​The Commodores have to replace both tackles on offense. They have less than 200 returning snaps from a year ago. The player most safely written in as a starter is an FCS transfer. Somehow, the outlook is still not bleak. It is not a position that feels safe to assume will be as good as last year, much less better, but there are also enough reasons to believe the starters will be competent. Depth may be concerningly thin unless a freshman breaks out if called into action.Presumed StarterThe Commodores have once again gone into the Dakotas for a starting tackle. 2025 Vanderbilt starting tackle Bryce Henderson was a South Dakota Jackrabbit. Beau Johnson comes to West End from cross-state rival North Dakota State Bison. NDSU, unlike Lipscomb, understands that the plural of bison is still just bison. It is a low bar, but tackles in the SEC need to be intelligent enough to diagnose and handle very intelligent edge rushers along with the stunts and blitzes schemed up to ruin a QB’s day.Johnson played in 8 games as a backup in 2024 then took over at left tackle for all 12 regular season games in 2025. He was moved to right tackle for the playoffs. Johnson was First Team All-Missouri Valley Football Conference and Second Team FCS All-America from the Associated Press. In 674 regular season snaps, Johnson allowed only 1 sack. Potentially the best news for Vanderbilt fans is that Johnson has 2 years of eligibility left if the NFL does not come calling after this season.My assumption is that Johnson is slotted to start at Quick Tackle, but it may depend on who starts opposite him. I could also see a situation where Vanderbilt uses Johnson as a more traditional Left Tackle if they see him as the best option to protect the QB’s blind side safe.The Returning BackupsThe real battle here is for the spot opposite Johnson. Conventional wisdom would put that battle down to the other members of the roster who played snaps at tackle in 2025. There are two of them, and they probably have different prospective forecasts.Senior Orion Irving played 108 snaps in 2025 after transferring from Sam Houston State. He was a 4-game starter as a redshirt sophomore for the Bearkats (Yes, that is how they spell it.) in 2024 while playing in 10 games total. He also appeared in 10 games with 5 starts as a freshman to earn C-USA All-Freshman honors. He seems more like a high-floor, low-ceiling option. Irving should be serviceable at worst, but it seems unlikely he suddenly becomes an All-SEC caliber player.The low-floor, high-ceiling option is Clinton Azubuike. The Junior from Nigeria played his high school football at the NFL Academy in London. The only recruiting service to rate or rank Azubuike was On3, who had him as the #67 OT in the 2024 class. The 6’8” talent would start his collegiate career at Northern Arizona, where he played in 6 games. Then he immediately transferred to Vanderbilt. He only played in the blowouts of Georgia State and Kentucky for a total of 58 snaps.