No. 1 QB Jared Curtis releases statement on Vanderbilt commitment

On Tuesday afternoon, Rivals’ Steve Wiltfong first reported that Nashville Christian Five-Star Plus+ quarterback Jared Curtis was flipping his commitment from Georgia to Vanderbilt.

Not long after, Curtis took to social media to say that he hadn’t yet reached a final decision, but he’s now confirmed that he’ll be staying local at the college level to play for Clark Lea and the Commodores.

The nation’s No. 3 overall prospect is set to sign at his school on Wednesday, then play for a state championship on Thursday. Curtis released a statement on Tuesday evening:

“This morning I was really disappointed to see some media put it out there that I flipped from Georgia to Vandy. I actually hadn’t told anyone my final decision, not even my parents or agent. I wanted to talk to the coaches from both staffs after school and practice were over, and have one last heart to heart with my family before making an announcement. Never had a chance and that was really disappointing. I haven’t said much the past couple months, obviously there’s been a lot going on, but I just wanted to control what I could on the field and focus on winning another chip with my boys. And that’s what we’ve been preparing to do on Thursday.

I do love Georgia, I love the coaches and players there. They have been so good to me and my family. I know they would do everything to help me be successful. They have been the best program in the country for a reason. The past year it’s where I wanted to be and definitely where my parents have wanted me to go. That’s part of what makes this so hard. You try to make everyone who has been good to you and done so much for you happy, and when you can’t it sucks. But I gotta walk my path that feels right in my heart, at the end of the day this has to be my decision.

Being here in Nashville and seeing what Vandy has been doing this season has been amazing and over the past few weeks, I felt more and more that I wanna be a part of that, to be close to home, to play in front of my family and friends and to be what I love to be, an underdog. I am excited to be a Dore and excited to be part of building something here at home with Coach Lea.

When my mom drove me to my first QB lesson she saw something in me before I ever saw it in myself. I just wanted to play football with my friends. My parents showed me it could be a path to college football. That’s a pretty crazy thing coming from our small town. They knew staying at Nashville Christian was the right thing when I fought them about making the drive back and forth two hours each day. And when some of those big private football schools called us, we chose to stay at our little Christian school and do it our way. We chose the underdog. My parents showed me the underdog can be a winner.

I can’t wait to look up in the stands at FirstBank Stadium and see the people that love me up there supporting me like they always do on Friday nights. But first we gotta go get another W for NCS. Thank you to everyone that has been part of this process. It hasn’t been perfect. I’m certainly not. But this is my journey and I’m gonna keep doing the best I can. Keeping my anchor down in Nashville.”

Curtis flips to local Vanderbilt

One of, if not the biggest factor in Curtis’ decision was the opportunity to get on the field early. Vandy checked that box in a big way.

“Beyond competing for snaps as a true freshman, program trajectory and the opportunity to play for Lea along with a competitive NIL offer allowed Vandy to pull this off,” Wiltfong wrote earlier on Tuesday.

With Curtis’ pledge, Vandy jumped 15 spots in the moment and now has the No. 31 recruiting class in the nation, according to the Rivals Industry Team Recruiting Rankings. The top-ranked QB is a landmark commitment for the ‘Dores.

Rivals’ Director of Scouting and Rankings Charles Power wrote this of Curtis on Tuesday, detailing what Vandy is getting in the five-star:

“Last fall, Curtis’ arm talent already measured up with the nation’s elite, looking to be on par with that of Bryce Underwood of Michigan, the wire-to-wire No. 1 overall prospect in the 2025 cycle. Based on what we’ve seen this fall, we don’t see an arm currently in high school football that rivals Curtis’ horsepower … Curtis has shown the ability to drive the football with velocity and touch from multiple platforms. The ball explodes out of his hand with rare zip, and he can comfortably make throws to every level of the field. Whether it is pushing the ball vertically, driving an out route, or delivering a strike while on the move, the combination of arm strength, looseness, and ability to make every throw registers as elite.”