Jared Curtis Talks on His Arrival on Campus and Why He Committed to Vanderbilt – Sports Illustrated

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NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt freshman quarterback Jared Curtis walked into the press conference room of the Commodores’ FirstBank Stadium and let out an audible “Woah” as he saw reporters sitting and prepared to talk to the five-star recruit for the first time.
It is one of the many elements that Curtis will have to get used to throughout his collegiate career, but speaking to the media for the first time at the college level was certainly a moment that he probably will not forget.
Curtis has been one of the biggest talking points amongst all the sports talk in Nashville since he committed to Vanderbilt in December. It has been a whirlwind of a few months for the Nashville native as he decommitted from Georgia and opened his recruitment back up before ultimately joining the Commodores’ roster.
In the time since he arrived on campus, Curtis has been focused on getting into the swing of college life from football to academics. And that includes working with his new coaching staff and his new teammates.
“It’s been fun just coming in here and learning with the guys and spending every day with the freshmen. Every day, it’s something new. And you just come in here and learn what you can,” Curtis said as he tried to explain what his life has been like since getting to Vanderbilt.
Curtis’ flip to Vanderbilt was one of the biggest storylines in college athletics a few months ago as the calendar turned from 2025 to 2026. It may have caught plenty of college football fans off guard. Before head coach Clark Lea and Vanderbilt’s transformation over the past two seasons, the idea that a five-star quarterback would commit to a program like Vanderbilt was inconceivable.
But that speaks to how effective and how special the turnaround for the program has been. Lea’s vision has been poured into his guys and they have turned it into success on the field and have become very much a relevant program in a short amount of time.
And that is how Curtis was evidently swayed to commit to Vanderbilt. Part of the origin of Curtis’ commitment is from a phone call that he had with his new head coach. From that call stemmed a belief in Lea’s program and one that ultimately led him to going to college in the same city he went to high school in.
“I believed in coach Lea’s plan. Just coming in here and for the practices that I came to and even the game. Getting on the phone with coach Lea and talking to him about the plan he thinks that we can accomplish as a team and I believed in it,” Curtis said. “That’s ultimately the reason that I chose here.”
Now on campus and in spring practice, Curtis has made it a point to do what he can to learn a college offense and get everything down that he needs to. One of the things Curtis has been doing to help with that is learning from the older quarterbacks on the roster between Blaze Berlowitz, Jack Elliott and Whit Muschamp in addition to quarterbacks coach Trenton Kirklin.
But with that, comes the process of developing as a player. Lea talked about how patience with Curtis is key and Curtis agreed.
“Yeah, he’s absolutely right. Going out there and being patient with the process. Being eager to learn and patient in the process is what he preaches to us, so I just try to keep that in the back of my mind and move forward every day,” Curtis said.
Going forward the rest of spring practice and into the summer and fall emphasis on development will continue to be the biggest thing as far as Curtis and the coaching staff is concerned.
Kirklin’s and the coaching staff’s focus with Curtis is how he adjusts to the college life in and outside of football and led the learning the development take place through that.
“Everybody’s aware of his ability. You watch him throw and it’s impressive, but the most important thing right now is we cannot microwave his success. We’ve got to do a great job of ‘Hey, what is your process?’ He’s a brand new college student. I’m more concerned with not the football player, but the human,” Kirklin said. “And okay ‘What’s your process for film? What’s your process for practice? What is your process for school?’”
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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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