“The first year they sleep, the second year they creep, the third year they leap.”

As Derek Mason heads into his third year at Vanderbilt, he’s hoping that common gardening phrase also holds true for his football team.

His first year didn’t go so well. The Commodores went 3-9 and failed to win an SEC game. There was improvement from Year 1 to Year 2, though, as they won two conference games and finished 4-8 overall. But 2016 is their year to take the next step and leap.

It was no surprise then that the team had a little extra bounce in its step when spring practice began last week. The momentum gained at the end of last season has carried over.

“Last year there was just so much work to get done,” Mason told reporters prior to the first practice. “Now there’s work to get done, but you have a better sense of the work that needs to be done.”

There are fewer unknowns compared to years past, and that has allowed Mason to focus on the fundamentals this spring.

“That part of it for us now is front and center,” he said. “What does the fundamental football look like and what are we teaching? Is it showing up for us? Are these guys getting exactly what we want and are they showing exactly what we’ve asked them to do schematically?

“I’m more confident in what’s happening offensively, defensively and on special teams.”

There should be more confidence. This is a Vandy team that beat Missouri and Kentucky and was a play or two away from taking down Florida, the SEC East champ, this past season. The defense finished in the Top 10 nationally in efficiency, and the Commodores return eight starters on both the offense and defense.

The talent is there to make the leap. But what about the mindset?

“[The mindset] is just not settling,” Vanderbilt running back Ralph Webb said. “Just making sure we’re coming out there with a work mentality and believing in ourselves that we can win. That’s the biggest thing -- to make sure we believe in ourselves that we can go out there and execute.

“It’s a rebuilding process to get to where we want to go, and I think spring ball is very pivotal for the team to form chemistry and get the timing down of the whole offense.”

Webb is one of the many reasons for Vanderbilt fans to be excited. The junior has rushed for over 900 yards two straight years, and he was fifth in the SEC this past year with 96 yards per game. Of the league’s returning backs, only LSU’s Leonard Fournette and Tennessee’s Jalen Hurd averaged more.

But Webb can’t improve the offense by himself, which is why the return of Andrew Jelks, C.J. Duncan and Jared Pinkney from injury is so important.

Jelks, a former SEC freshman All-American, and Duncan, a breakout candidate last year, suffered season-ending injuries during fall camp. Pinkney, meanwhile, went down in the first game. All three are back this spring.

“It’s exciting,” Mason said. “For me, just to see all those guys back out on the grass and to see these guys move around a little bit, our football team looks different. It looks more athletic. It looks a little more confident because those guys have played in ballgames.

There are still plenty of question marks. Can Kyle Shurmur be the quarterback that Mason has lacked since he arrived in Nashville? Can the defense keep playing at the level it did a year ago without the likes of Caleb Azubike, Stephen Weatherly and Darreon Herring?

Still, there’s plenty of excitement. This could be the leap year.