Vanderbilt freshman quarterback Jared Curtis will start against NC State on Saturday, Commodores coach Clark Lea announced Wednesday. Curtis, a five-star recruit and ESPN's No. 1 pocket passer in the 2026 class, had appeared in both of Vanderbilt's games this fall behind senior passer Blaze Berlowitz.
Curtis takes over after accounting for three of the program's four touchdowns in a 35-26 win over Delaware last weekend. He finished that game with 14 completions on 22 attempts for 210 yards and his first career passing touchdown, adding a pair of rushing scores on either side of halftime.
Curtis, once a longtime Georgia commit, flipped his pledge to the hometown Commodores on the eve of the early signing period last December. He was ESPN's No. 12 overall prospect in the 2026 cycle and joined the program in January as the highest-rated signee in school history.
Curtis competed for the starting quarterback job across spring and fall camp before Lea gave the nod to Berlowitz on August 25. Berlowitz, who began his career at New Mexico State with Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck, started each of the program's first two games and completed only three of his nine passes for 29 yards against Delaware.
Curtis will make his debut college start at home Saturday when the Commodores (2-0) host NC State (1-1) at 12:45 ET on SEC Network.
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