Rivals Analysis: 4-Star Anfernee Orji's commitment to Vanderbilt

Four-star defensive athlete Anfernee Orji announced his commitment to Vanderbilt on July third without much indication to the general public beforehand. The timing of his decision may have been a bit surprising but the program of choice certainly isn’t, as his older brother and 2018 Rivals250 linebacker Alston Orji signed with the Commodores in last year’s recruiting class.

Speculation about whether or not Anfernee Orji is a linebacker in waiting, despite primarily playing safety to this point of his career has perhaps been the biggest overall theme when it’s come to him. In games, he’s proven to be an effective secondary player but in camp settings, hasn’t really shown the quickness or loose enough movement to put him in the conversation with other elite-level safeties. The simplest way to put things is that he’s a pure strong or in-the-box safety that is going to be best playing as close to the line of scrimmage as possible should he not transition to a linebacker at some point. His physicality should play well in the SEC and on a tough Vanderbilt defense that benefited in a big way from the familial connection.

Baylor may have felt like it was in a good place with him for the better part of his recruitment and though the Bears have done well to recruit under tough circumstances, bagging a four-star prospect would have been a nice addition to things. Baylor did land a recent commitment from Solomon Turner who is a player very much in the same mold of Orji but less of a known commodity. Minnesota also was aggressively recruiting Orji and the Gophers recently picked up a commitment from his teammate, quarterback Jacob Clark, but were also left without their first four-star commitment in 2019.

Rockwall has proven to be a pretty deep well for talent out of the Dallas area and still has some interesting players available to recruit. 2019 cornerback Elijah Coleman could be the type of player that sees his recruitment take off this fall. In 2020, Rivals250 wide receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba leads the discussion and also holds a Vandy offer. Offensive linemen Ethan Fossier and Mat Joyce are also players that seem primed to start picking up offers in the near future. Even though it may look as though Anfernee’s commitment might have been influenced most heavily by his older brother, it still gives Vandy that much more of an endorsement with the prospects at Rockwall and could continue to pay dividends.