Cade McConnell was preparing for bed the night of Oct. 19 and saw a video of him blocking during Vanderbilt football’s matchup with LSU. The video had been posted by the X account of the Joe Moore Award. McConnell reposted the post and went to sleep.
The next morning, McConnell was inundated with notifications. The video had gone viral. Wanting to remain focused on the upcoming game against Missouri, McConnell deleted the X app from his phone.
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“Hype is good,” McConnell said Oct. 21. “The more eyes you have on you, the better we’re going to play. It’s a good thing, but at the same time I think staying locked into the 1-0 mentality is really what we need to do.”
In the video, McConnell blocks one LSU defensive lineman, who falls to the ground, then turns and blocks another defensive lineman, who also falls to the ground.
Vanderbilt (6-1, 2-1 SEC) won the game, 31-24. Next, the Commodores will face Missouri (6-1, 2-1) on Oct. 25 at FirstBank Stadium with “College GameDay” in town.
The Joe Moore Award is given to the top offensive line in college football. Vanderbilt was named to the award’s Midseason Honor Roll along with 23 other teams.
“That kid’s a dog,” defensive lineman Joshua Singh said of McConnell. “On offense, defense, Cade’s a good o-lineman, the whole o-line is good.”
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McConnell said he may re-download X after this weekend, but for now, the viral video is largely out of mind.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Cade McConnell talks about viral blocking play vs LSU
