NASHVILLE, Tenn. — It has been a dream start to the 2022 season for Mike Wright.
Not only has the junior made national headlines with his play through two games, but, more importantly, he has led the Commodores to a 2-0 start ahead of a showdown with No. 23 Wake Forest at 11 a.m. Saturday at FirstBank Stadium.
“Me, I’ve never been a stats guy. Respectfully, when they told me I broke the (single-game touchdown) record, my (stoic) face looked immediately just like I did right now,” Wright said after Tuesday morning’s practice. “That’s really just because that’s our offense. I think it was six (touchdowns)? It takes so much more than a quarterback to score those touchdowns.
“I ran in for two, but the O-line blocked their butts off on that play and there was blocking down field. I can’t throw the ball and catch it to myself for those (four other) touchdowns, too. I feel like our offense broke a record. I truly do.”
How we feeling? pic.twitter.com/0Sv5qFT0OW
— ⁵Mike Wright₅ (@mike5wright) September 4, 2022
Wright goes into the third game of the campaign having completed 31 of his 50 throws for 391 yards and six touchdowns. He is also yet to throw an interception.
On Saturday against Elon, Wright did a little bit of everything in a record-setting performance. He threw for four scores and rushed for another two to become the first Vanderbilt player in program history to account for six touchdowns in a single game.
No Vanderbilt quarterback had thrown four touchdown passes in a single game since Kyle Shurmur did so against Tennessee in the 2017 regular-season finale. Shurmur was also the last Vandy quarterback to have at least six touchdowns passes in his first two games of a season when he threw seven in two outings to start the ’17 campaign.
But the speedy Wright is also getting it done in the ground game as the Vanderbilt offense has evolved to incorporate more option looks and designed quarterback runs. The 6-foot-4, 195-pound Wright has 24 carries for 247 yards and four touchdowns this season and is the first Vanderbilt quarterback to have multiple rushing touchdowns in back-to-back games since Greg Zolman did so during the 1999 season.
Closing in on 700 career rushing yards, Wright is the eighth FBS player since 1996 to rush for a touchdown of at least 75 yards and throw for a touchdown of at least 75 yards in the same season.
“Just a little bit of offseason study, trying to form an identity of just who we…