Clark Lea names Mike Wright as Vanderbilt football starting quarterback at SEC Media Days

Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea said Tuesday that junior Mike Wright will enter the season as the starting quarterback.

Lea said this decision was made at the end of the spring practices. Wright earned the starting job halfway through 2021 and passed for 1,042 yards with a 53.1% completion percentage and eight touchdowns while rushing for 370 yards with one touchdown.

"We're excited for (Wright) to enter the fall as our starting quarterback," Lea said at SEC Media Days in Atlanta. "He knows that he has to earn that every day. That's part of our covenant. ... What I've been proud of from the two of them, one of the challenges that I issued to them both was we have to cease to compete for that spot alone and start to compete for the personality and identity of our team, meaning their position as leaders in our program is more important, the team success is more important than that battle between individuals."

Junior Ken Seals, the starter in 2020, will begin the season as the backup. Lea complimented the fact that Seals chose to stick with the program rather than transferring, saying that "nine out of 10 times" a player who loses the quarterback battle chooses to move on. In 2021, Seals completed 56.4% of his passes for 1181 yards and five touchdowns in 2021.

Lea said he felt Wright was one of the best in the country at mobility, but he still had to develop as a passer. Lea said he felt Wright had made strides in that area throughout the offseason.

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Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on Twitter @aria_gerson.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Mike Wright is Vanderbilt football starting quarterback, Clark Lea says