Clark Lea Provides Clarity to Vanderbilt Football Quarterback Situation

NASHVILLE – Vanderbilt football delivered an announcement Tuesday morning that gave people plenty to talk about on social media. Blaze Berlowitz was named the starting quarterback for Vanderbilt Week 1 against Austin Peay.

Berlowitz was chosen as the starter over five-star true freshman Jared Curtis. But that does not mean Curtis will not see the field. Part of the game plan will be for Curtis to take snaps Week 1 as well, making his collegiate debut Sept. 5.

Thursday, Vanderbilt football head coach spoke publicly for the first time since the announcement of Berlowitz as the starter for the first game. And he provided clarity to whether Berlowitz is going to be the starter for good or if it is a week-to-week thing.

“This is just about the Austin Peay game,” Lea emphasized to the media. “I think that’s really important because I think the actual competition’s been close and I think we’ve seen moments of really strong play from both players.”

The goal for Berlowitz against Austin Peay is simple: protect the football and execute the offense with efficiency. For Curtis, it is about getting his initial college experience and putting the offense in good positions when he is running the offense.

Lea’s words certainly show that the mission to find the starting quarterback for the entire season is not finished yet. Rather, it seems that there is indeed a quarterback competition for the bona fide starter still in play.

It may not be the most ideal situation and Lea would have probably liked to have his top quarterback figured out by now with no questions being asked. That is not the case, however. The reality is that Vanderbilt will shuffle between two quarterbacks for at least the first game of the regular season.

Playing multiple different quarterbacks is not usually a recipe for success in college football programs. Lea has tried running multiple quarterbacks earlier in his Vanderbilt tenure in the pre-Diego Pavia years, but to no avail.

Lea did push back a little on the idea that playing multiple quarterbacks may not be the current recipe for success.

“It’s not always ideal. I think we have a unique situation here where we have a young player who has earned the right. I don’t hold it against Jared that there’s still parts of this he’s learning and growing into. You go back and say ‘Hey, we’re really excited about this guy. He’s been a great program member for us. He’s shown flashes of brilliant play,” Lea said. “We have the luxury right now to give him runway because we have a guy who’s earned the right to be out there and be the starter.”

Lea is not clueless, though. He knows a constant shuffling and changing in and out of quarterback is not the most healthy thing for a football team. But Lea does believe that his approach for Week 1 is the right decision to make.

There is no indication what the quarterback situation will be like for the second game of the season against Delaware Sept. 12. What is known is Vanderbilt will have two quarterbacks playing to begin the season.

“This is the right thing to do for the Austin Peay game. That’s our focus. And what we need to continue to do is be agile and adapt and evolve as we move through the season,” Lea said. “But what we’ve done in the past has no bearing on what we’re doing in the present because the team’s different. Offensive skills are different, offensive line is different. I think there are a lot of things that give me a lot of excitement about where we’re headed.”

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