The Vanderbilt quarterback room is undergoing a massive shift following the departure of Diego Pavia to the NFL. The starting job for the 2026 season is expected to come down to former five-star Jared Curtis and veteran senior Blaze Berlowitz.
Jared Curtis Faces Reality Check as Insider Compares Him to Diego Pavia in Vanderbilt QB Battle
In the latest episode of the “College Football Insiders” podcast this week, Brandon Marcello pointed to Curtis’ showing in the spring game. Curtis couldn’t get much going in the game, and Berlowitz didn’t fare much better either.
Marcello then asked Chris Hummer about the quarterback battle between Curtis and Berlowitz after the spring game.
“I don’t know if I’d say it’s his (Curtis) job to lose, but I would consider him the favorite because of what they invested,” Hummer said. “And also just because of the ceiling that comes with Jared Curtis. I talked to somebody in the Vanderbilt program recently about him. They said he’s been everything you could ask for and everything they expected.
“So there’s a lot of optimism around him. That said, he’s a true freshman quarterback. This is his first year in a somewhat complicated system, to be honest. What they do there requires a lot of reps. It’s why Diego Pavia was so good at it. He just had a natural feel in that system.”
Pavia did more than just lift Vanderbilt out of the SEC basement over two seasons. He took the program to new heights in 2025, guiding them to a historic 10-3 record while finishing as a Heisman runner-up. He earned second-team All-America honors and SEC Offensive Player of the Year, along with claiming the No. 1 spot in the PFSN College Football QB Impact Metric.
However, he went undrafted and later signed with the Baltimore Ravens this week, becoming the first Heisman Trophy finalist in 12 years to go undrafted.
Pavia also played a role in recruiting Curtis, helping flip him from Georgia to become his successor at Vanderbilt. Curtis’ flip was seen as a major win for the Commodores, as he became one of the highest-rated players in the program’s history. While he is viewed as the likely QB1 for Vanderbilt in 2026, head coach Clark Lea has not yet named a starter and plans to wait until later this summer.
Curtis completed 5 of 13 passes for 87 yards without a turnover in the FirstBank Stadium Black & Gold spring game on April 18. While Vanderbilt’s QB room also features junior Whit Muschamp and sophomore Jack Elliott, Lea believes Curtis might show his caliber moving forward.
“He’s got to show that he’s the best of the four,” Lea said, via ESPN earlier this spring. “There are certainly things that make him unique. His biggest hurdle is going to be pre-snap and post-snap processing. What I’m learning about him, especially as we’ve been able to see him a little bit in a competitive environment, he’s got really good instincts.”
Curtis led Nashville Christian School (Tennessee) to a second straight Division II-A state title against University School of Jackson in his final high school games.
