Has Diego Pavia changed the course of Vanderbilt football forever? Maybe.
That’s the only conclusion you can form Wednesday morning after five-star prospect Jared Curtis put pen to paper in Nashville, becoming the highest-rated recruit in program history – by far!
According to the 247Sports Composite, Curtis is the nation’s #1 player in the 2026 class. He flipped his commitment from Georgia to Vandy yesterday.
Unlike many kids his age, Curtis isn’t an attention seeker. How do we know? Well, the Nashville Christian High School quarterback chose to sign this morning in a private setting because he’s busy preparing for his team’s state championship game tomorrow night.
Seriously, when was the last time a five-star player signed without a live camera in the room?
Curtis is listed as 6-foot-3.5 and 225 pounds. During the 2024 season, he was named MaxPreps Tennessee Player of the Year after leading Nashville Christian to a 12-1 record and its first state title in nine years. He was the state’s Mr. Football for the Division II-A classification.
Curtis completed 70.2 percent of his passes last year for 2,830 yards with an incredible 40/3 touchdown-to-interception ratio. He added 637 rushing yards and 18 TDs while averaging 7.2 yards per carry.
Per MaxPreps which last updated his stats on Nov. 24 through 10 games, Curtis has thrown for 1,863 yards this season with a 31/6 TD-INT ratio. He also has 536 rushing yards and 10 TDs, averaging 8.9 YPC.
In 47 career high school games, Curtis has 9,528 passing yards with a 123/25 TD-INT ratio. He has 2,199 career rushing yards and 48 TDs with a 7.0 YPC average.
As of early Wednesday afternoon, the 247Sports Composite had Vandy with the nation’s #29 overall class. However, with the addition of Curtis, you would think the Commodores are going to be serious players for veteran wide receivers who enter the transfer portal next month.
With Clark Lea agreeing to a contract extension after heavy-hitter programs like Penn St. and Florida expressed interest in his services ahead of last Saturday’s 45-24 blowout win at Tennessee to give the program its first-ever 10-win season, Vandy football is on the climb.
Want proof? Well, the next-most highly-rated recruit in program annals behind Curtis is none other than early 2027 verbal commit, Omarii Sanders, another local kid who plays at Nashville’s Franklin Road Academy HS.
247Sports has Sanders, a 6-foot-3.5 linebacker who is listed at 210 pounds, ranked as a four-star prospect who is the nation’s #2 LB, the #4 prospect in Tennessee and the #47 overall player.