Everything Clark Lea Said About Jared Curtis’ Injury Status Ahead of Ole Miss Matchup

NASHVILLE — The biggest piece of team news surrounding the Vanderbilt football program received an update from Vanderbilt’s head coach Clark Lea Tuesday afternoon.

Lea announced that five-star quarterback Jared Curtis is day-to-day with a knee bruise injury, but has barely had any limitations in practice thus far this week. Curtis missed Saturday’s game against Georgia with the injury after being designated as a game time decision ahead of the matchup in Athens.

Lea foreshadowed that Curtis will likely be on the initial injury report when it is released Wednesday night, but had a positive mindset about where Curtis stands right now.

“He was able to practice today and from my vantage point, was able to do that without much limitation. He’ll still be a part of our injury report as we move through the week, but I’m encouraged by his progress,” Lea said. “Just like anything, it’s one thing to go into practice to be able to participate. It’s another thing to then see how your body recovers and how you feel the next day.”

Curtis made his first SEC road start against Auburn two weeks ago, where Vanderbilt took a tough 21-15 loss to the Tigers to begin conference play. Curtis sustained an injury on one of the plays in the Auburn game that ultimately kept him out of playing this past weekend.

This is the first injury that Curtis has gotten as a college quarterback. On one hand, it may be easy to think that Curtis not being able to play in an environment like Georgia’s could hinder his development a little bit. But Lea sees it a different way. Lea sees this experience for Curtis as a necessary evil to develop as a player and a quarterback.

It is nearly impossible for any football player to go through an entire career without experiencing any injuries. At some point, every player is going to have to deal with some kind of injury. In fact, Curtis has already had to deal with a back injury from his high school days.

But with this being the first time Curtis is recovering from injury during his college career, there is still a valuable lesson to be learned.

“I actually see it as part of his development, like an important part of his development. Here’s a guy that was just gutted to not play. I thought he was an incredible teammate Saturday, which is no surprise. He wanted to be out there to the point of emotion and yet he also knew that it wasn’t the right thing and that Blaze [Berlowitz] gave us the best chance in that game. So what a great lesson for him,” Lea said.

Through the recovery process, Lea has seen Curtis learn about what is in his control or not, which he feels is an important one to learn for any player. Lea also sees that Curtis has an understanding of the difference deciding to play through an injury or not.

Curtis was able to get practice reps he needed last week to keep his development on track, however, he was simply unable to play through the injury at full speed.

“He continues to develop in our system in connection with the players and his confidence. And so I don’t think that slows down. I think it is only enhanced by the adversity,” Lea said.

The initial injury report for all SEC games this weekend will be released Wednesday night a little after 7 p.m. CT. There will be the official injury listing for Curtis ahead of Vanderbilt’s matchup with No. 9 Ole Miss this weekend. If Curtis continues to progress in the week, it seems as though Vanderbilt feels good about his chances to play.

"We just got to keep track of it, but we're heading in the right direction," Lea said.

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