It's not often that Vanderbilt goes toe-to-toe with Georgia in high-profile recruiting battles -- let alone wins those battles -- but that's exactly what happened last fall with five-star quarterback Jared Curtis. According to 247Sports, Curtis was the No. 2 overall player in the 2026 recruiting class, and the Nashville native projects as a future first-round pick with a comparison to Jay Cutler in his 247Sports scouting report. He's the type of player Georgia is used to targeting and signing.
That's why it came as something of a surprise when Vanderbilt made a late push and convinced Curtis to remain in Nashville instead of playing his college football in Athens. So, why will Curtis -- who has played the fourth-most snaps of all freshmen this season -- be suiting up for the Commodores instead of the Bulldogs this weekend when the two teams meet Between the Hedges? Was it the money or the opportunity to cameo in comedian Nate Bargatze's feature film?
We spoke with 247Sports national recruiting analyst Tom Loy and Dawgs247 recruiting analyst Benjamin Wolk to get more insight into how Vanderbilt beat out Georgia for one of the top quarterbacks in the country. To give you a sense for how much ground Vanderbilt had to cover, the first time Curtis committed to Georgia was just months after Dylan Raiola made his late flip from the Bulldogs to Nebraska as a member of the 2024 signing class. "Jared was their guy at quarterback from the very, very beginning," Wolk said.
As a result, Kirby Smart and his coaching staff never got too far down the road with other quarterbacks in the 2026 cycle because they were so locked in on signing Curtis. That meant Vanderbilt needed a fourth-quarter comeback just to have a shot with the blue-chip prospect. The Commodores didn't really get their foot in the door with Curtis and his camp until last fall -- over a year after the young quarterback's initial commitment to the Bulldogs.
"It was pretty late," Loy said. "It was definitely in the fall of his senior season of when things really started to heat up. He started to really connect with the Vanderbilt coaching staff and kind of buy into the vision of Clark Lea and the current staff there in Nashville." The Commodores, in the midst of one of the best seasons in program history, could easily sell the vision.
The Vanderbilt players also played a role in Curtis' recuitment, and one of the best ambassadors happened to be the man Curtis replaced. Diego Pavia was key in selling Curtis on Vanderbilt, and in doing so, he provided the Commodores with on more big win on his way out the door. "I think the big tipping point for him really was getting around Diego Pavia and kind of understanding why he was so happy and how it kind of really changed his life for the positive," Loy said.
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