Recruit Reaction to Jared Curtis Flipping His Commitment From Georgia to Vanderbilt
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NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt football flipped five-star quarterback Jared Curtis’ commitment on Tuesday morning and appears to have a changed, legitimized future as a result. It’s the rare commitment that involves a transcendent enough high school player to provide credence to the belief that a program has found the track for sustained success.
Curtis’ recruitment involved signs at College Gameday promoting him, current Vanderbilt quarterback Diego Pavia comparing aspects of his game to NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes, Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin standing on the sidelines at one of his regular season games and a full-on Curtis watch at Vanderbilt’s game against Missouri.
The buzz around Vanderbilt football is tangible and Curtis’ classmates are reaping the benefits.
“Landing a 5-star quarterback like Jared is a program-changing move,” Vanderbilt tight end commit Adam Gehm told Vandy on SI via a text message. “It’s HUGE for Vandy football and shows the program is going in the right direction and recruits can see that.”
Curtis is the first five-star recruit to choose Vanderbilt in program history and is its consensus highest-graded recruit since the start of recruiting services. The former Georgia commit is ranked the No. 1 quarterback in the 2026 class.
The Vanderbilt commit indicates that Clark Lea’s program can continue to be a winner after Pavia heads off to the next level because of his skillset as well as what it says about the program’s infrastructure that he was open to what it had to say.
“True testament to where this program is at now, and where this program is headed,” Vanderbilt running back commit Evan Hampton said. “Super excited about Jared and what he can do for us in the coming future. He will be a big-time player in Nashville.”
Curtis said in a Tuesday-night statement that his parents have taught him that “the underdog can be a winner” and doubled down on that belief by choosing the Commodores rather than a traditional college football power.
The Nashville Christian School product embodied that belief by sticking with his program rather than opting to play for a large Nashville private school and has become a perennial threat to win state championships in the area. Curtis’ physical frame, natural arm strength, accuracy as well as his ability to move the pocket and escape it could allow Vanderbilt to reach similar heights to the program that he heads at the high school level.
“Really happy for him and the Vanderbilt community,” Vanderbilt linebacker commit Daniel Vollmer said. “Had a chance to watch his tape recently and when you hear number one QB in the country, the tape shows exactly that. He’s a do it all guy with an amazing arm. Excited for not just him, but our whole recruiting class as a whole and the positive impact we are gonna leave on this amazing program.”
Curtis will join Vanderbilt ahead of the 2026 season as the leader of its class and the crown jewel of its future. He will sign with Vanderbilt on Wednesday morning in a private event at Nashville Christian School.
It’s the type of the commitment that the ‘program altering’ narrative doesn’t appear to be vast enough or significant enough. Perhaps its as great of an indicator that the ‘same old Vanderbilt’ narrative is tired and outdated as there has been throughout this magical season.
Curtis the type of recruit that Vanderbilt football often has to move out of the way for throughout its history. In Vanderbilt’s past, Curtis is a player that it would likely struggle to get on the phone consistently despite his Nashville roots. Not this iteration of Vanderbilt, though.
“Getting Jared to join us here is huge,” Vanderbilt cornerback commit Collin Flanigan told Vandy on SI. “He’s the kind of guy who makes everyone around him better. I’m fired up to suit up in black and gold with him pretty soon.We’re building something special here at Vandy and he’s a big part of that.”
"It's a big deal to show that Vanderbilt football mean business," Vanderbilt offensive line commit Pulelei’ite M. Primus said. "We can compete vs other top teams in our conference. We're not the (doormat) of the SEC as they like to say. We are working to be a Top Team in the SEC, I feel like with this class we have a great opportunity to prove that and so more."
_(1)-b3e453dfe426b2dd4b83a12540ebdb37.jpeg "Joey Dwyer")
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, Southeastern 16 and Mainstreet Nashville.
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