Morning, y’all!
This week’s Georgia-Vanderbilt matchup carries a little extra intrigue.
You may remember Jared Curtis was Georgia’s quarterback commit for much of the 2026 recruiting cycle, but Curtis went on to flip to Vanderbilt, his hometown team, days before the early signing period in December 2025.
Saturday, Curtis will play at Sanford Stadium, but of course, he won’t be wearing red and black.
But, when Curtis came up in Georgia coach Kirby Smart’s press conference Monday, there were no hard feelings:
“Tremendous talent,” Smart said. “Way better athletically than people give him credit for. I don’t know if anybody’s tackled him, with one person, tackled him yet. He’s strong. He’s quick. He’s powerful. He’s got great arm talent.”
Georgia eventually landed fellow 2026 quarterback prospect Bryson Beaver out of the transfer portal to fill the spot left by Curtis. Beaver has yet to attempt a pass for Georgia this season.
Curtis meanwhile has completed 63 of his 98 attempts for 746 yards and four touchdowns. He’s added another two scores on the ground while totaling 133 yards on 41 carries.
His first career start came against NC State, a game the Commodores won in spite of a late interception thrown by Curtis.
Vanderbilt did drop its SEC opener last week, falling 21-15 at Auburn. Curtis did not have a touchdown in the game and threw another interception.
For as talented a thrower as Curtis, it’s his legs that really separate him. Vanderbilt wasn’t afraid to lean on that aspect against Auburn, as he finished with 18 carries.
“We’re going to play mobile quarterbacks the entire year,” Smart said. “I mean, tell me somebody who’s not mobile that plays quarterback. I don’t know that there is one. So they’re all mobile. They’re all athletic. They’ve all got good arms. They’re all good players, and they all got good teams, so it doesn’t change what we have to do each week.”
Georgia’s defense made things very difficult for Oklahoma quarterback John Mateer last week, a similarly “toolsy” quarterback. Mateer was sacked three times and turned the ball over four times.
As for any lessons learned when it came to the Curtis recruitment, Smart elected to keep things close to the vest. He isn’t the first 5-star quarterback to commit to Georgia only to sign elsewhere. Dylan Raiola did so in the 2024 recruiting class, when he ultimately signed with Nebraska.
“No one’s committed until they’re signed,” Smart said. “So I don’t see it as a challenge. I see it as they’re not committed. At the end of the day, they’re not bound until they sign something or they enroll, and that’s just kinda the way it is. I don’t really look it as the challenge of keeping them. They’re not yours. They have an option to go other places. You also have an option to not keep them.”
Georgia does currently hold a commitment from 2028 5-star quarterback Jayden Wade. He committed to Georgia during his sophomore season at IMG Academy, even earlier in the process than Curtis did. Wade continues to say all the right things about staying committed to the Georgia program, though he is still a long way from actually signing to play for Smart.
In the event that Curtis had signed with Georgia, he’d be sitting behind incumbent Georgia starter Gunner Stockton.
Read Connor Riley’s full story here.
‘Gutsy’ Curtis always ready to put game on his shoulders, Lea says
Vanderbilt coach Clark Lea knows better than anyone what the Commodores have in Curtis, and he’s confident it only gets better moving forward.
“Offensively, we’re growing a quarterback up,” Lea said after Curtis accounted well for himself in Vanderbilt’s loss at Auburn, “and we have a lot of excitement about him and a lot of belief in where he’s headed.”
Curtis is next headed to Athens, a city he knows well from many visits during a celebrated long-term commitment to the Bulldogs before flipping to Vanderbilt.
The betting line opened at 24.5 points despite this being a respectable Vanderbilt team that actually had more first downs than Auburn (22-15) along with more yards (311-279) and time of possession (37:32 to 22:28).
The No. 2 Bulldogs are coming off a blowout win against the Sooners in what deceptively appeared to be an easy win, until one digs deeper and recognizes the Sooners’ four turnovers had more to do with the score than the majority of play.
That could be why Lea has such great confidence that Curtis can handle the moment in Sanford Stadium, even while a more experienced quarterback like Mateer could not.
Read Mike Griffith’s full story here.
Cole earns SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors for Georgia
Georgia’s defense made life miserable for the Oklahoma offense this past Saturday. A big part of it was linebacker Chris Cole, who earned SEC Defensive Player of the Week honors Monday.
Cole was a force during the Bulldogs’ big win, racking up eight tackles, one sack and two fumble recoveries.
His first recovery ended up being the defining play of the game.
With Oklahoma looking to cut its 14-0 deficit in half, Cole forced Mateer to hesitate. Mateer dropped the ball, with the star linebacker there not just to recover it, but return it 85 yards for a touchdown.
Read Hunter DeLauder’s full story here.
Trivia time
In how many consecutive meetings has Georgia defeated Vanderbilt?
This 5-star shares an honest assessment after a big UGA visit
Most immediate post-visit recruiting updates tend to focus on a program’s curb appeal. It often involves text-message reporting designed to get up fast: The atmosphere. The crowd. How Team X played. Where that visit ranks among a prospect’s game day travels.
Sometimes, the substance of what’s going on gets lost. Or it doesn’t come out for a few days.
That’s why what 5-star defensive lineman Kellan Hall said after his Oklahoma visit was different. He plays for Christian Academy of Louisville in Kentucky and is rated as the nation’s No. 1 defensive lineman and the No. 2 overall prospect for 2027 on the 247Sports Composite and the Rivals Industry Ranking.
While Hall was highly complimentary of the Dawgs in those peripheral areas, he cut straight to the heart of the matter while sitting at his airport gate waiting for his flight home to Kentucky.
He will commit in January at the Under Armour All-American Game. What did he leave Athens with after seeing the performance on Saturday?
“Mainly just, like, when it comes down to it, how important is, I’m just going to say it, like the NIL part,” Hall said. “That’s really it. How important is that to me and what I’m going to do with that.”
“I mean, they check all boxes and a lot of schools check all the boxes but some people worry about NIL more than others and it is definitely a decision I am going to have to make. Just how important is that truly? Just how important is that to me?”
That’s real honesty behind a 5-star’s decision in the current era. Especially as it relates to Georgia football.
The Bulldogs are never going to be the pacesetters and the high bid in this transactional era. That’s not the way Smart builds his roster. He’s said if money is the major incentive for them to come, then the day-to-day grind of Georgia will wear down even those elite fast-track-to-the-NFL talents.
The Dawgs have a big red-and-black check in the other core areas of Hall’s decision. Culture. NFL development pipeline. National title contender. Relationships. Scheme fit.
Read Jeff Sentell’s full story here.
Trivia answer
Six
