Clark Lea: Vanderbilt Football Open To Playing Multiple Quarterbacks
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TAMPA, FL—Vanderbilt football coach Clark Lea says he’s open to playing multiple quarterbacks if he hasn’t named a full-time starter ahead of Vanderbilt’s season opener against Austin Peay, he said to the Nashville media Tuesday morning at SEC Media Days.
Vanderbilt has an open quarterback competition including five-star freshman Jared Curtis, veteran Blaze Berlowitz, sophomore Jack Elliott and junior Whit Muschamp. Lea didn’t name a starter at Media Days on Tuesday and will keep the competition going through camp.
“For sure,” Lea said in regard to the idea that he could play both quarterbacks. “We will do whatever winning demands of us. We have a talented group with different skillsets and I’m not shut off to any possibility. I think you have to have one person you lean on in the tough moments, but how you best put 11 people on the field and enhance and optimize the skills they have to help in a winning effort, that’s the goal.”
Lea will likely cut Vanderbilt's competition down to two options around the midway point of Vanderbilt's fall camp and the private indication--although not from Lea--is that Curtis and Berlowitz are the favorites to be those two options.
Berlowitz is the veteran candidate for Vanderbilt's starting role and has spent his entire career in Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck's scheme, but has only thrown 36 passes in his career. 17 of those passes came at Vanderbilt in the 2025 season, while the other 19 came at New Mexico State. Berlowitz knows Vanderbilt's system and has a leg up in that way, but Curtis is a five-star prospect that multiple sources tell Vandy on SI is among the most highly-compensated players on Vanderbilt's roster.
Lea called Curtis the best player in the 2026 high school class when he signed with Vanderbilt and has compared aspects of his game to former Vanderbilt star Jay Cutler and NFL MVP Matthew Stafford. He says talent isn't Curtis' issue, but that he's got to take a step forward in terms of processing.
Curtis appears to be Vanderbilt's quarterback of the future, but he could be sharing snaps with Berlowitz to start the season.
“We've been evaluating it through the summer,” Lea said. “Certainly can see a world where two guys are taking snaps. I don't see that in a world where they're sharing the quarterback position. I see that where we're strategically using skillsets to bolster certain aspects of our performance on offense.”
Among the ways Lea and company intend to maximize skillsets is to adapt the offense to each quarterback's skillset. Lea clarifies that there's no intention to change the offense as a result of what quarterback is on the field, but will adjust calls within it depending on what quarterback is most comfortable running certain plays and which plays magnify the strengths of each quarterback.
Lea says Beck is "masterful" at magnifying the strengths of his quarterbacks and will lean on him as Vanderbilt eases in a first-time starter.
"Blaze has had a lot of experience within the system. When you're talking about Jared, you're talking about someone who is learning the system, " Lea said. "We're gonna want to pinpoint calls that [Jared] is comfortable with and things that he feels good about, and that really bring to surface the skills that have matured and developed within him to this point, knowing that there are going to be things that he'll have to learn along the way. Blaze, it's really kind of, you have the ability to call in all of the system, but you're going to pinpoint the things that you feel like he does best within that and gives us the best chance to win.
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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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