Earlier this week, after his team had just finished off North Carolina State 38-24 in the Music City Bowl, James Franklin made it clear that he believes a new day has dawned for the Vanderbilt football program:

“We have very, very high expectations for this program of where we are going, who we can be and what we can achieve.  We’re going to work at it every single day like crazy.  We’re not going anywhere so everybody better get used to it.  We’re not going anywhere.  This is the brand new Vanderbilt...

We’ve been able to come here in two years and do something that I don’t think anybody said could be done.  To me, we look at the future the same way.  There is going to come a point where we’re going to start talking about things people think we have no business talking about…

This thing is (going to) keep going.  With the support of (athletic director) David Williams and chancellor (Nicholas) Zeppos and the community who is jumping on board right now, the sky is the limit.  So get used to us.”

The brand new Vanderbilt was a nine-win football team this past season.  Can Vandy replicate that — or at least go bowling — next season?

The Commodores will lose 16 seniors, nine of whom were redshirt seniors.  Among those departing will be starting quarterback Jordan Rodgers and the school’s all-time leading rusher, Zac Stacy.  Starting O-linemen Ryan Seymour and Josh Jelesky were seniors, too.  Trey Wilson, who led Vandy with three interceptions (two returned for TDs), will be gone.  So will the team’s fourth-leading tackler, Archibald Barnes.  Defensive lineman Rob Lohr will depart along with his 11 tackles for loss in 2012 (third-best on Vandy’s team).  And senior punter Richard Kent, whose 44.95 yards-per-punt average was third-best in the SEC, will have to be replaced as well.

Clearly, more of Franklin’s signees will be called upon to contribute next year.  This past season 18 members of his 22-man 2012 signing class redshirted.  Those guys will be called upon to chip in in 2013.

Having seen what Franklin has been able to accomplish with the experienced redshirt juniors and seniors Bobby Johnson left for him, there’s plenty of reason to believe he’ll do just fine with his own more highly-touted signees.  They may have some growing pains at first, but the coach certainly seems to know how to get the most from his players.

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1.  True freshman Jadeveon Clowney — the top recruit in the country in February — is improving every day at South Carolina.

2.  Tennessee wrapped up preseason camp with a “spirited” practice.

3.  Dooley isn’t backing down from his decision to have ex-Vol Leonard Little speak to his team yesterday.

4.  When practice begins, hoops coach Cuonzo Martin wants the focus to be on the Vols’ defense.

5.  Vanderbilt punter Richard Kent would love to cut back on the school-record 84 punts he got off last year.

6.  James Franklin says defensive end Kyle Woestmann “is his own worst critic.”

7.  Alabama’s defense will be strong in the middle thanks to a talented linebacking corps.

8.  Bama will soon start gameplanning for Kent State.

9.  Nick Saban likes the leadership and chemistry of his latest squad.

10.  Demetruce McNeal says he’s improving as part of Auburn’s new-look secondary.

11.  Auburn offensive lineman Chad Slade is no longer “just a big, happy baby,” as O-line coach Jeff Grimes described him.

12.  Kevin Scarbinsky of The Birmingham News says it’s Alabama’s state and Auburn is just living in it.

Content provided by John Clay’s Sidelines.

Vandy coach Robbie Caldwell at SEC Media Days in July. (AP photo/Butch Dill)

Transcript of Vanderbilt coach Robbie Caldwell’s press conference today:

Vanderbilt Head Coach Robbie Caldwell – 11/8/10

Opening statement:
“After watching the tape, Saturday was an ugly day. We had a lot of things go wrong and a lot of things that are correctable so we are excited to get to work on that and get ready to play Kentucky. Right now, we are a little fragile, a little beat up, a little undermanned. We have more in the training room than we have on the field but hopefully we can get some of them back by Wednesday and we’ll be ready to go to work. I’m excited about the challenge and we are doing everything we possibly can to win football games. That’s what we are doing, everything we possibly can. That’s our plan and we hope we can win out.”

On trying to get Zac Stacy back on the field:
“It’ll be difficult but I know that Zac is doing everything he possibly can to get ready. It’s a very scary thing but thankfully it turned out to be a concussion. Obviously, Vanderbilt is just tremendous at taking every precaution they possibly can. I got to spend some time Saturday in the emergency room with his mom and brother. His brother was very upset to see him lying on the table but it was great to be able to comfort them a little bit. Our doctors were just outstanding.”

