What Clark Lea Said About Jared Curtis and Vanderbilt Offense After Bye Week – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE — The last time Vanderbilt freshman quarterback Jared Curtis was seen in action, he was one of the bright spots in a road loss to Kentucky. 
It was a game where despite the mistakes Curtis made during the night, he still showed promise to the point where head coach Clark Lea felt like it was one of his cleaner games he has seen Curtis play this season.
Since then, Vanderbilt went into its bye week and got back to week during a quiet week in Nashville. This week, the Commodores hit the road to face off a wounded Mississippi State team.
In preparation for what is easily the best opportunity remaining for Vanderbilt to snap its losing streak, Lea talked about what he has seen out of Curtis’ progression since the night Vanderbilt lost in Lexington.
“With every week that Jared works, he’s getting better and there’s improvement. I’m not expecting a perfect effort from him, but if he can work from his position to protect the ball and then to eliminate the pre-snaps and the way he communicates and operates, I think that's an important improvement,” Lea said.
The freshman mistakes are what has hurt Curtis the most this season. At times, he has tried to play hero ball and force the issue on some plays and ends up throwing interceptions. Obviously, that is not ideal, but as a freshman with talent those mistakes are going to happen.
One of the more noteworthy things Lea said about Curtis going into the Kentucky game was how he has seen his five-star quarterback develop into a leader of the offense. He named offensive veterans like Cade McConnell and MK Young as guys that have given Curtis room to lead.
Coming out of the bye week, that sentiment has not changed. Lea stood firm Monday in his belief that Curtis is taking the room to lead that his teammates give him and making the most of it. 
Offensively as a whole, though, Curtis has been far from the problem. The Commodores have not been able to support Curtis close to enough as of late. Whether it be offensive line play or a lack of running game, Curtis has not gotten much help. Perhaps that is something that has led to plays where it looks like Curtis is forcing throws that turn into mistakes.
The main issue has been the lack of a rushing attack. Vanderbilt ran for a total of 15 yards against Kentucky on 17 rushing attempts. The Commodores running back duo of Sedrick Alexander and MK Young combined for just two yards on six carries. To put it simply, Vanderbilt has been completely one-dimensional on offense. As a result, that has put a ton of pressure on Curtis to produce every possession.
Lea knows his offense must find something in the run game. He isn’t asking for a lot, but he does want to see some sort of life on the ground that takes pressure off Curtis.
“We’ve got to get to a point where we have an identity in the run game. It doesn’t need to mean that we’re running for 200 yards a week. We did it in ‘24. It was ‘hey, how do we take pressure off the quarterback and stay on schedule offensively,” Lea said. “Too many times that ball’s being handed off to negative yardage plays to unblocked defenders.”
Lea is understandably frustrated about the nonexistent run game. He wants to call running plays, but he knows he cannot because there is not an identity in the rushing attack.
Addressing the issue in the run game was a big point of emphasis over the bye week, Lea said. Doing that is not going to get any easier this week against a Mississippi State run defense that is No. 32 in college football in rushing yards allowed per game.
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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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