Vanderbilt freshmen Daniel Martin and Maurice Edwards are no longer with the program and are expected to enter the transfer portal.
Commodores coach Clark Lea didn’t specify the reason for the players’ departures, but said in a statement that it’s his responsibility to ensure “a strong ecosystem” exists around the program.
Neither player’s departure was due to a legal issue, ESPN has confirmed. Neither had officially entered the transfer portal as of Wednesday afternoon.
Martin, a linebacker from Georgia and Vanderbilt’s only ESPN 300 recruit in the 2022 class, and Edwards, a running back from Illinois, traveled with the team for last week’s opener at Hawai’i but did not play in the game.
“It’s never a good day when you have to make these decisions,” Lea said Wednesday on the SEC coaches’ teleconference. “I’m not going to go into more depth beyond what was said in the statement. We consider it a privilege to be a part of this program, and we have the highest operating standards here. Our expectations are clear, and we want to make sure we fight every day to build this program into what we know it can be.”