Although Vanderbilt began competing in intercollegiate football in 1890, the school's official record book considers[1] the "modern era" to have begun in 1946. Records from before this year are often incomplete and inconsistent, and they are generally not included in these lists.
These lists are dominated by more recent players for several reasons:
Since 1950, seasons have increased from 10 games to 11 and then 12 games in length.
The NCAA didn't allow freshmen to play varsity football until 1972 (with the exception of the World War II years), allowing players to have four-year careers.
Since 2018, players have been allowed to participate in as many as four games in a redshirt season; previously, playing in even one game "burned" the redshirt.[3] Since 2024, postseason games have not counted against the four-game limit.[4] These changes to redshirt rules have given very recent players several extra games to accumulate statistics.
Bowl games only began counting toward single-season and career statistics in 2002.[5] The Commodores have played in eight bowl games since then.
Due to COVID-19 issues, the NCAA ruled that the 2020 season would not count against the athletic eligibility of any football player, giving everyone who played in that season the opportunity for five years of eligibility instead of the normal four.[6]
The 2011, 2012, and 2013 seasons, all played under head coach James Franklin, were at the time the three highest-scoring Commodore seasons of the modern era, and three of the four seasons with the most offensive yards.[1] The 2025 team, under head coach Clark Lea, set a new record for total points even before the end of the regular season and ended with the highest per-game average.[7][8]
The statistics below are updated through the end of the 2025 season.
↑The 2014 Vanderbilt Media Guide only listed a single leader, and the 2025 Vanderbilt Football Yearbook does not list any leaders for this statistic. The record from 2014 was broken in 2025.
