Breaking: Blaze Berlowitz Named Vanderbilt Starting Quarterback, Curtis to See Action

Vanderbilt football has officially named its starting quarterback for the 2026 season.

Per a breaking news report from Pete Nakos of On3, Vanderbilt has named Blaze Berlowitz the starting quarterback for the 2026 season. However, Nakos also reported that Vanderbilt five-star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis will also see gae action against Austin Peay Sept. 5.

Berlowitz has been in a quarterback competition that began in the spring against Curtis, Whit Muschamp and Jack Elliott. About midway through fall camp, Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea publicly cut the quarterback competition down to Berlowitz and Curtis.

In the end, though, Vanderbilt has settled on the senior that has waited his turn after sitting behind former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia for the past two seasons. Berlowitz has paid his dues and has now earned the starting quarterback role.

The question becomes what is the plan exactly for Week 1 with reports of both Berlowitz and Curtis making an appearance. Is the game against Austin Peay and extension of the quarterback competiton that is essemtially an audition for the starting spot the rest of the season?

That is what is perhaps most interesting about the quarterback conversation. During fall camp, Curtis and Berlowitz competed fairly evenly with each other throughout the past couple weeks. Berlowitz showed that he is improved from last season and can be a quarterback that helps with ball control in games.

On the other side, Curtis showed his arm talent and the explosiveness that he can bring to the Vanderbilt offense. If Vanderbilt needed to move the ball down the field faster, Curtis feels like more of that type of quarterback.

Other upsides that Berlowitz presents is more knowledge of the playbook. Since Berlowitz has had Tim Beck as his offensive coordinator throughout his collegiate career, Berlowitz should know the offense inside and out by now as well as how to execute every play in the book.

Curtis, of course, has a lot of room to grow and maybe that is an indicator as to why the program came to the decision that it did now 11 days out from the start of the 2026 season. But the talent level from him is also undeniable.

If Week 1 is a continuation of the quarterback competition, then Vanderbilt's game against Austin Peay is maybe among the more intriguing games to tune in to solely for the position battle.

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