Vanderbilt’s football momentum following a 10-2 regular season could be carrying over to the recruiting trail.
Five-star quarterback prospect Jared Curtis has committed to Vanderbilt, he announced Tuesday following rumors that he had flipped from Georgia.
Curtis has been committed to the Bulldogs since May but now becomes the Commodores’ highest-ranked recruit in program history.
The news comes after Hayes Fawcett of Rivals reported Monday that Curtis flipped his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt. Curtis, however, initially denied the report, saying he hadn’t “had a chance to talk to either school yet.”
According to 247Sports’ composite rankings, Curtis is the No. 1 overall player and quarterback in the entire 2026 class.
This is a massive win for head coach Clark Lea, especially since it comes over one of the SEC programs the Commodores are attempting to compete with in the coming years.
Vanderbilt is not a traditional football powerhouse like Georgia but just won double-digit games for the first time in program history and inked Lea to a new six-year contract that will presumably allow him to continue building formidable rosters.
ESPN’s Pete Thamel reported the contract “includes numerous assets for the program to continue Vanderbilt football’s upward trend.”
There is no better way to do that than by winning on the recruiting trail, and Vanderbilt landed the biggest win of the entire 2026 cycle.
Andrew Ivins of 247Sports highlighted Curtis’ ability to make throws to every level of the field all while having the athleticism to create with his legs if needed. He led Nashville Christian to a 12-1 record and a Tennessee Division II-A state championship as Mr. Football in the state and brings “the arm, size, creativity and swagger to emerge as a high-level distributor for a College Football Playoff contender.”
Ivins pointed to former Vanderbilt quarterback Jay Cutler as a potential pro comparison in the scouting report.
Quarterback has been the most important position for the Commodores this season with Diego Pavia playing his way into Heisman Trophy discussions while completing 71.2 percent of his passes for 3,192 yards, 27 touchdowns and eight interceptions to go with 826 yards and nine scores on the ground as a runner.
He has thrived under Lea’s tutelage, which surely stood out to Curtis during the recruiting process.
