Why Clark Lea Decided to Name Jared Curtis as Vanderbilt Football’s Quarterback Now

NASHVILLE – A week ago, Vanderbilt football head coach Clark Lea went in front of the media announcing the plan to play both quarterbacks Blaze Berlowitz and Jared Curtis. Lea knew there was a breaking point of eventually naming a starter for the season, but the week going into the Delaware game was not the time.

Last week, Lea and his coaching staff were still working for clarity on the quarterback situation in terms of when a starting quarterback would be named. Saturday, any murkiness that remained went away. Clarity was given.

Curtis played the majority of the game at quarterback and led Vanderbilt on all its scoring drives in the game. That all led to Tuesday’s conference, where Lea stood at a familiar position to deliver the news everyone has been monitoring for months: Curtis, the five-star hometown freshman, is the starting quarterback for the Commodores going forward.

“I think what we have clarity on now is this gives us the best chance to win. And I think with Jared, it’s understanding the potential and the positive long-term outlook. But what he showed on Saturday was that he’s ready for this now,” Lea said.

While Lea did not name a specific moment from the Delaware game that led him to ultimately determine Curtis as the starter, he did mention a few moments that added up to putting the quarterback competition to bed.

One of them was Curtis’ first drive of the game. Operationally, Vanderbilt’s offense was about as sloppy as an offense could get. With penalties and concerning things that took place, Curtis overcame all of it and led Vanderbilt down the field for a rushing touchdown of his own, Curtis’ first career college football touchdown.

But it was not just that. It was the way Curtis performed the rest of the game as well. The deeper into the game it got, the more comfortable Curtis seemed to be. He looked like a guy that did not panic despite the brief moments of tension during halftime, but a player that was not going to let the Commodores be on upset alert.

Curtis playing for the entire second half gave Vanderbilt a sense of consistency on offense that simply was not there the first six quarters of its season due to the constant swapping of Curtis and Berlowitz.

Lea felt Berlowitz’s veteranship gave Vanderbilt’s offense the chance to be organized from the start. But with the different play calling for both quarterbacks, it was two offenses the Commodores were running. Every element Vanderbilt’s offense experienced through the last two weeks all factored into the decision to name Curtis the starter.

“As he settled in the game, I really felt like the game slowed down for him. So it was clear to me coming out of the game. Felt like that first week, it was a tale of two offenses. I wanted to see something that looked more like they were running off the same call sheet. Wanted to get to Jared a little earlier and give him a chance to settle in,” Lea said. “All those things led us to stick with him as the game went on and I thought in the second half, in particular, he showed some real command and control over the offense.”

Curtis was the one that created the separation that the coaching staff was waiting for out of its two quarterbacks, and he did it in multiple ways. From willing his team to score despite mistakes to NFL-like touchdown throws to establishing consistency offensively, Curtis showed it all.

Now, Vanderbilt gets to move forward as one. This is Curtis’ team now with the car keys to the Commodores’ offense in his hand. There is no two-quarterback plan for Saturday. It is time for Vanderbilt’s offense to find its identity and begin to unlock its full potential, starting this weekend against NC State.

“He plays a fearless style,” Lea said. “He can do it now. And my hope is that he continues to build in his confidence and his ability to execute in the position as the year goes on. I’ve got clarity and I came out of Saturday with clarity and that feels good. So this is how we’re organizing and now we’re going to let it rip.”

Follow us on Twitter/X, Facebook, YouTube, Instagram, and TikTok for the latest news.

Add us as a preferred source on Google