Vanderbilt Football Has Its Quarterback In Jared Curtis And Should Declare Its Competition Over
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NASHVILLE—There’s five minutes and 13 seconds to go in the third quarter of Vanderbilt’s Saturday win over Delaware when Vanderbilt punt returner Martel Hight is brought down at the 40 yard line and all eyes turn to Vanderbilt’s huddle to see which quarterback will overtake it.
As the group leaves the sideline, Blaze Berlowitz is slowly taking steps from the sideline towards the field while five-star freshman Jared Curtis is a step or two behind him. As Vanderbilt’s huddle forms, Curtis passes Berlowitz quietly and overtakes the huddle. When the huddle breaks, Curtis heads towards the hashes while Berlowitz turns around and approaches the sideline. A few drives later, the jumbotron cameraman had Berlowitz in focus and quickly shifted his lens to Curtis once he realized his mistake.
In a way, that felt symbolic. It felt like this tumultuous quarterback competition just ended.
It appeared as if Berlowitz may have taken the field had Vanderbilt gone out a few minutes prior, but sophomore linebacker Austin Howard blocked a punt and picked it up for a touchdown. In the time that Howard’s touchdown bought Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea and company, they appeared to change their minds. They appeared to come to the conclusion that Curtis is their guy.
A few drives prior, Berlowitz finally got the opportunity to push the ball down the field in an opportunity he lacked a week ago. It was the two-minute drill. He had already made a few nice throws downfield. Then, he lost it.
Berlowitz attempted to hurdle a defender around midfield, but his leg was clipped, he fumbled it on his way down and Delaware recovered. Berlowitz lost the ball, and he may have lost his chance at securing Vanderbilt's starting quarterback role in the process.
Lea was clear postgame that he isn’t naming a quarterback yet, but the only time Berlowitz returned to the field after his fumble was the last drive of the first half–which only resulted in him taking a knee. Curtis then settled in and did what only Jared Curtis can do. Lea has to talk to offensive coordinator Tim Beck, offensive Jerry Kill and Berlowitz first, but this appears to be nearing a conclusion. Reading between the lines of Lea’s Saturday night press conference indicates as much.
“We’re going to honor the fact that he played really well and get to our meetings tomorrow and organize and watch the film and kind of plot our course moving forward,” Lea said. “Very, very happy for him. I’m proud of his effort today.
Curtis made an NFL throw across his body to Vanderbilt tight end Walt Taylor for a touchdown. He zipped it to Junior Sherrill along the sideline on a play that was reminiscent to a few that Berlowitz didn’t make. He led more touchdown drives in the third quarter than Berlowitz did all game. All that was merely following up the mistake-filled first-half performance from Curtis that was still better than the one Berlowitz engineered.
With Berlowitz, Vanderbilt was stagnant and relatively vanilla. With Curtis, it had a different flair to it. It finally felt like it had its leader in the game, and it finally felt like it had a chance to win big. With Curtis in the game, all doubt that this Vanderbilt team could be something seemed to fade away.
“He’s a ball player, man,” Vanderbilt tight end Jayvontay Conner said. “There’s a lot being put on his plate and I’m pretty sure he feels a little bit of pressure sometimes, but I don’t notice that a lot from him. He’s a baller, man. He’s ready to hoop at all times.”
Vanderbilt has given Berlowitz every possible chance to hold off Curtis. It’s made every excuse for him and has worked tirelessly to develop him. But it was always delaying the inevitable. That was a fine show of good will towards a program veteran that’s paid his dues, but it can’t be done anymore.
This is over. At least, it probably is.
Lea played both quarterbacks for all of Vanderbilt’s opener against Austin Peay and rotated throughout Saturday’s first half, and he was obviously flying too close to the sun while doing so. Vanderbilt was rotating between two different types of quarterbacks, wasn’t committing to any offensive style in particular, was creating tension in FirstBank Stadium at every turn and was actively holding it back from generating any rhythm against a capable opponent.
When Curtis took over consistently in the second half, all of those issues magically went away. It’s not an indicator that Curtis is perfect, but it is an indicator that this needs to end if Vanderbilt is going to maximize its potential. Even if Vanderbilt didn’t have a clear winner in its quarterback room, it had to make a choice before it starts playing power-five games.
Luckily for Lea, there was a clear winner. It was only a matter of time. But, time’s up.
“I don’t know that much else could’ve gone wrong for him after his first time out,” Lea said. “I’ll tell you that I was really impressed with the way he settled into the game. It wasn’t perfect, but I’m happy for him. I’m proud of him. I thought he stepped up.”
While Berlowitz finished Saturday 3-for-9 as a passer, threw for 29 yards, turned it over and didn’t lead a touchdown drive, Curtis was 14-for-22, threw for 210 yards, led all of Vanderbilt’s best drives. He also put Vanderbilt in a position to be as explosive as it’s been all season.
While Berlowitz stood on the sideline staring into space, Curtis was overtaking the team that Berlowitz led out of the tunnel hours prior. This is Curtis’ team now. It probably should’ve been all along, but there’s no doubt about it now.
Nobody within Vanderbilt’s program will say it yet, but the Jared Curtis era is here. There should be no doubt about it now.
Welcome to the future of Vanderbilt football. It starts now, at least, it should.
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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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