NASHVILLE — Vanderbilt is wrapping up spring football practices this week, but it’s only the first step in coach Clark Lea’s process of picking a new starting quarterback to replace Diego Pavia.
Lea scored a recruiting coup last November, when five-star quarterback Jared Curtis of Nashville Christian School flipped his commitment from perennial powerhouse Georgia to stay home and play for Vanderbilt, a fellow Southeastern Conference program.
Yet the Commodores also have senior Blaze Berlowitz, junior Whit Muschamp and sophomore Jack Elliott, and Lea said they’ve all had their moments this spring heading into Saturday’s Black and Gold Game at FirstBank Stadium.
“This is going to be a process of elimination,” said Lea, who is preparing for his sixth season as head coach at his alma mater and is coming off a groundbreaking year for the program after the Commodores went 10-3 overall and 6-2 in SEC play in 2025.
“I’ve got a true freshman that is learning how to play in college,” Lea said of Curtis. “We all see the tools and the skills, and we believe in that. And I need to give him as much time as possible to learn the system and to really be able to compete. And we’re going to do that.”