This Time, Sanders found the End Zone

Terron Sanders picked up a Vanderbilt fumble Saturday with nothing but green grass separating him from the end zone. He grabbed it in stride and began to motor towards the end zone without seeing anyone capable of stopping him. That’s when his mind flashed to a similar time two years ago.

Against Georgia in 2008, Terron Sanders also picked up a fumble by Bulldogs running back Knowshon Moreno. He corralled it at the Georgia 30-yard line and had a short jog to the end zone. Sanders needed a spin move to juke a Georgia player, but he was still pulled down at the ten-yard line, good for a 20-yard return.

However, the frustration from not scoring still irked him.

Sanders was given a rare second chance on Saturday. Lerentee McCray laid a crushing hit on Vanderbilt running back Zac Stacy, who lost the ball at contact. It fell right at Sanders’ feet, with no one stopping him from scoring.

If he would pull this touchdown off, it would be a longer run than it was against Georgia. Sanders picked the ball up at the 45-yard line Saturday, making the task even more difficult.

“When I picked it up, all I could think about was run as fast as I can and pray my teammates block for me,” Sanders said. “I didn’t want anything to keep me from scoring this time. My teammates did a great job of blocking for me. It’s something I wanted to do before I graduated from here, so it was good to experience it.”

Sanders looked like he was running much faster than the fumble recovery against Georgia. He’s not sure of the reason, but he even felt quicker. It was a dream for him to get into the end zone before the end of his senior year, and being able to experience it with his teammates was something he won’t forget.

“It might’ve just been out of fear,” Sanders said. “I didn’t want anyone to catch me. It felt good, but it mostly felt good to celebrate with my teammates in the end zone.”

It wasn’t all good for Sanders. One of the two Vanderbilt touchdowns came on a blocked punt. Ryan van Rensburg came off the edge to block the bunt after making a move on Sanders. He faked out and came inside to punt a hand on the football that was recovered for the Commodores’ first points of the game.

“That was on me,” Sanders said. “He worked a good move on me. I was real disappointed afterwards, but we got the win. All we can do is go in and fix the little things.”

The defense gave up only one touchdown, and it came on a fade route with 0:39 left in the fourth quarter. They allowed only 109 yards of offense to Vanderbilt and seemed to be reenergized since the team’s bye week.

“We’ve had a lot of good weeks of practice since the bye week,” Sanders said. “The team is starting to gel. We’re starting to show the team that we all knew we could be. It just took us a while to get there.”

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