On the injuries:
“This time of year this has become a regular thing for us. We have plans for it and are making preparations offensively to do things, from moving people over to possibly going empty with five wide receivers. We need to use the healthy people we have. We are going to find a way to move the ball, score points and win this game.”

On Wesley Tate and the running situation:
“He was in the training room and is a little stronger today. Whether he’ll be able to give us something is yet to be seen but hopefully we’ll know more Thursday. Kennard Reeves is healthy and I know he’ll give it his all. We talked last week about the possibility of Eric Samuels or Micah Powell, who we converted over to running back a few weeks back. Reece Lovell is another guy that we hope can spell us here and there.”

On if Florida’s athleticism led to the punt blocks:
“It certainly can. If you are not doing what your supposed to do, then that’s what happens. You can’t go to sleep. We had two missed blocks and it resulted in two blocked punts. They also had a missed block that resulted in us getting a blocked punt. Unfortunately it happened at the wrong time of the game because we were playing extremely well defensively, getting after them. We made an error on the fake field goal and we think it could have been there. We have to go back to the drawing board and it’s something that goes back to me. I don’t shuck the responsibility. It’s my job to make sure we practice it every day. Maybe we need to practice a little more.”

On Walker May’s injury:
“Not good. I don’t know his status or whether he’ll be able to go at all this week. He’s pretty tender right now with a high ankle sprain. We already had Tim Fugger hurt going into the game but hopefully he’ll be back full speed. Johnell [Thomas] has a ding in his neck but he’s going to be fine. We were down to our third sub on the punt team because Walker and Johnell are our back-wall people. That was difficult but we’ll be ready and prepare three or four more this week.”

On if the offense will have to throw the ball more because of injuries:
“We might have to because when you don’t have any running backs you may have to do that. We don’t want to give too much away.”

On John Cole and John Stokes getting Academic All-America honors:
“It’s very important. We are very proud of our school here and very proud of our academics. We led the SEC again with 89 percent and we are disappointed. Quite frankly, my goal for the team is to have 100 percent graduation rate and I’m not afraid to reach for that high of a goal. Our goal is to lead the nation and we are usually in the top-five or so since we’ve been here. Hopefully we’ll continue to do that but we also want to compete in the [SEC] East. If we can do that on a consistent basis then we will have a chance to play for it all one day.”

On punter Richard Kent:
“We’ve been extremely pleased. He missed his mark a couple of times and was deep in it too. You look at all aspects and it starts with me. We weren’t all on our P’s and Q’s there and I don’t know if it was the excitement of playing the Gators or whatever, but we just didn’t do what we had been doing and that was one of our solid points. We probably give up fewer yards returned than anyone. In particular against the young man on LSU who is one of the best in the country. That was disappointing for us.”

On the recent success of playing in Lexington, Ky.:
“I don’t know, it’s kind of the like the Ole Miss deal. Sometimes you match up well with teams. Previously we had been matching up pretty good with people in our league and were competing and having the chance to win. As you see, we are rearranging offensively and trying to manage the clock a little better. We are trying to do that and are heading towards our plans for the future. We want to win now and that’s our goal.”

On Randall Cobb and Kentucky:
“I’m glad you asked that. I was talking and looking at some tape with our defensive staff and he might be the best all-around athlete in this league. He does everything; I think he holds for extra points. He does kickoff returns, punt returns, he’s a wideout, quarterback and running back. He does everything in their Wildcat offense. We know he can throw the ball and we’ve seen him do that. [Mike] Hartline might be the most improved player in the SEC. What a good job he’s done checking in and out of plays. He’s getting them in the right offense. They have a good offensive line. They have a few sophomores in there and things look bright for them. I’m very proud of that staff, you know they have David Turner. He’s worked here with us and I know him and got him his first job. I love him like a brother. To watch coach [Joker] Phillips in his first year trying to get bowl eligible. We hope we can make them squirm another week.”

On playing two first-year head coaches in the next two weeks and sharing sentiments:
“Yes I can. What a great joy for me. I mean, after all the years I’ve worked at this to sit down in the seat. Unfortunately, they got the job at and earlier time than I did and have been able to make some changes that we haven’t been able to make. We have to plan for the future and I’m excited about it. We want to win and give our fans something to cheer about and we’ve been able to do it here before.”