Clark Lea evaluates how Jared Curtis has adjusted at Vanderbilt

Look no further than the start of Clark Lea‘s first press conference of Spring practice for insight into what true freshman quarterback Jared Curtis means to Vanderbilt. And as the 2026 Five-Star Plus+ recruit begins his Commodores career, the Nashville Christian product is already the talk of the town.

In fact, the first three questions Lea received during Tuesday’s press conference were all about Curtis, something the sixth-year ‘Dores head coach picked up on pretty quickly. But despite that intense scrutiny, Lea is determined to allow his uber-talented five-star QB to grow and develop at his own pace.

“He’s got arm talent and he’s got confidence to make the throw. Again, this is going to be a different speed for him – both the defensive backs and how they close space, and the defensive line and how the pocket crushes. So he’s going to have to learn through mistakes,” Lea said of Curtis on Tuesday. “We’ve had opportunities through our OTAs for him to throw, and as you’d expect, there are times he’s clutched the ball too long. There are times he’s tried to go across the field late, and those things end up in interceptions.

“So, learning those lessons, and, again, for us – I realize just out of the gate here I think it’s been Jared Curtis, Jared Curtis, Jared Curtis – but for us, we’re not going to have that level of microscope on him every day.”

Clark Lea on 5-star QB Jared Curtis: ‘We’re going to give him time to develop’

As the No. 3 overall prospect and No. 2 quarterback in the 2026 recruiting cycle, according to the Rivals Industry Ranking, the 6-foot-4 and 225-pound Curtis is Vanderbilt’s highest-rated signee in program history. And he was a late addition to the Commodores’ class following a late flip from Georgia on Dec. 2, 2025, the day before National Signing Day. In the four months since, the attention on Curtis has only intensified, which has required some in-house counseling from Lea and the Vanderbilt staff.

“Jared’s a guy that’s really not interested in a lot of the spotlight, he’s not looking to be a story. … He’s really focused on his work with the team. He wants to be great, that’s within him,” Lea continued. “But we also understand that whether he wants to be the story or not, the story will be written. … Those are the conversations we have (with him). But there’s been no part of him that has tried to separate himself or come in and tried to establish himself as something other than a young player who’s hungry to win games. And I think that’s the perfect attitude to have.”

Vanderbilt is coming off its best season in history after winning a program-record 10 games in 2025 under the direction of sixth-year veteran QB Diego Pavia. But with Pavia headed to the NFL, Lea is poised to hand the reins to a younger quarterback. But while the hope is that Curtis eventually establishes himself as the guy in Nashville, Lea is providing the true freshman QB all the opportunity to develop at his own pace.

“This is about giving him room to make his mistakes and become the player he wants to be,” Lea concluded. “… So, we have runway right now, runway for us to stack reps and give him great experience and exposure and let it all sort out. But, yeah, he has the tools. Playing quarterback is about more than just being able to throw the ball, and we’re going to give him time to develop in those other areas too.”