Former Vanderbilt Stars Shine on Monday Night Football
Published by Chad Minton on December 29, 2009
Article Source: Bleacher Report - Chicago Bears
You have to look long and hard to find Vanderbilt alums in the NFL. That is, unless you’re looking at the Chicago Bears’ roster.
The Bears currently have five players on their roster that suited up for Vanderbilt once upon a time. Unless you’re a die-hard Vandy fan, the only one you probably know is Jay Cutler. The others are Earl Bennett, Hunter Hillenmeyer, D.J. Moore, and Chris Williams.
Now, I understand that the big programs in the country like Florida put five players on every team in the NFL, but we’re talking about Vanderbilt here. It just amazing to me that one NFL team would pick out that many Commodores.
Last night, ESPN’s Monday Night Football offered another meaningless game to the standings. With that said, the Bears came out like they were playing for a playoff spot. Much of that can be contributed to Cutler, Bennett, and Hillenmeyer.
It’s been a very rough year for Cutler, but last night he reminded everyone of the kind of talent he has. He out-dueled Brett Favre’s Vikings, and Favre congratulated Cutler afterwards. Classy move for Favre to do that.
Former Vandy wide receiver Earl Bennett also had a great game. He had three catches for 35 yards, including a big touchdown reception.
And then there’s the defensive side of the ball. Hunter Hillenmeyer might be the best-kept secret at the linebacker position in all of football. He showed that last night, making 15 tackles and a forced fumble in overtime on Adrian Peterson.
Now, I understand that Hillenmeyer had part of the facemask on that tackle, but it looked like it was incidental contact. It’s part of the game, and the officials missed the call. It was still a great play to punch the ball out during that crucial point in the game.
Hillenmeyer has gotten his chance to showcase his capabilities of as a starter since Brian Urlacher went down for the season. He’s third on the team in total tackles, behind Lance Briggs and Danieal Manning. He’s also become a master at forcing fumbles, with four this season.
For a program that produces very few NFL stars, the Bears are showing other NFL scouts to start looking at Vanderbilt players a little bit harder.
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