Two-time Georgia football commit Jared Curtis was back in the news this week. Not for something the former 5-star quarterback did on the football field, but rather for something off it.
According to Clay Travis of Outkick, Curtis has a minor role in Nate Bargatze’s upcoming movie The Breadwinner. Bargatze is a Vanderbilt superfan and someone who previously used his platform to pitch Curtis on playing for the Commodores, even when he was committed to Georgia.
The Bulldogs made a serious effort to keep Curtis in the class, only for him to ultimately flip to Vanderbilt just before the early signing period. Georgia went all in on Curtis, yet the possibility of early playing time was something that Georgia could not match.
Georgia will get a chance to play Curtis this season, provided he actually wins the starting job at Vanderbilt. The Commodores travel to Athens on Oct. 3 in a game that Georgia fans will surely be fired up for. Sandwiched between games against Oklahoma and Alabama, the presence of Curtis prevents the Vanderbilt game from being viewed as a potential trap game for the Bulldogs.
But Curtis looms over Georgia in another way at this moment. Not as a future opponent, but as part of an ongoing mission to find a quarterback in the 2027 recruiting cycle. With every miss on a top quarterback, it serves as a reminder of the price Georgia paid by not landing the former 5-star quarterback.
Peter Bourque is the latest quarterback prospect that the Bulldogs were unable to land. Georgia pushed hard for the Massachusetts signal caller but Virginia Tech and James Franklin ultimately beat out Georgia for his services.
All 10 of the top-10 highest-ranked quarterback prospects in the 2027 recruiting cycle per the 247Sports Composite rankings are now committed. The highest-ranked uncommitted prospect is Colton Nussmeier, who slots in as the No. 14-ranked quarterback.
While Georgia currently doesn’t have a quarterback in the 2027 class, it does hold a commitment from Jayden Wade in the 2028 recruiting cycle. He’s the No. 1-ranked quarterback prospect in that cycle, but he’s also made it abundantly clear he won’t be reclassifying to get to school early.
Like Curtis, Wade committed to Georgia early in the process. Wade continues to say all the right things about being committed to the program, but there’s a long way to go between now and December of 2027, when Wade can officially lock in his status with the program. With how things ended with Curtis, you can understand why there is some skepticism among fans that Wade will end up in a Georgia uniform.
Georgia did use the transfer portal to find a replacement for Curtis, bringing in Oregon quarterback Bryson Beaver. He was a 2026 prospect, putting him on the same eligibility timeline as Curtis.
The longer Georgia goes without finding a quarterback in the 2027 recruiting cycle, the possibility grows larger that the Bulldogs could once again lean on the transfer portal to fill the quarterback room.
Gunner Stockton will exhaust his eligibility after the 2026 season. Exiting spring practice, none of Georgia’s other four quarterbacks on the roster had solidified themselves as the backup quarterback.
“I don’t know that any of the three of them were so consistent to be able to say, well, he’s the clear two, or he’s the clear this,” Smart said after G-Day. “It just wasn’t that way.”
When Curtis was committed to Georgia, he seemed like an obvious succession candidate. Instead, he’s now a future Georgia opponent.
The longer Georgia goes without a clear succession plan for Stockton, the larger Curtis’ shadow will continue to grow. Especially if he ends up being as advertised.
There is a flip side to the Curtis hype, however. Dylan Raiola flipped to Nebraska in a manner similar to that of Curtis. He opted for early playing time as opposed to waiting and developing. After a two-year stint in Lincoln, Nebraska, Raiola is now set to sit behind Dante Moore for Oregon this season. That move by Raiola proved to be a catalyst for the Bulldogs getting Beaver.
Should that situation play out again with Curtis, perhaps all this fretting over quarterback recruiting is for naught. Smart wants players who ultimately want to play for Georgia. Stetson Bennett fit that model and Georgia won two national championships with him as the team’s quarterback.
And for all the talk about 5-star quarterbacks, it’s worth noting that every one that Smart has signed has ended up finishing their career elsewhere.
