Vanderbilt football fans haven’t often been treated to one of the nation’s best positional players wearing black and gold over the years.
That will change in 2025 when tight end Eli Stowers returns for his final season.
Already named a preseason first-team All-American by Athlon, Phil Steele and the Walter Camp Football Foundation, Stowers is gaining all kinds of national attention as Vandy’s 2025 season nears:
• ESPN football analyst Matt Miller ranks Stowers as the best tight end in the country, while fellow ESPN analyst Jordan Reid ranks Stowers second, trailing only Oregon’s Kenyon Sadiq.
• Pro Football Focus ranks Stowers as the 19th-best player — at any position — heading into the season. In fact, Stowers is the only tight end that the analytics website ranks in its top 50 players for 2025.
• The Tankathon website ranks Stowers as the nation’s top 2026 NFL Draft prospect at tight end and the 50th-best overall prospect at any position.
“He’s a really great athlete,” Vanderbilt cornerback/wide receiver Martel Hight said of Stowers during SEC media days in Atlanta this week.
“He’s physical, pretty tall, has great hands. He doesn’t drop the ball. So guarding him is pretty tough. [He has a] bigger body, and he’s pretty swift, pretty big and pretty fast.”
A high school quarterback who has played tight end for only two seasons — just one at Vanderbilt — the 6-3, 235-pound Stowers racked up 49 catches for 638 yards (13-yard average) and five touchdowns in 2024.
Stowers would have almost certainly been a Day Two pick in the NFL Draft had he chosen to go pro. But his decision to return for another season is a good sign for the Vanderbilt football program.
The Commodores’ success on the field last season, as well as the school’s willingness to pay competitive NIL money to its top talents, each played a role in luring Stowers back. It didn’t hurt either that he and quarterback Diego Pavia are close friends, a bond that began when the two played together at New Mexico State in 2023.
“I think his choice to return is a testament to where we are as a program,” Vandy coach Clark Lea said. “You know, 2021, 2022 were defined by us losing players — drafted players to other programs and losing free agent graded players to the NFL.
“Our willingness in the last couple years to really step up from an NIL standpoint, and put the infrastructure in place to be competitive in the revenue sharing era, allows us to bring a guy like Eli back … I think that’s a great statement for Vanderbilt.”
Pavia certainly isn’t complaining, considering Stowers’ 49 catches were 20 more than the figures of wide receivers Junior Sherrill and Quincy Skinner, Jr., who were next on Vandy’s list.
A member of The Athletic’s annual Freak List of top college football athletes last season, Stowers won the 2019 Texas 6A high-jump title, and he has already recorded a vertical jump of 41-1/2 inches in college.
Stowers is both fast and elusive, as he forced 13 missed tackles last season (third most among Power Four conference tight ends, per PFF) and totaled 373 yards after the catch (fourth most among that same group).
The fact that he played quarterback in high school and for two years at Texas A&M — where Stowers didn’t see much action — helps him as a pass catcher as well.
“I know you see that smile on my face when you bring him up,” Pavia said of Stowers. “Natural talent … What makes him the best tight end in the country is that he’s played quarterback before, so he knows the openings. He knows where to sit. He knows what’s open. He gets a pre-snap read. He’s just an all-around player.”
Stowers produced three games of at least six catches and more than 100 yards last season, including his signature contest — six receptions for 113 yards in Vandy’s upset of No. 1 Alabama.
Who knows what Stowers — versatile enough that he’s thrown for one touchdown and run the ball 34 times for 115 yards and two touchdowns over three seasons — has in store for 2025?
“He’s got such a maturity … that complements his physical skills [and] put him among the best of the best,” Lea said. “He’s a good athlete, smart … lined up [in] the wildcat. He’s played quarterback in this system. We flex him out as receiver.
“We try to find matchups with him. He’s a trusted pair of hands for Diego.”