Exclusive: Clark Lea Gives Pre Spring Ball Update on Quarterback Position
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NASHVILLE—Clark Lea knows the magnitude of this decision, and he’s determined not to rush it.
After the departure of Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia, Lea’s Vanderbilt program will have a new starter at quarterback. Someone is going to be tasked with replacing the greatest player to ever come through these parts. Who? Lea’s not saying that, at least yet. He says he and his offensive staff need to see more before doing that.
“It is an open competition,” Lea told Vandy on SI. “What we wanna do is select the guy that best positions our team to win. There's no reason for us to make that decision right now and yet I think as we go through spring we’ll probably hopefully have a clear picture of it and I think as you start to really kinda hone in on like the preparation for the season it's nice when you know who QB1 is, but that's a luxury. We want to give this room to sort itself out and so we'll see where we get out coming out of spring.”
Lea has four options as Vanderbilt opens spring ball on Tuesday Mar. 17 and doesn’t appear to be shying away from giving any of them a chance.
Vanderbilt’s most prominent option is five-star quarterback Jared Curtis–who Lea says has had flashes of brilliance while working through the ups and downs of being a freshman quarterback at an SEC program. He’s the obvious choice at play here–just ask former Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler. Curtis didn’t come to Vanderbilt to sit, it appears. He’ll have to earn it, though.
Vanderbilt’s offensive staff will also consider senior quarterback Blaze Berlowitz–who is entering year three in Vanderbilt’s program. Berlowitz has improved since he joined Vanderbilt’s program in 2024 and has a high degree of arm talent, but the indication is that he still has some room to grow in terms of making the right play. Lea notes that Berlowitz has a significant level of experience in the system.
Former three-star quarterback Whit Muschamp is also in the equation as he enters year three in Vanderbilt’s system after getting fall camp reps sparingly in his first two seasons on West End. Muschamp is the logical candidate for the third-string job here because of his experience, but will aim to become more than that. Lea says Muschamp has carried a level of focus into this spring that exceeds anything he’s seen from the junior quarterback.
The wild card here is sophomore quarterback Jack Elliott–who was slow to develop a role last season due to arriving on Vanderbilt’s campus. Elliott is a winner that Vanderbilt’s staff has given comparisons to Pavia in some ways since he signed with the program. These days, Lea calls Elliott a “bulldog.”
“I think that group is competing in a healthy way,” Lea said. “There's no more important position than the quarterback position. We've learned that here firsthand and so what we wanna do is select the guy that best positions our team to win.”
Vanderbilt had a revolving door of starting quarterbacks prior to Pavia’s arrival in 2024, but Lea and company’s push for Curtis’ commitment indicated that they knew they weren’t going to let that become its post-Pavia storyline.
The practice field will decide how soon Curtis will be the guy around here, as Lea says.
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
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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