NASHVILLE-Vanderbilt football has made its call, and the future is already running the show.
Jared Curtis is now the Commodores’ starting quarterback, the school announced Tuesday after he won a months-long battle with veteran Blaze Berlowitz. The shift had been building for a while, especially after Curtis handled every offensive snap in the second half of Vanderbilt’s 36-25 win over Delaware while Berlowitz remained quietly on the sideline.
Curtis made that Delaware performance count. He threw for 210 yards on 22 attempts, completing 14 passes, and added two rushing touchdowns. Every one of Vanderbilt’s scoring drives on Saturday afternoon came with Curtis leading the offense.
That’s the appeal here: Vanderbilt believes it has a quarterback who can make the kind of throws only a few SEC passers can, and one who can turn an ordinary snap into something explosive. Curtis is still a freshman and has not yet played against a power-five opponent, but industry consensus says his ceiling is higher than anyone else on the roster.
“He’s a ball player, man,” Vanderbilt tight end Jayvontay Conner said. “There’s a lot being put on his plate and I’m pretty sure he feels a little bit of pressure sometimes, but I don’t notice that a lot from him.
He’s a baller, man. He’s ready to hoop at all times.”
Curtis arrives with real pedigree. He is Vanderbilt’s first five-star recruit and the highest-ranked commit in program history. Originally committed to Georgia, he ended up flipping to Vanderbilt on signing day with help from Nate Bargatze, Diego Pavia and a significant multi-year contract.
In a summer interview with Vandy on SI, Lea compared parts of Curtis’ game to former Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler and former NFL MVP Matthew Stafford. The talent has never been in question, Lea has said repeatedly. The bigger issue has been how quickly Curtis could adjust to the college game and whether the speed of it would eventually slow down for him.
The staff clearly feels it has seen enough. After splitting reps with Berlowitz in Vanderbilt’s first two games, Curtis will make his first college start against NC State. The job now belongs to him.
In Other News...
Vanderbilt Just Took A Brutal Defensive Hit Before NC State
A few days before Vanderbilt lines up against NC State, the Commodores are already dealing with a defense that has taken a real hit. Defensive lineman Aaron Bryant is out for the season after suffering an ACL injury and will need knee surgery, a blow that removes one of the bigger bodies from the rotation and leaves the front trying to absorb another loss at a spot where depth is always at a premium.
The injury list does not stop there. Tight end Cole Spence is still week-to-week with a lower body injury and is expected to miss the matchup, while linebacker Jamison Curtis and cornerback Jaylin Lackey are also sidelined with soft tissue injuries. EDGE Brian Allen Jr. is recovering from an ankle injury and is trending in the right direction, but Vanderbilts availability picture remains far from clean as it heads into a tricky early test. [Read more 🡒]
Jared Curtis Gives Vanderbilt A 2-0 Jolt With Bigger Tests Ahead
Vanderbilt got the kind of early-season lift it wanted in Nashville, beating Delaware 35-26 behind a balanced performance from quarterback Jared Curtis. Curtis was efficient through the air and dangerous on the ground, completing 14 of 22 passes for 210 yards while running for two touchdowns and throwing another, giving the Commodores a clean second win to build on.
Delaware made it more of a game than the final margin might suggest, especially after quarterback Nick Minicucci was injured during the contest and still came back to finish with 182 passing yards, a touchdown and two interceptions. For Vanderbilt, the result was useful, but the next stretch will tell much more about how real this start is and how much the offense can lean on Curtis as the schedule toughens. [Read more 🡒]