In a shocking turn of events in the recruiting world, five-star, the No. 1 quarterback of the class of 2026, Jared Curtis, has flipped his commitment from the Georgia Bulldogs to the hometown Vanderbilt Commodores on the verge of national signing day. Despite hitting double-digit wins, this has to be one of the biggest wins of the season for the Commodores.

“5-star QB Jared Curtis officially flips from Georgia to Vanderbilt.” On December 2nd, college football insider Brandon Marcello hopped onto X and shared the flip news:

Curtis hadn’t even told his parents or coaches beforehand because he wanted to talk things through with both schools and his family first. The Nashville native shared how much he respects Georgia, and that comes with it: the coaches, the players, and the program. But nothing beats the idea of playing at home as a hometown hero.

Logically, a big reason for the switch is probably the playing time. At Georgia, the quarterback room is pretty crowded, and he likely would have had to wait for Gunner Stockton (junior) to graduate. Vanderbilt, their current star QB, Diego Pavia, is done after this year, meaning the starting job is wide open. Plus, we all know how good Vandy is playing these days. The Commodores just had their first-ever 10-win season and are likely to make the playoffs.

Jared Curtis put up some ridiculous numbers during his high school career at Nashville Christian School. He was a dominant force for four years on that varsity squad. Over the years there, he threw for a whopping 9,528 yards and 123 touchdowns. He’s running the football as well as he throws. The 6’3 also ran for 2,199 yards and an incredible 48 touchdowns on the ground.

What makes folks flip out is his junior year of high school. Jared had 3,400 total yards and 58 total touchdowns, earning him the Gatorade Tennessee Player of the Year award. No wonder why the majority of ranking outlets ranked him the best prospect in America. This is a historical event for Vandy football. Curtis is the highest-rated recruit the program has ever signed straight out of high school. What a day for Clark Lea and company. That being said, their playoff dreams have come to an end.

Why Vanderbilt football is out of the playoffs ?

Vanderbilt’s chances of making the College Football Playoff are essentially over. Even though they had a historic 10-2 season, the final CFP rankings released before the championship games put them all the way down at No. 14. To secure an at-large spot, teams typically have to be ranked higher, likely in the top 10, so being ranked 14th pretty much sealed their fate.

The biggest issue is that Vandy’s season is finished; they are not playing in a conference championship game this weekend. Other teams still in the running. Programs like BYU and Alabama have one last chance to play and impress the selection committee. Vanderbilt can’t do that.

They just have to sit and watch, and without a final statement game to jump the numerous teams ranked ahead of them, like Notre Dame (No. 10), BYU (No. 11), Miami (No. 12), and Texas (No. 13), there’s no realistic path forward. So while it was a fantastic season for them, they’ll likely be heading to a major bowl game like the Citrus Bowl or ReliaQuest Bowl, and not the playoff.