SEC Football: Preseason power rankings for 2023 season
By Matt Melton
A ranking that will be updated weekly throughout the season this fall, with updates coming every Sunday, here are our SEC football preseason power rankings entering the 2023 season.
Preseason SEC football power rankings for 2023 season
14. Vanderbilt Commodores
We begin our 2023 SEC football preseason power rankings at No. 14 with Vanderbilt, who will be entering the third season under head coach Clark Lea coming off an impressive 2022 campaign.
As to what that season included, Vanderbilt would finish the year with a 5-7 overall record, as well as a 2-6 mark in SEC play. This would mark Vanderbilt’s best single-season since 2018, where the Commodores finished at 6-7 overall, as well as 3-5 in SEC play, which was also the last time they made a bowl game.
The Commodores are set to return multiple prominent names off that same team, which feature one of the SEC’s top returning wide receivers in Will Sheppard, who will headline a Vanderbilt wide receiver room that also returns Jayden McGowan. Also returning is quarterback AJ Swann for his sophomore season, along with a few others such as CJ Taylor, De’Rickey Wright, Jaylen Mahoney, and Kane Patterson on defense.
Vanderbilt also added a few impact newcomers to the mix, arguably the biggest of which comes in Stanford transfer linebacker Aeneas DiCosmo. The Commodores also have multiple freshman that could see time this season, a group that includes running back Sedrick Alexander and wide receiver London Humphreys, both of which were among Vanderbilt’s top commitments in their 2023 class.
Clark Lea and Co. are the lone SEC team to play during Week 0, as the Commodores will open the 2023 season at home against Hawaii. The Commodores will then host Alabama A&M in Week 1.