NASHVILLE - Vanderbilt football will be a couple guys down this weekend in its Week 2 game against Delaware , Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea confirmed Thursday.
Vanderbilt will be without tight end Cole Spence and cornerback Jaylin Lackey against the Blue Hens Saturday. Lea said in Thursday's press conference that Lackey is dealing with what he called a "soft tissue" injury while confirming Spence will not play Saturday with a lower body injury.
Tuesday, Lea told reporters that Spence is "week-to-week" with a lower body injury, which created doubt about his availability this weekend. Now, it is confirmed that he will not be available. Lea did not give a specific date or week that he expects Spence to return. Although, the response Lea is seeing out of his top tight end thus far is encouraging.
"I think he's responding positively right now. We're going to get kind of another look at him internally here on Saturday to see where he is. But still week-to-week and encouraged by the progress he's made and we'll see," Lea said.
Meanwhile, on Lackey's injury, Lea is not concerned about the impact it brings to the cornerback room. Lea and the coaching staff feel good about the depth they have in the cornerback room. In replacement of Lackey Saturday, Lea is looking for Oklahoma State transfer Jaylin Davies and Texas A&M transfer Cobey Sellers to come in and share reps.
Outside of those two players, Vanderbilt goes into Saturday's game healthy overall. The most intriguing question is how long Cole Spence is going to be out. Spence has already missed the first game in a season where he was primed to take the leading role in the tight end room, especially in the passing game.
It is far from easy for any team to replace a 6-foot-7 tight end like Spence, but Vanderbilt has no choice to figure out a way to do so for a little bit of time. In the meantime, the Commodores will likely look to East Carolina transfer Jayvontay Conner as well as Gabe Fisher and Maurice Veney to temporarily fill the hole of Spence's absence.
Obviously, the less time Spence misses, the better for Vanderbilt's offense. The role he plays cannot be understated. If he is able to make it back in time for the game against NC State next weekend, Vanderbilt's offense should not be impacted that much. The question becomes if Spence's injury lingers on longer than that.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com/college/vanderbilt as Vanderbilt Football Injury Report Ahead of Game Against Delaware .
