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NASHVILLE—Jared Curtis roamed to his right, evaded the pressure and threw it across his body to find Vanderbilt running back Evan Hampton. By the time Hampton was on the ground, Vanderbilt was less than three yards away from scoring.
The moment was indicative of all that Vanderbilt loved about Curtis during the recruiting process. It showcased his natural arm talent, mobility and instincts. The ball just comes out of Curtis’ hand differently–and more impressively–than anyone else’s on Vanderbilt’s roster. His creativity was perhaps the best thing he demonstrated on Saturday, as well. Some of the plays Curtis made are ones that nobody else in Vanderbilt’s room can make often.
“He believes in himself, he has courage, he has the physical traits to get himself out of trouble,” Lea said. “I think from the physical trade standpoint, he's there. From the mental processing standpoint, that's where we got to cover ground, and that's where we focused. And for me, that is both his process, pre snap and post snap, the creative elements will be there, and they'll be dynamic, but, he has to consistently own the operation.”
Two plays after his cross-body throw to Hampton, though, Curtis demonstrated why he’s still in the midst of what Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea is calling an open quarterback competition that isn’t all that close to a resolution. Curtis rolled to his left past Vanderbilt defensive end Jake Stanish and threw it out of bounds while outside of the tackle box in an effort to nullify the play. What Curtis failed to account for, though, was that he needed to get the ball back to the line of scrimmage. The ball wasn’t all that close to the line of scrimmage and represented a mental error.
Even with that moment and a few other sloppy plays factored in–which indicate that Curtis still has a significant ways to go before taking on stardom at this level–Curtis still had the look of being the best option to be Vanderbilt’s starting quarterback on Saturday.
Berlowitz has been better at stages of camp and has had the best stretch of weeks this spring since he arrived in Nashville a few seasons ago. Saturday, though, Curtis demonstrated that Vanderbilt should give him a chance to play through his mistakes early rather than giving Berlowitz the first look.
In some ways that had more to do with what Berlowitz did than what Curtis did. Berlowitz’ first two drives included a number of the types of throws that he hoped were left in his past. His most noteworthy example was an interception that he threw on the second drive of the afternoon that was floated up and landed in the chest of a safety. The moments that weren’t all that noteworthy still included Berlowitz leaving a few balls in compromising positions for receivers.
The difference between the two was that a number of Curtis’ incompletions—while he went 5-for-13 as a passer for 89 yards—were a result of misses rather than merely poor decisions—although he had a few of those. Berlowitz had his share of misses, too, but his decision making drew more questioning than Curtis’.
Berlowitz had a few nice throws on his third drive of the afternoon, but his numbers were pumped up by a 40-yard touchdown throw to Tristen Brown on a screen pass in which the defense broke down.
What Berlowitz did Saturday didn’t separate him positively, and it had to plant a seed of doubt into just about everyone’s minds. There were too many freshman mistakes from a guy who is here to be the veteran in the room. He’s just got to be steadier and less turnover prone.
Vanderbilt underclassmen Jack Elliott and Whit Muschamp also haven’t had their reps cut, but there appears to be some separation between the top of the competition and those two. Elliott, though, was more impressive than anyone not named Curtis was on Saturday. Vanderbilt’s staff is bullish on Elliott, his mentality, his winning history and his often-reliable decision making.
Lea is adamant that he’s not anywhere near a decision at this stage. He’s not even cutting reps yet. Nobody has separated enough for that to be the case. Even if someone had, Lea seems intent on doing this process justice by letting it play out.
“We don’t expect any of those guys to be Diego Pavia,” Lea said. “My goal is for each of these guys to be positioned to compete at the highest level in fall. And I think they've all had flashes of performance, and I think 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 so that we best position our team to have success.”
Lea says both Curtis and Berlowitz were pressing on Saturday in hopes of making the big play. Perhaps the biggest difference in all of this, though, is that Curtis may not have to press like Berlowitz to make the big plays.
Nobody will say it, and it’s not obvious based on how this has played out, but it appears as if Curtis has the edge here. At least, he probably should.
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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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