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Diego Pavia was a superstar for the Vanderbilt Commodores in 2024 and 2025.
More than anyone not named Clark Lea, the head coach of the Commodores, Pavia should be credited as the reason for Vanderbilt football’s rise to legitimacy.
That leaves the next quarterback of the Commodores with some very big shoes to fill, but Lea made it clear on Tuesday at SEC Media Days that he has no intention of putting that type of pressure on whoever ends up under center.
“I don’t actually believe that that player needs to perform the way that Diego performed,” Lea told Andrea Adelson of ESPN.
Vandy doesn’t even have a named starter just yet for the 2026 season.
The odds-on favorite seems to be former five-star quarterback Jared Curtis, but he’s just a true freshman. Curtis will compete this fall with Blaze Berlowitz, White Muschamp and Jack Elliott, but all the buzz in Nashville right now is heading his way.
Jared Curtis gaining momentum to be Vanderbilt’s quarterback in 2026
It makes sense, too. Curtis was committed to Kirby Smart and the Georgia Bulldogs, but Vandy got him to flip at the last minute.
“I think it’s a great statement for our program to be able to go and recruit the No. 1 player in the country,” Lea said. “I love the fact that he hails from Nashville. I think that has been the hardest ground for us to harvest because the echo chamber was so negative for so long. What makes me even more excited about that is there weren’t any promises made.”
What Lea means there is that he didn’t promise Curtis the starting job just to get him to come to Vandy.
“This wasn’t about creating expectations for Jared to come in and step into a role,” Lea explained. “The promise was competition. What does that say about Jared? We talk about being a team of misfits. And I told him that his choice to come to Vanderbilt makes him a misfit, whether he likes it or not.”
Curtis threw for 2,073 yards and 36 touchdowns while rushing for 614 yards and 11 touchdowns in 2025 for Nashville Christian High School.
Pavia led Vandy to a 10-3 season and put together the best campaign from a quarterback in school history. He threw for 3,192 yards and 27 touchdowns while adding 862 yards and 10 touchdowns as a rusher.
No pressure, but the expectations are finally high at Vanderbilt.
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