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ATHENS, GA—When Vanderbilt watched Jared Curtis go through individual warm ups and test his bruised knee, it knew that Curtis wasn’t healthy enough to put it in the best position to win. Vanderbilt held onto optimism that Curtis would play until Saturday, but Curtis never proved that he was healthy enough to do so.
Curtis went through a number of individual tests in which he stretched, tested his start-stop ability and his straight-line running ability prior to Vanderbilt's matchup against Georgia. When Curtis finished, he stood at the 20-yard line talking with a trainer for a few minutes. Curtis also threw passes to Vanderbilt receivers at midfield pregame. But, he emerged from the locker room with no pads and sweatpants on when he came back out.
But, Vanderbilt needed him to look like himself more than he did on Saturday. Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea knew it, and Curtis knew it. As a result, Vanderbilt started veteran backup Blaze Berlowitz in Curtis’ place and also played backups Whit Muschamp and Jack Elliott.
“He tried really hard to be ready to play,” Lea said. “I hurt for Jared. Obviously, he wanted to be out there with his teammates. He wanted to help his teammates win a game on the road.”
Lea said postgame that Curtis didn’t have an injury setback heading into Saturday’s game and believes Vanderbilt was forthcoming in regard to the way it labeled Curtis’ status. Curtis had been listed as questionable on the SEC Availability Report all week after getting “banged up” in Vanderbilt’s week four loss to Auburn. He was listed as a game-time decision on the final availability report of the week, 90 minutes prior to gametime.
While speaking to the media, Lea noted Thursday that Curtis’ injury isn’t long term. But, he did call it “challenging.”
Curtis has gone through his fair share of growing pains through the first four weeks of his college career, but there appears to be an industry-wide acknowledgment that they’re normal for a player in his situation.
“Tremendous talent. He’s way better athletically than people give him credit for. I don’t know if anybody’s tackled him like with one person tackling him yet,” Georgia coach Kirby Smart said prior to Saturday’s game. “He’s strong, he’s quick, powerful. He’s got great arm talent. I mean, everything everybody has thought has been true.”
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Joey Dwyer is the lead writer on Vanderbilt Commodores On SI. He found his first love in college sports at nearby Lipscomb University and decided to make a career of telling its best stories. He got his start doing a Notre Dame basketball podcast from his basement as a 14-year-old during COVID and has since aimed to make that 14-year-old proud. Dwyer has covered Vanderbilt sports for three years and previously worked for 247 Sports and Rivals. He contributes to Seth Davis' Hoops HQ, Basket Under Review and Mainstreet Nashville.
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