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
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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.
Even with Alexander, Sherrill, and more returning, the offense will only go as far as Curtis can take them. While an elite talent, it remains to be seen how well his game translates from Tennessee Class A football to the SEC
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Defense
While Vanderbilt’s offense was putting up video game numbers, their defense was merely trying to do their part in securing each win, giving up 22.8 points per game which was 48th in the country.
The Dores return cornerback and Rome High School grad Martel Hight who led the team in interceptions in 2025 (he also added seven catches on offense, too). Additionally, Vanderbilt returns both of their leading tacklers in CJ Heard (safety) and Bryan Longwell (linebacker). Furthermore, their leading edge rusher Miles Capers also returns to add to his sack total from 2025.
All of this is to say, while Vanderbilt’s defense was not one of the conference’s elite in 2025, they do return a good amount of their talent. Clark Lea made his name coordinating one great defense after another, and he will have that side of the ball prepared to complement their offense in 2026.
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Prediction
As is the case often times when Vanderbilt comes to Athens, it will be Homecoming week of the Dawgs. As someone who holds degrees from both institutions, the game is uniquely exciting for me; however, make no mistake, I want Georgia to win by 50 every time out.
While I don’t think Georgia wins by quite that amount, I find it difficult to see Vanderbilt not just pulling off the upset but keeping it relatively close. The Dawgs are formidable in Sanford, and no one in the stadium, from the players to the fans, will make Curtis’ life any easier after spurning Georgia late in the recruiting cycle.
Georgia 34 Vanderbilt 17
