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NASHVILLE—Clark Lea admits with a chuckle that he’s never quite had a player do something like what Vanderbilt freshman quarterback Jared Curtis has this spring.
Curtis is set to have a role–which includes lines and camera time within the first few minutes of the movie–in Nate Bargatze’s new movie The Breadwinner as a result of the initial pitch Bargatze gave him to flip his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt football. Bargatze is Vanderbilt’s most famous fan and rallied for Curtis to flip his commitment on the College Gameday set last fall. It’s a demonstration of the magnitude of Curtis’ profile, but Lea says it hasn’t overtaken all that much airspace within Vanderbilt’s McGugin Center.
“I haven’t even thought about it,” Lea told Vandy on SI in regard to Curtis taking on a role in the movie. “He’s been great, and he’s made sure he’s kept his focus on the team first and the work that needs to be done first. His involvement in that has happened in the corners of the day rather than disrupting our routine.”
With Jared Curtis' movie role, Vanderbilt football is connecting the way it always intended to with Nashville.
That means something.
Column @VandyOnSI: https://t.co/bciBfmKxIb
Curtis’ filming schedule came in the midst of Vanderbilt’s spring practices, but Bargatze said on the Pat McAfee show that Curtis was intent on being at Vanderbilt’s McGugin Center daily instead of missing days of practice in favor of pursuing his NIL-related activities with Bargatze. Bargatze says that Curtis didn’t want special treatment because of his gravitas and says that Vanderbilt has a leader in its freshman quarterback.
Lea told Vandy on SI in the spring that Curtis wasn’t breaking down the huddle at that point and had to settle into a leadership role, but that he respected the traits that Curtis had in terms of his mindset. Lea has gained a new level of respect for Curtis in that way as a result of seeing how he handled his role in Bargatze’s film.
“This guy's really humble and really hardworking and that's been kind of–obviously, I got to know him a little bit in recruiting, but we had a shorter time that way. He really is a great fit for our program and his modesty, his humility, how hard he works,” Lea said.”He wants to be a great teammate. I mean, this guy really wants to win and be good. So he hasn't let the ancillary become a distraction from what he's focused on day and day out.”
In a way, Curtis has the opportunity to allow the ancillary to become a distraction more than any Vanderbilt football player that’s ever come through the program.
Lea’s first public remarks on Curtis came in the form of a declaration that he was the best prospect in the country. The declaration was prefaced with the comment that Curtis hadn’t yet won the starting job, but it already put a weight on his shoulders.
Curtis’ recruitment involved signs at College Gameday promoting him, current Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia comparing aspects of his game to NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes, Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin standing on the sidelines at one of his regular season games and a full-on Curtis watch at Vanderbilt’s game against Missouri.
Watching Curtis in spring practice provided a reminder that he’s merely a freshman, but he often demonstrated why he’s the highest-ranked prospect that this program has ever rostered. Perhaps, more than anything, it demonstrated that he has the mental fortitude to be a star quarterback at Vanderbilt.
“The way he approaches work and his teammates within the work has been impressive,” Lea said early in the spring. “Really high marks on him in terms of his competitive character and his mindset, he's made mistakes on the field and he doesn't hold onto those, which is a great quality for the quarterback position.”
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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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