Nation's No. 1 college football prospect predicted to start in freshman season – Sports Illustrated

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The end of every college football season brings about an important period for future roster construction across the country.
The NCAA transfer portal window lasted two weeks, beginning on Jan. 2 and finishing at midnight on Jan. 16. Few vestiges remain of the several thousand players who decided to enter the transfer portal between the end of the 2025 regular season and the end of the two-week window.
While transfers have become more prioritized over the last five college football seasons, high school recruiting is still an important element of roster management for college coaches. Programs rounded out their 2026 football recruiting classes on Early Signing Day, which was Dec. 3, 2025.
Seeing the field has become somewhat of a rarity for true freshmen, but there are a handful who figure to compete for starting roles at their respective programs. Max Olson, Adam Rittenberg and Eli Lederman of ESPN compiled a list of who they believe will start quarterback at each Power Four school in 2026. They listed freshman Jared Curtis as Vanderbilt's probable starter next season.
"Curtis will be working with a slightly different set of playmakers than Diego Pavia relied upon with All-America tight end Eli Stowers and third-leading receiver Tre Richardson headed to Louisville," they wrote. "If Curtis is the Commodores' Week 1 starter, the program's Oct. 3 trip to Georgia could present an especially juicy early matchup."
The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder was a five-star prospect coming out of Nashville Christian School. Curtis committed to Georgia on two different occasions during his high school recruitment; the first was a seven-month period from March to October of 2024, and the second was another seven-month period from May to December of 2025. Curtis flipped his commitment to Vanderbilt on Dec. 2, one day prior to Early Signing Day.
Curtis will have significant shoes to fill with Diego Pavia's departure for the 2026 NFL draft. Despite reaching a few unbeaten seasons in the early 1900s, the Commodores had never won more than nine games in a season until Pavia guided them to a 10-3 record in 2025.
The only scholarship quarterback with game experience at Vanderbilt in 2025 is Blaze Berlowitz. He appeared in the Commodores' blowout wins over Charleston Southern, Virginia Tech, South Carolina, Georgia State, Utah State and Kentucky. In total, he completed nine of 17 pass attempts for 131 yards and a touchdown while running the ball 11 times for 81 yards and another touchdown.
Tucker Harlin is a passionate sports fan and journalist covering college sports. His work can be found on Vols Wire of the USA TODAY Sports Media Group and The Voice of College Football Network. He graduated from the School of Journalism and Media at the University of Tennessee in 2024 and is based in Nashville.
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