensive end Jasheen Davis and safety Malik Mustapha will both record at least one sack of the quarterback. Their exceptional speed bursts and athleticism will prove tough for Vanderbilt to block them effectively.
Vanderbilt will start the game fired up and strong-thinking upset. But Wake will ultimately win because Coach Clawson will not allow his team to look past this team it beat soundly last season.