Cal’s Khari Vanderbilt finds his voice
After finishing with a team-high seven tackles, Vanderbilt returned to the locker room to find messages flooding his iPhone.
Friends and family were impressed that, in his most extensive action since joining the Bears last year, the soft-spoken senior showed little sign of nerves.
In addition to being sidelined by injury much of his senior season, he hadn’t qualified academically for Division I.
Vanderbilt planned to enroll at nearby Foothill College, a two-year school known for producing FBS signees, until his mother, Ayanna, was hospitalized that summer with blood clots.
In training camp last summer, fellow JUCO transfer Damariay Drew beat Vanderbilt out for the starting safety job opposite Stefan McClure.
In spring, after Vanderbilt totaled 17 tackles off the bench in his debut season, Drew — the Bears’ leading returning tackler — suffered a season-ending knee injury.
On Saturday (Friday PT), in front of an announced crowd of 61,247 at ANZ Stadium, Vanderbilt overcame slippery conditions to stick with his men for the most part.
The bye week affords him time to catch up on classes, recover from jet lag, tweak his technique and, of course, make that hour-long drive to San Jose.