Jared Curtis Movie Role Says Something About Vanderbilt Football's Increasing Role in Nashville; Column
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NASHVILLE—Before Jared Curtis steps on the field at FirstBank Stadium in a Vanderbilt uniform for the first time for its opener against Austin Peay on Sept. 5, he’ll have done something that no other player on its roster has done.
Curtis will have appeared in a movie. Yes, really.
Per a report from OutKick founder Clay Travis, Curtis will appear in comedian Nate Bargatze’s movie, “The Breadwinner,” as part of Curtis’s Vanderbilt NIL deal. Curtis, in a Vandy baseball cap, is car shopping in the movie.
Bargatze has been a public advocate of Curtis joining Vanderbilt’s program since he took the stage at College Gameday on Vanderbilt’s campus and publicly lobbied for Curtis to flip his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt. Curtis watched that afternoon’s game from a suite in the south end zone of FirstBank Stadium, but said at the time that he was just there to be with a friend that was being recruited by Vanderbilt.
Curtis was fibbing in that statement, though, and Bargatze’s messaging is a microcosm of how Vanderbilt was finally able to land a player like him. So is the piece of news that came out on Thursday morning.
Vanderbilt has sold the perks of playing in Nashville to recruits for a number of years–remember The City. The Degree. The SEC–because of opportunities like the one Curtis is getting here, but it hasn’t always been able to back it up.
The city itself is appealing, but its never been Vanderbilt’s city athletically. It’s never been one that has spotlighted Vanderbilt’s athletes like its slogan indicates it does. The job market has helped Vanderbilt athletes. So has the abundance of things to do. The platform to enhance a brand as an athlete, though, not so much.
Until now.
“I was at the premiere last night,” Outkick’s Chad Withrow said in a tweet, “Not only does he appear. He appears in the first 90 seconds of the movie and has a speaking part.”
Curtis is as big a beneficiary as there is from Vanderbilt’s geographical location in regard to Nashville’s pop culture scene as there’s been. Former Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia capitalized on it as well as a number of national media members in the area, but he likely could’ve acquired fame anywhere. Curtis didn’t need to do anything but be a highly-desired recruit from the Nashville area to steal the city’s heart and capitalize on it.
After all, this is the extent of his first press conference as a Vanderbilt football player–which was a largely dry, buttoned up affair.
“It’s been fun just coming in here and learning with the guys and spending every day with the freshmen. Every day, it’s something new. And you just come in here and learn what you can,” Curtis said. “Going out there and being patient with the process. Being eager to learn and patient in the process is what he preaches to us, so I just try to keep that in the back of my mind and move forward every day.”
Curtis’ spring camp has been up-and-down in some ways–perhaps best embodied by his spring game performance in which he made a throw to the sideline that sailed out of bounds and resulted in a penalty for intentional grounding and still had the best day of the Vanderbilt quarterbacks. That’s the type of raw ability that allows Curtis to have opportunities like this.
It’s the type that Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea recalls seeing well before spring ball. Curtis was on the hash and fired it towards the tick mark next to the sideline with a throw that Lea says was “on a line.” The Vanderbilt coach says he’s never seen that route thrown that way. Lea clarifies that this wasn’t an out cut, it was a wheel route working vertically. Curtis threw the ball as if he was throwing a dig, and he still got it there.
Imagine if he takes a step in fall camp, becomes a standout freshman, wins and demonstrates that he can be an NFL player by the time it’s all said and done. Curtis’ college stats are 0 yards, 0 completions, 0 touchdowns, a 0.0 passer rating and 0 starts, yet he’s found a part in a movie.
The masses will yell that Curtis needs to pay his dues and get on the field before taking on a role in a movie because of his football ability, but that doesn’t change the idea that he’s in the spotlight. He will be all season, win or lose.
That’s the new way of life in Vanderbilt football’s relationship with Nashville. Movie stars. National media talking points. Celebrity connection.
Now it has to continue to capitalize.
“They want Vanderbilt to play this certain specific role in the world, and we reject that,” Lea said in the fall. “We talk about winning here and they tell us to be quiet, retreat to our corner. We're just not gonna do that. I want a team that's assertive and playing forward and leading, aggressively, and you can't show up on Saturday and create that. That is something that has to be tangible 365 days a year.”
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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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