Column: If Vanderbilt Football Wants to Unlock Full Potential, Jared Curtis Needs to Start

NASHVILLE – If the reaction from Vanderbilt football fans Saturday night when five-star freshman quarterback Jared Curtis stepped onto the field for the first time was not enough to show what the logical option is at quarterback, then maybe the play call disparity is.

When the Commodores’ offense took the field for the first time against Austin Peay in its 28-9 win in a game that technically lasted just under 58 total minutes, it was Blaze Berlowitz that was running the offense.

Vanderbilt started the game with a handoff to running back Sedrick Alexander for four yards. And then, another handoff, this time for 13 yards. Then another handoff to Alexander. And what was the fourth play Vanderbilt ran? A handoff to Alexander.

How about the fifth and sixth plays of the game? Handoffs to the other half of Vanderbilt’s tantalizing running back duo, MK Young. The first recorded pass from Vanderbilt took place on the seventh play of its first drive and it was a jet sweep to Kayleb Barnett, who took a forward handoff from Berlowitz and ran it 12 yards down the field.

You get the point. On Vanderbilt’s first drive of offense, the Commodores ran the ball 10 total times of the 12 plays it had before Brock Taylor ultimately kicked a field goal to make it 3-0 six minutes into the game. The other two plays were Barnett’s jet sweep play and an incomplete pass from Berlowitz.

Contrast that with the first drive from Jared Curtis. Curtis entered the game with 1:32 remaining in the second quarter, where the Commodores led 15-9 over the Governors. The crowd reaction when Curtis found himself in the huddle for the first time in his college career was something to see.

And his first few plays? A 17-yard completed pass to wide receiver Ja’Cory Thomas, a five-yard completed pass to tight end Jayvontay Conner and a four-yard completed pass to Alexander. On third down and six, Curtis stepped back to pass, but it was ultimately incomplete.

Regardless, the types of plays Vanderbilt ran when Berlowitz was in the game compared to when Curtis was in was clear. Vanderbilt looked much more willing to pass the ball when Curtis was in at quarterback than when Berlowitz was.

Throughout the night, Berlowitz ran the offense for five of the eight drives. Curtis’ final drive took place with a little under six minutes remaining and he did not get an attempt to throw the ball. In total, Berlowitz threw 16 passes – including the jet sweeps – in five drives while Curtis threw nine passes in just his first two drives combined.

Berlowitz did not play a bad game. And he was not deserving of the boos that he received from fans Saturday night. But if Vanderbilt does want to unlock its full potential offensively this season, Curtis has to be the starter.

Berlowitz may know the playbook and how to adjust against defenses better than Curtis does and that is because he should since he is the veteran in the position room. However, Vanderbilt’s offense seemed to have a longer leash in the passing game when Curtis was in the game compared to when Berlowitz was in the game.

Vanderbilt’s offense was not pretty and maybe even lackluster at best against Austin Peay. The Commodores have a lot to clean up, especially on the offensive line. And it has to do it before the grind of the SEC begins at the end of the month.

When Vanderbilt gets to SEC play, it will make finding ways to win very difficult if the offense continues to run the amount of times when Berlowitz is in the game. The defensive fronts Vanderbilt will see soon will be far more physical than Austin Peay, so running the football at will is not going to be an option most weeks.

As a result, there will have to be a legitimate passing game that gets developed to counteract the best run defenses in the SEC. And which quarterback would be best suited to do that? One would have to argue more for Curtis not just because of the play calls that took place Saturday, but also because Curtis has the stronger and more talented arm. Curtis can make throws that most quarterbacks simply cannot.

Does that mean riding the rollercoaster of highs and lows when playing a freshman quarterback on the field? Yes. But it is for the best in terms of the development of Vanderbilt throughout the rest of the 2026 season and beyond.

Vanderbilt dealing with a quarterback competition going into the second week of the season is not where the program likely wanted to be at. And maybe it is true that neither really separated himself throughout fall camp. But there still was a clear difference in the plays Vanderbilt drew up when each quarterback was in the game.

It is possible Vanderbilt did not want to put much on tape for teams to study in the coming weeks and maybe that is why Berlowitz did not throw too much nor throw anything downfield. The arm talent Curtis possesses, though, speaks for itself. Wasting tons of drives not developing Curtis would be a miscalculation longterm. Yes, there will be mistakes, but the best way to grow is through getting experience first hand.

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