The Vanderbilt Commodores did not play freshman quarterback Jared Curtis in their 38-14 loss to the Georgia Bulldogs. Curtis, a former five-star Georgia commitment, was injured and the Commodores and head coach Clark Lea did not feel he was healthy to play against Georgia.
"No, no injury setbacks for Jared (Curtis)," Lea said after the game. "We knew and, again, I try to be as honest and transparent as I can in the injury report. I mean, he was questionable for the game. We knew that going in. We knew it was going to be something where we needed to see him move around today."
"When we got out there and he moved around, it was clear that he wasn't ready to play, not at the level we needed him to as a team. And he recognized that, too. So, yeah,
he's going to continue to progress, continue to get better. Hopefully, he'll be healthy and able to go to the full allotment on Tuesday, but otherwise, we'll just keep an eye on him and keep working him back."
With Curtis out, Vanderbilt turned to veteran Blaze Berlowitz, who started the season as the starting quarterback. Berlowitz completed 12 of 23 passes for 190 yards, one touchdown and one interception. He added eight carries for 37 yards and finished the day as Vanderbilt's leading rusher. His 60-yard touchdown pass to Junior Sherrill helped Vanderbilt keep things interesting for the start of the game.
Many Georgia fans wanted to see the Bulldogs get revenge on Curtis for his decommitment. However, that did not end up happening with Curtis out.
"We were hopeful that Jared (Curtis) would be ready to play, you know, and he tried really hard to be ready to play, and I hurt for Jared," Lea notes on Curtis, who suffered an injury a week ago in the loss at Auburn. "You know, obviously he wanted to be out there with his teammates. He wanted to help his teammates win a game on the road."
"And, man, I'm really glad to have him. I really believe in him as a person, as a player, as a competitor, and I just respect the courage he showed this week in attacking what was a challenging situation for a young player, you know, but today, you know, it just it wasn't in the cards for him and and I know that hurt him."
Curtis' next opportunity to play will be on Saturday, Oct. 10 as Vanderbilt hosts Ole Miss.
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This article originally appeared on UGA Wire: Vanderbilt explains why QB Jared Curtis did not play vs. Georgia
