Five potential Vanderbilt football breakout players from win over Alcorn State

Vanderbilt football outmatched Alcorn State in every way in its 55-0 blowout on Saturday.

The Commodores (2-0) put up 342 yards and allowed 71. The Braves (0-2) collected just six first downs and averaged 1.6 yards per play.

With the game out of hand early, no one player put up gaudy stats the way quarterback Diego Pavia did a week ago, when he was the breakout star of Vanderbilt's win over Virginia Tech. But a lot of different players saw time against Alcorn State, and a lot of those players made significant plays.

These are players who could contribute even more to the team. Some of them have played before but showed a new level of play. Others were seeing their first significant action.

Here are five players who could become bigger options for the Commodores in the win:

Martel Hight

In his second year as starter, Hight is a familiar name to Vanderbilt fans. But he got a chance to show even more against Alcorn State, both because of the absence of Kolbey Taylor due to an internal issue and because of his new role as punt returner.

Hight didn't record any tackles on defense and had one pass breakup. He didn't need to do much, as Alcorn State attempted just 16 passes and completed eight. But he shined on special teams, with 127 punt return yards and a touchdown.

"Last year, like I was young," Hight said. "Just being out there and just knowing, like, it's OK to mess up like crazy when I mess up, no one's perfect, it allowed me to just like, build confidence."

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Tristen Brown

Brown, a true freshman receiver, made a highlight reel-worthy one-handed catch. He led all Commodores receivers with three catches and 27 yards.

It remains to be seen whether Brown will take a four-game redshirt or whether he'll become a more regular contributor for the Commodores, but his Saturday performance indicated it could be the latter.

Cole Spence

The tight end made his first career reception and his first career touchdown when he caught a pass from fellow tight end Eli Stowers.

Spence is in his third year in the program, but he hasn't played much because he took a four-game redshirt while playing primarily special teams in 2022 and missed 2023 with injury.

"Winning is fun," Spence said. "We're bringing a lot of energy to it. There's real brotherhood going on. So everything's, it's going great."

Nate Johnson

Johnson was, at one point, supposed to be Vanderbilt's starting quarterback this season. That was the intention when the Commodores got him in the transfer portal in December. That was, of course, before Jerry Kill and Diego Pavia came along.

Johnson came into the game in the fourth quarter and immediately ran for a 56-yard touchdown. He also threw a long pass to Quincy Skinner that would have been a touchdown had it not been called back for offensive pass interference.

"(I) really saw his playmaking ability," coach Clark Lea said. "I thought the throw to Quincy was really nice too. Unfortunately, got the penalty on it, but I'm proud of Nate. ... That guy battled for the starting job. He has a ton of respect for Diego, and he's going to keep working on himself so that when his time comes, he'll be ready."

AJ Newberry

Newberry saw time as the second running back behind Sedrick Alexander. He rushed for the same number of yards (54) despite having six carries to Alexander's 12.

Newberry's quickness is a nice complement to Alexander, who is more of a bruiser. With the ability both Newberry and Alexander bring, the potential is there to have an even more varied run game.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Vanderbilt football breakout candidates after Alcorn State win