What Will Jared Curtis’ Role be Against Austin Peay? – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE – It may not be the most ideal situation Vanderbilt football would like to be in, but it is the reality the program is facing.
Vanderbilt’s quarterback situation is certainly an interesting one to monitor, especially after Tuesday's announcement. Earlier this week, Blaze Berlowitz was announced as the starting quarterback for Vanderbilt’s first game of the 2026 season against Austin Peay.
But that is not all. Five-star true freshman quarterback Jared Curtis will also see game action against the Governors in Week 1. It will be Curtis’ first experience playing in college football.
Even though he is not starting, it does not take away from the excitement and potential he can bring to the Commodores’ offense this fall. There is a lot of development for Curtis to go through, but he will do what he can to maybe take over as the starting quarterback at some point.
So, what will Curtis’ role be against Austin Peay on Sept. 5?
“I think that we have an idea of where we want to insert and I think that will come more into focus as we get close to the game,” Lea said. “But we want to caution against putting hard barriers on that because you have to understand the flow of the game and game situation.”
Perhaps Lea and offensive coordinator Tim Beck could have some pre-planned thoughts of what Curtis’ role will look like in his first appearance, but it does not look like the specifics of it would be talked about yet.
And Lea is right. The way the game is going matters a lot in terms of how the quarterbacks are switched in and out. If Vanderbilt builds itself a big cushion early, maybe Curtis comes in then. If Berlowitz is not executing at the level Lea would want, maybe Curtis comes into the game earlier than planned.
Regardless of when Curtis comes into the game and the capacity of his role against Austin Peay, it does not seem like Curtis will be taking garbage time reps, or reps with guys that do not see as much playing time as the starters.
Balancing the experience, solid start from Blaze with the experience Curtis needs is of the utmost importance and Lea knows it.
“That is the most important aspect. This can’t be a situation where we name a starter and he gets all the reps with the ones, right? What we’re doing is we’re organizing the offense around how we’re starting the game, but we understand that Jared is going to be inserted in the game. And he’ll be playing with the first group of players,” Lea said.
The way Vanderbilt has gone about getting its quarterbacks reps in practice since the announcement has been essentially the same way it has been doing so since the beginning of fall camp, according to Lea. Both Berlowitz and Curtis seem to be getting experience and building a rapport with the players they need to.
As for the Week 1 plan, Berlowitz is going to start the game, but Curtis will get his necessary rep share.
“He’s [Berlowitz] been in game week preparation. He’s going to get the reps he needs to be ready, but we’re going to make sure that we have almost an equal share of those where Jared feels like he’s still developing and he’s also prepared because of that investment,” Lea said. That’s where things are. How we’re operating so far in the last two days has been basically the same way we’ve operated through training camp.”
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Graham Baakko is a writer for Vanderbilt Commodores On SI, primarily covering football, basketball and baseball. Graham is a recent graduate from the University of Alabama, where he wrote for The Crimson White, WVUA-FM, WVUA 23 as he covered a variety of Crimson Tide sports. He also covered South Carolina athletics as a sportswriting intern for GamecockCentral.
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