Former No. 1 QB prospect ranked as worst quarterback in the SEC

Nearly seven months lie between the beginning of February and the first weekend of the 2026 college football season.

The first few weeks after the conclusion of every college football season bring about an opportunity for the media to make way-too-early predictions for how the next season will play out. These predictions feature top 25 rankings, player rankings and College Football Playoff brackets.

Chris Phillips and Cole Thompson of SEC Unfiltered unveiled their way-too-early rankings for SEC quarterbacks in 2026. Thompson listed Vanderbilt true freshman quarterback Jared Curtis as his No. 16 quarterback in the SEC for next season.

2026 Way Too Early Quarterback Rankings via @CPhilly19 & @MrColeThompson

Thoughts? pic.twitter.com/8sKsDfAdA3
— SEC Unfiltered (@SECUnfiltered) February 2, 2026

The 6-foot-3, 225-pounder was rated as a five-star quarterback coming out of Nashville Christian School in the 2026 recruiting cycle. As a four-year starter in high school, Curtis totaled 9.710 pass yards, 128 touchdown passes and 26 interceptions while rushing for another 2,275 yards and 49 touchdowns.

Curtis was committed to Georgia at two different points during his recruitment process. He was committed to the Bulldogs from March to October of 2024 before decommitting for the first time. He committed to Georgia again in May of 2025, but he flipped his commitment from the Bulldogs to Vanderbilt shortly before Early Signing Day.

The shoes that Curtis will fill as a starter at Vanderbilt are of an unprecedented size. With Diego Pavia's guidance in 2025, the Commodores won 10 games for the first time in program history. Pavia was also invited to New York as a Heisman Trophy finalist, finishing in second place behind Fernando Mendoza of Indiana.

Blaze Berlowitz is the only quarterback who saw action in multiple games over the course of 2025 who is returning to the Vanderbilt roster in 2026. A part of the mass migration from New Mexico State to Vanderbilt in the 2024 offseason, Berlowitz completed nine of 17 pass attempts for 131 yards and a touchdown while rushing for 81 more yards and another touchdown.

Interestingly, the Commodores' second SEC contest of 2026 is at Georgia on Oct. 3. Since Curtis flipped his commitment shortly before Early Signing Day, the Bulldogs were unable to reel in a quarterback commitment in their 2026 class.

It will mark the first matchup between Georgia and Vanderbilt since the dissolution of the SEC East and West divisions after the 2023 season.

Of the 16 quarterbacks featured on Phillips and Thompson's lists, Curtis is the only true freshman likely to start in the SEC next season. Six of the quarterbacks featured on their lists are returning starters: Trinidad Chambliss (Ole Miss), Marcel Reed (Texas A&M), LaNorris Sellers (South Carolina), Arch Manning (Texas), Gunner Stockton (Georgia) and John Mateer (Oklahoma).

Jared Curtis during the 2025 Division II-A championship. — Nashville Christian's Jared Curtis (2) looks for a receiver against USJ during the first quarter of the Division II-A championship | Andrew Nelles / The Tennessean / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images