Carey Spear

Classroom

Spear is on schedule to graduate in May 2014. He is majoring in Human and Organizational Development, with a concentration on leadership. He is a two-time Southeastern Conference Academic Honor Roll recipient (2011-12). Spear holds a cumulative GPA of 3.15.

Character

Charitable and compassionate yet driven and hard working, Spear represents everything good about college athletics. Medically, he has endured three surgical procedures to overcome Supraventricular Tachycardia (SVT), a heart rhythm disorder that forced him to give up soccer. Spear’s team-oriented approach has been recognized by teammates, who have selected him as Vanderbilt’s first three-year captain in nearly a decade.

Community

For the past two years, Spear and other teammates have actively contributed to community outreach projects guided by CrossPoint Church, including mentoring women struggling with addiction and adopt-a-block cleanup efforts. He has volunteered and mentored clients of Nashville’s Safe Harbor, a recovery program aiming to keep adult men drug and alcohol free. Spear also occasionally visits Vanderbilt’s Monroe Carell Jr. Children’s Hospital to raise spirits of ailing children. Finally, Spear has participate in mission trips to Mexico, Haiti and Peru as a Vanderbilt student.

Competition

Spear is one of the nation’s elite placekickers. A 2013 Lou Groza Award preseason candidate, Spear was an All-Southeastern Conference selection (Associated Press) as a junior in 2012 after putting together the finest season ever by a Vanderbilt placekicker. Spear set a new team single-season record by making 20 field goals. He displayed both accuracy (20-of-24 on FG attempts) and strength (made five FGs of at least 44 yards, including two of 50 yards or more).