Vanderbilt Removes All Jersey Numbers From Football Roster

Vanderbilt Football updated its official roster this week, and now no one has a jersey number.

SB Nation reports that this isn't necessarily breaking news, though. People talked about it during the spring when confused reporters showed up for practice and had no idea who was on the field because there were no identifiable numbers.

First-year head coach Clark Lea explained it as something that's earned.

“We are going to earn everything in this program,” Lea shared when asked why his players didn’t have numbers on their jerseys. “Until we understand that we rent those numbers, we don’t own them, until we are ready to work within them, leave them better for the next person to wear them, that will come. I don’t want to put a timeline on it."

Lea, along with sophomore offensive lineman Bradley Ashmore and junior defensive lineman Daevion Davis will represent Vanderbilt at the 2021 SEC Media Days this week.

Vanderbilt will join Alabama, Mississippi State and Texas A&M at the event on July 21, so maybe Lea will provide some long-awaited answers about how this numberless season will work — or at least how they will be earned.