Diego Pavia is gone, and Vanderbilt is already looking at the next quarterback in line. Clark Lea did not hide from that shift at SEC Media Days. Instead, he pointed straight to Jared Curtis, the five-star freshman who now carries the biggest quarterback spotlight in Nashville.

“We won’t replicate Diego,” Clark Lea said. “He’s unique in so many ways.”

Over the past two seasons, Diego Pavia helped change Vanderbilt’s reputation. Last year alone, the veteran QB threw for 3,539 yards, ran for another 862, and accounted for 39 total touchdowns. He also finished second in the Heisman race and helped Vanderbilt reach its first 10-win season.

That’s why Clark Lea isn’t looking for another Diego Pavia because there isn’t one. His focus has shifted to the players who spent the last two years putting in quiet work, waiting for their chance.

“There are a lot of guys that have been working in the shadows, doing all the little things that leaders do, that haven’t had the spotlight turned on,” he said. “Now it’s their turn.”

Vanderbilt’s clearest answer is Curtis, a Nashville native who flipped from Georgia and gives the Commodores a different kind of quarterback hope. He arrives as the No. 1 QB in the 2026 class, which tells you how seriously Vanderbilt sees this move.

Curtis also brings a frame and arm talent Pavia never had. Former Alabama quarterback Greg McElroy backed that view on SEC Network, saying Curtis’ skill set is higher.

“The skillset is higher with Jared Curtis than it was with Diego Pavia,” he said.

Whether that will age like wine remains to be seen. Raw talent and production aren’t always the same thing, particularly in the SEC, where young QBs don’t always get a great start. Clark Lea knows last season’s accomplishments won’t just carry into the fall. He believes the culture built over the past two years remains intact, but the results have to be earned all over again.

“We inherit the standards, the culture, the attitude, the expectation to win,” he said. “We don’t inherit any one result from our past. So this group has to build its own chemistry. This group has to define its own identity as a team.”

Clark Lea hasn’t been idle. Vanderbilt has steadily strengthened its roster through improved NIL support, targeted transfer portal additions, and stronger recruiting, with Jared Curtis becoming the headline addition of that effort. But the Commodores still have veteran Blaze Berlowitz in the room, so nothing has been decided yet.

For all the success that Diego Pavia brought to Nashville, Clark Lea says Vanderbilt can’t spend the next season chasing yesterday. The next chapter belongs to a different QB, a different locker room and, if everything goes according to plan, a different kind of success.