Clark Lea Delivers Jared Curtis State Of The Union At SEC Media Days
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TAMPA, FL—The idea that there’s pressure on Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea to start five-star quarterback Jared Curtis right away is one that he’s not buying at SEC Media Days.
Curtis appears to be Vanderbilt’s quarterback of the future and appeared to have a more immediate path to playing time in mind when he chose Vanderbilt, but Lea says that he’s not going to force Curtis into the lineup if he hasn’t earned it.
Perhaps there’s pressure for coaches in different situations to do so, but Lea has built up some credibility with two-consecutive winning seasons. As a result, he’s not giving in to any external thought about who his quarterback should be.
“The mission's winning, so this is about how we best position our program to win,” Lea said. “That's the expectation that we have internally of each other. Obviously that’s what Chancellor Diermeier is aiming towards and so we have to evaluate all possibilities and put the best person on the field that's going to help us win.”
“Certainly, we're excited about Jared and believe that he has the physical tools and the mental tools to be a great player in the SEC–we wouldn't have recruited them if we didn't feel that way. But, we will make that evaluation through training camp and again, look to best position our team when we play against Austin Peay.”
Ever since Lea refused to name Curtis the starter after calling him the best prospect in the 2026 high school class on signing day, there’s been an open quarterback competition on West End. Vanderbilt allocated the resources that it would have put towards a transfer portal quarterback towards Curtis, but Lea has left the door open for senior quarterback Blaze Berlowitz, sophomore Jack Elliott and junior Whit Muschamp to take the job.
Lea wants to be clear that leaving the door open for other quarterbacks to win the job isn’t an indictment on Curtis.
In an early-June interview with Vandy on SI, Lea compared aspects of Curtis’ game to former Vanderbilt star Jay Cutler and NFL MVP Matthew Stafford. Throughout the spring, he often harped on the idea that Curtis is capable of doing things physically that aren’t often seen.
Curtis is the highest-ranked player to commit to Vanderbilt in program history and is the No. 1 ranked quarterback in the 2026 high school class. Curtis flipping his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt the night before national signing day represented a change in the trajectory of Vanderbilt football. Lea appears to be impressed by how Curtis hasn’t been caught up in all the buzz surrounding him, though.
Curtis isn’t yet an SEC star like Stafford and Cutler were, but Lea believes he can get there. To do it, though, Lea believes the path forward includes Curtis becoming more consistent in improving the mental parts of his game.
“It’s just a matter of orchestrating things. It's not just about him,” Lea said Tuesday. “It's about the other 10 players in the field, and it's not just about the throw and the catch. It's about the protection. It's about the heart beating slow in a big moment, communicating what needs to be communicated. And again, organizing the offense in a way to be successful."
There’s a path for Curtis to be one of the SEC’s best quarterbacks by the end of 2026, but Vandy on SI ranks him as the program’s No. 9 player entering the season. Curtis has already signed a high-profile name, image and likeness with Nike, was publicly recruited on College Gameday and made a cameo in a Nate Bargatze movie, but he’s still got plenty to prove.
Lea said in the spring not to expect any member of his quarterback room to be Diego Pavia or do the things that he can, but he isn’t ruling out the possibility that he could start immediately and could be impactful. Lea also isn’t ruling out the idea that Vanderbilt could play multiple quarterbacks if it has, or hasn’t, named a starting quarterback by the time it opens the season against Austin Peay. The advantage Berlowitz has is that he knows Vanderbilt’s offense nearly in its entirety at this stage, but Lea says that won't be a dealbreaker for Curtis.
“This doesn't need to be the 400-level Vanderbilt offense,” Lea said. “It needs to be the most effective level that allows us to score points to win games, but this training camp is going to be all about that level of command, that level of presence, and the confidence he grows with the people around them that are going to be critical in his success and the offense is successful.”
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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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