Jared Curtis, considered by some to be the No. 1-ranked quarterback for the Class of 2026, is listed as No. 2 on Vanderbilt football‘s spring roster.
Where the Nashville Christian graduate and Commodores early enrollee ends up on the depth chart come the 2026 season’s start on Sept. 5 remains to be seen.
Curtis’ 6-foot-3, 230-pound stature, not to mention his arm, give off NFL vibes, suggesting he would be a no-brainer pick to be the Commodores‘ heir apparent to Heisman Trophy runner-up Diego Pavia when the season begins. Especially considering Curtis rescinded his commitment to Georgia to play for Vanderbilt.
Commodores coach Clark Lea reiterated after the team’s spring game on April 18 that there’s a quarterback competition. He insists that it’s real.
“I’m not going to make a quarterback decision (right now),” he said. “My goal is for each of these guys to be positioned to compete at the highest level in the fall. They all bring to the table things that can help us win, but we need to take the time to make sure we’ve seen this super clearly.”
During the Black and Gold spring game, the culmination of Vanderbilt football’s spring practices, Curtis took turns taking snaps with Blaze Berlowitz, Whit Muschamp and Jack Elliott.
Lea later reminded everyone in the interview room what is obvious, but still relevant.
“You can’t prepare four people to play in a game,” he said. “So this will be kind of a process of elimination.”
The spring portion of that process came to a close April 18, which by Lea’s estimation was not nearly as important as the team’s previous two scrimmages, because this was more for fans and friends and families.
A celebration of the end of spring practice, if you will.
No official statistics were kept, outside of a wonky scoring system, but stats were kept nonetheless.
Berlowitz, who played the first two drives, was 4-for-10 for 77 yards, a touchdown and an interception.
Curtis finished 5-for-13 for 88 yards, with no interceptions or touchdowns.
Muschamp was 7-for-9 for 92 yards and a touchdown.
Elliott was 6-for-11 for 89 yards.
Lea isn’t ignoring the elephant in the Commodores’ quarterback room. He knows that for the most part, outside expectation is that Curtis will be the starter. Curtis will receive a majority of the attention, for better or worse, as a five-start recruit. Comes with the territory.
Lea also knows that Berlowitz, right now, knows the Commodores’ system better. Has more experience.
“For (Curtis) to close the gap, and I think it’s important for us to give him time to close the gap . . . time is going to give him the opportunity to grow into the system, into the structure,” Lea said, “because that position needs to be able to line up the other 10 and get them pointed in the same direction.”
In other words: Time to learn how to command a huddle, get his cadence down, get his mind into the same stratosphere as his natural abilities, be willing to make the little plays so he can make the bigger plays.
“From a physical standpoint, he’s there,” Lea said of Curtis. “From a mental processing point, that’s where we have to cover ground, and that’s where we’ll be focused.”
Paul Skrbina is a sports enterprise reporter covering the Predators, Titans, Nashville SC, local colleges and local sports for The Tennessean. Reach him at pskrbina@tennessean.com and on the X platform (formerly known as Twitter) @paulskrbina.
