Vanderbilt is coming off one of the most successful seasons in program history, going 10-3 overall and 6-2 in the SEC while being in the playoff conversation the whole year. Head coach Clark Lea has built up the Vandy program into something extremely respectful, if not borderline borderline playoff contending – will need a couple more years of sustained success to go that far.
Offense
In 2025, the Commodores finished 8th in the nation in points per game at 38.5 thanks in large part to quarterback Diego Pavia. Pavia was the engine of the Vandy offense and finished as the Heisman runner-up. 2026, though, will see a new signal caller under center. Most believe that true freshman and former UGA commit Jared Curtis will be the starter in Week 1. A former five-star recruit and Nashville native, Curtis flipped to Vanderbilt just prior to putting pen to paper for his signing. Curtis is by far the biggest recruit in the history of Vanderbilt football, who had never had even a top 50 commit prior to Curtis signing. Having already drawn comparisons from his head coach Lea, it seems that Curtis will indeed be the starter. Other quarterbacks pushing Curtis for the starting spot are third year quarterback Blaze Berlowitz and and Whit Muschamp, son of Will Muschamp.
Though the quarterback will be new, the main player they will hand the ball off to is not. Sedrick Alexander returns for another year as the starting running back after averaging 5.4 yard per carry and accumulating 15 total touchdowns last season. Alexander will likely be tasked with carrying a bigger workload in 2026 to ease the pressure off the true-freshman Curtis.
The Commodores did lose All-American tight end Eli Stowers who will now be catching passes from Jalen Hurts for the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite the loss of their leading pass catcher in terms of receptions, Vanderbilt does return their top wide receiver in Junior Sherrill who led the team with 800 yards through the air.
#vandy #head
Offense
In 2025, the Commodores finished 8th in the nation in points per game at 38.5 thanks in large part to quarterback Diego Pavia. Pavia was the engine of the Vandy offense and finished as the Heisman runner-up. 2026, though, will see a new signal caller under center. Most believe that true freshman and former UGA commit Jared Curtis will be the starter in Week 1. A former five-star recruit and Nashville native, Curtis flipped to Vanderbilt just prior to putting pen to paper for his signing. Curtis is by far the biggest recruit in the history of Vanderbilt football, who had never had even a top 50 commit prior to Curtis signing. Having already drawn comparisons from his head coach Lea, it seems that Curtis will indeed be the starter. Other quarterbacks pushing Curtis for the starting spot are third year quarterback Blaze Berlowitz and and Whit Muschamp, son of Will Muschamp.
Though the quarterback will be new, the main player they will hand the ball off to is not. Sedrick Alexander returns for another year as the starting running back after averaging 5.4 yard per carry and accumulating 15 total touchdowns last season. Alexander will likely be tasked with carrying a bigger workload in 2026 to ease the pressure off the true-freshman Curtis.
The Commodores did lose All-American tight end Eli Stowers who will now be catching passes from Jalen Hurts for the Philadelphia Eagles. Despite the loss of their leading pass catcher in terms of receptions, Vanderbilt does return their top wide receiver in Junior Sherrill who led the team with 800 yards through the air.
#vandy #head
3 months ago
