Welcome To The Jared Curtis Era, Where The Impossible Seems Possible For Vanderbilt Football
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NASHVILLE—His right arm extended out past his face mask, his legs sprawled out in midair and his eyes locked on a target in the middle of the field. It’s a pose that could be the Vanderbilt football equivalent to Michael Jordan’s midair dunk contest pose.
The pose is an indicator that Vanderbilt quarterback Jared Curtis is working a magic that no Vanderbilt quarterback since Jay Cutler could’ve fathomed. Curtis has a Rolodex of NFL throws in his proverbial bag, but he often shows off with this one. He throws it across his body with a defender a few yards away, and he almost always hits his receiver in the chest. It did Saturday when he found Vanderbilt tight end Walt Taylor in the end zone.
It’s the type of throw that prompts those in Vanderbilt’s program to dream big about how high Curtis’ star can ascend and where he may take his team in the process. Curtis engineers one of those almost every day that Vanderbilt takes the practice field. Some days it’s a perfectly-placed seam ball, others it’s a throw on an out route that he unfathomably zips between two defenders.
When Curtis really wants to put on a show, he’ll do what he did in Vanderbilt’s spring game. He’ll step up in the pocket, roll to his left, throw it on the run while approaching the sideline and hit a Vanderbilt tight end in the chest for a 15-yard gain.
“I haven’t seen that kind of explosive release and the ball flight since playing with Jay Cutler,” Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea told Vandy on SI over the summer. “The way he manipulates arm angles reminds me a lot of what we see from Matthew Stafford.”
The objective is for Curtis to have the flexibility to make the mundane plays more than he makes the outstanding ones, but Lea would be lying if he said he didn’t sit back and enjoy the show from time to time. Now, he gets to watch it every game for the next three years. If Curtis isn’t at Vanderbilt that long, something’s gone horribly wrong. If he’s at Vanderbilt any longer, he hasn’t lived up to his potential.
If all goes right, Curtis has the ability to play football for longer and have a more decorated career than any current Vanderbilt player. He may have the upside to be its most successful player ever. Cutler gives him a real hurdle to clear as a professional and Diego Pavia is an all-but impossible act to follow up, but Curtis can do it.
“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.”
That’s why Nate Bargatze publicly recruited him on College Gameday while Vanderbilt worked to flip his commitment from Georgia. That’s why Pavia and Vanderbilt baseball coach Tim Corbin showed up at his small, private high school to watch him play. It's why Vanderbilt basketball coach Mark Byington exited a press conference asking the media about Curtis and his stardom in the spring of 2025–before Vanderbilt was even in the picture. It’s why he appeared in a movie before he won a college job.
Now, he doesn’t have to worry about that. Curtis is Vanderbilt’s starting quarterback after beating out veteran returner Blaze Berlowitz.
The Curtis era begins now, buckle up.
If Curtis’ first two games and fall camp performances are any indication, there will be electrifying ups and head-scratching downs. It will all be for a purpose, though. Curtis is starting as a freshman because he’s earned it, and also because it’s the best thing for his long-term development—as well as the program’s. Who knows how this all ends for Curtis, but he’s a glimmer of hope that this program can cling to.
With all due respect to Berlowitz and how he’s improved year over year, starting Curtis is Vanderbilt football’s only chance to dream big. It’s the program’s only chance to keep a College Football Playoff berth in play. Vanderbilt getting there in 2026 isn’t likely, but Curtis taking on the job opens its competitive window again.
As if it’s an NFL team looking to manage a roster with a quarterback on a rookie deal, Vanderbilt has shaped this thing around Curtis. It has its quarterback of the future, one that projects to be one of the best in the sport and one of the first off the NFL Draft board when this is all said and done. That’s the hard part. Now, it’s just got to build around him, develop him and make his ambitious decision to leave a perennial title contender to pave his own path.
Jared Curtis. NFL throw. pic.twitter.com/75E4PAzZU4
— Joey Dwyer (@joey_dwy) September 12, 2026
Curtis wouldn’t have made that move if he didn’t believe in where he could lead this thing. He wouldn’t have talked to Pavia privately the way he has, either.
“I’m going to win the national championship you couldn’t win,” Pavia said Curtis told him in the days leading up to the NFL Combine.
Pavia laughed the comment off by saying that he and Curtis “just joke around and have a good time,” but every joke has a bit of confidence–and intention of truth behind it. If anyone is counting Curtis out from doing it, it certainly isn’t Pavia—who compared Curtis to NFL superstar Patrick Mahomes.
Vanderbilt's last quarterback is the program’s greatest player ever and changed it forever, but Curtis is different. He hasn’t accomplished what Pavia has, but he very conceivably can. He’s more talented than Pavia. He’s got a higher ceiling at this level and the next one than Pavia, and he has Pavia’s blessing.
“He’s the next big thing here,” Pavia said during the 2025 season.
When Pavia went to see Curtis at Nashville Christian, he saw all the things that will define Vanderbilt’s new era. He saw the unfathomable throws. He saw the lacrosse-like athleticism. He saw the confidence and swagger that position Curtis to lead Vanderbilt against anybody.
Who knows how this all turns out, but that’s exactly it. With Curtis at the helm, Vanderbilt believes it can compete with anyone—and it’s not wrong.
At least, it has the quarterback to do it.
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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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