ESPN College Football

Posted by ESPN.com's Chris Low

Vanderbilt staged its first major scrimmage of the spring Sunday, and it was a productive start for sophomore quarterback Larry Smith in his quest to lock down the starting job.

Smith's ability to throw the ball is going to make him hard to beat, especially with the Commodores trying to beef up their passing game. He threw a 38-yard touchdown pass to Terrence Jeffers on a deep route in the end zone Sunday.

Smith also helped set up the offense's final touchdown with a 17-yard pass to Alex Washington. Sophomore tailback Ryan van Rensburg then carried four straight times, including a 2-yard touchdown run.

The third touchdown of the scrimmage came on Jared Funk's 8-yard pass to Turner Wimberly.

"It's our first full-go practice of the spring, but I thought we were fairly physical," Vanderbilt coach Bobby Johnson said. "I saw some hitting going on, and I thought we practiced with energy. We'll go back and look at the film to see what we did right and what we have to work on. Overall, we improved as a team today."

Some of the other scrimmage highlights included:

• A pair of senior defensive standouts, end Steven Stone and tackle Greg Billinger, made big plays on the initial possession, with Billinger's quarterback sack on third down stopping the drive.

• Junior tailback Kennard Reeves rushed for 28 yards after breaking an open-field tackle, then took a Funk pass 12 yards for another first down before a deep possession stalled inside the red zone.

• After Smith hit sophomore Udom Umoh for 17 yards, sophomore defensive end Tim Fugger made a pair of stops, and junior linebacker Nate Campbell deflected a Smith pass on third down to halt a drive.

• Linebacker Brent Trice made three straight impressive plays -- including a sack and tackle for loss -- to end an offensive threat.

• Senior safety Joel Caldwell ended a deep offensive threat by deflecting a deep pass by Funk at the goal line on third down.