The Boy Who Said No Is Coming to Visit

GEORGIA MONEYBALL — Monday, September 28, 2026

Jared Curtis, the Nashville quarterback who flipped from Georgia to Vanderbilt, brings the Commodores to Athens on Saturday to finish the conversation in person.

ALBANY, GA — · By the RFA Sports Desk

Few letters sting quite like the one a young man writes in December telling Georgia thanks, but no thanks. Jared Curtis wrote his version last winter. He was committed to the Bulldogs, a Nashville boy who had looked south and liked what he saw in Athens. Then he looked around his own hometown and flipped to Vanderbilt. On Saturday he gets to deliver the rest of that message in person, between the hedges, against the No. 2 team in the country. It is the rare house call where the doctor has to show up at the patient's house.

Curtis is not coming as a curiosity. Vanderbilt Athletics reported that in his first career road start, a 21-15 loss at Auburn, the true freshman completed 22 of 33 passes for 199 yards and also led the Commodores in rushing with 48 yards. That is a quarterback who throws when he can and runs when he has to, which in the Southeastern Conference is also the job description for staying alive. Vanderbilt lost, but it lost close, on the road, with a freshman taking the snaps. Georgia people have learned to be wary of that kind of loss.

It is the rare house call where the doctor has to show up at the patient's house.

If Curtis wants a scouting report, he could do worse than watch Oklahoma's quarterback last Saturday. The Associated Press reported that linebacker Chris Cole recovered two John Mateer fumbles in the first half and returned one 85 yards from the Georgia 15 for a touchdown. Georgia forced four turnovers in the 41-13 win and led 28-0 at halftime. The lesson for a freshman who likes to run is the one your grandmother gave you about your wallet at the county fair: hold it tight, and don't trust anybody who looks too friendly.

Georgia will meet him a little thin at running back. Kirby Smart told reporters there is no timeline for Nate Frazier, who dressed against Oklahoma with a rib injury but did not play. Into that gap stepped Dwight Phillips Jr., known to all of Athens as Peanut, who DawgNation reported ran for 84 yards on eight carries, including a career-long 54-yard touchdown. Smart said afterward, "We've got to get Peanut more touches and find ways to get him the ball." When the head coach says it out loud, Peanut had best stay limber.

The oddsmakers have Georgia by 24.5, and this desk calls it a lock. But recruiting has a way of settling its own scores long after the scoreboard settles the other kind. Curtis already won the argument he cared about the day he chose to play at home. Saturday is just Georgia's chance at a rebuttal, and he'll have plenty of company in the audience. Somewhere in Nashville a mother will be wearing black and gold, and in Athens a few thousand folks will pretend they never wanted him anyway. Nobody will believe them.

The Notebook

• SATURDAY: Anchor Boys at Red Clay Hounds, 12:45 PM Eastern. Georgia is favored by 24.5, and the desk calls it a lock.
• SEC SHAKEUP: No. 21 Florida ran for 302 yards and beat No. 4 Ole Miss, 52-28. The Rebels were the only top-10 team to lose this week, and it was Pete Golding's first regular-season loss as their head coach.
• ELSEWHERE: Unranked Wisconsin came back from 17-0 down to beat No. 13 Penn State, 24-20. Iowa beat Michigan 20-19 with a touchdown on the final play, and Oregon won 41-27 at USC after Dante Moore's injury.

Written in the tradition of Lewis Grizzard, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 1946–1994.

Hear the desk read tonights report on Radio Free Albany, WPFQ 96.7.