What Clark Lea Said About Blaze Berlowitz’ Performance in Loss to No. 2 Georgia – Sports Illustrated

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ATHENS, Ga. — Two days after Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea named five-star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis the starter, Lea was asked about his level of comfort playing now-backup quarterback Blaze Berlowitz if need be.
Safe to say, Lea was more than comfortable if he ever had to play Berlowitz.
“Oh absolutely. We’re going to need Blaze and we're going to need the other quarterbacks in the room. The way he’s handled himself is reflective of the kind of person we want in this program,” Lea said.
Fast forward to Vanderbilt’s game against No. 2 Georgia Saturday, Berlowitz’ time to shine had arrived. Curtis was unable to play against the Bulldogs with what the SEC Network broadcast said was a knee bruise injury after getting banged up on a play against Auburn a week ago. That gave Berlowitz the start.
And to his credit, Berlowitz handled the moment well. While he may not have had the game of his life, Berlowitz threw for 190 yards and a touchdown with one interception on 12-for-23 passing. Though it was not enough to pull off a stunner, it was enough to keep Vanderbilt in the fight for about two-and-a-half quarters.
“I’m proud of Blaze,” Lea said in regards to his assessment of Berlowitz’ performance. “I thought he played with courage. And it wasn’t perfect, but he showed the ability to make some plays with his legs. He was able to connect with Junior [Sherrill] in some critical moments.”
The first big play Berlowitz made was a 60-yard touchdown pass to the aforementioned wide receiver Junior Sherrill. Sherrill was able to get separation in the Georgia secondary and Berlowitz gave him a nice pass that he took to the end zone to tie the game at 7-7.
As the guy that caught seven passes from Berlowitz for 107 yards Saturday, Sherrill saw up close the development Berlowitz had in this type of game.
“A lot of maturity, a lot of growth. He played a great game and commanded the offense as well,” Sherrill said.
Berlowitz was able to do a little bit of damage in the running game for his 37 rushing yards on eight carries. He scrambled when he needed to and for the majority of the time, Berlowitz made the right choices.
That was perhaps the best part of Berlowitz’ day. Even though he did throw one interception on a 50/50 ball in the second half, Berlowitz did a good job overall taking care of the football, which helped the Commodores stay close with the Bulldogs for as long as they did.
“The ball wasn’t in a compromised position. I thought his decision-making was good and I felt like he gave us a chance to be within striking distance,” Lea said.
Lea was also complimentary of Berlowitz’ character in the wake of having to fill in for Curtis. Lea knew how much it meant to Curtis for him to play against the school he was originally committed to. But when Curtis could not play, Lea said he felt fortunate to have a quarterback like Berlowitz to fill in for the freshman.
Last week, Berlowitz stepped in as a wide receiver and played a couple snaps at the position after practicing as a wide receiver leading up to the Auburn game. This week, he did his job filling in for Curtis. Say what you want about how Berlowitz performed to start the season, but he earned the credit for keeping his team in the game going into halftime against a national title contender.
“We’re really fortunate to have a guy like Blaze, who has such character and toughness and believes in himself and believes in the team,” Lea said.
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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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