When Kentucky head football coach Will Stein was on Dan Lanning’s staff at Oregon, there was one player in particular that Stein was helping recruit to be a Duck.

A five-star quarterback from the Nashville area, Jared Curtis, drew Stein’s attention pretty quickly to the point where Stein recruited Curtis “heavily” when Stein was the offensive coordinator for Oregon.

Ultimately, Stein’s pitch to Curtis was unsuccessful. Curtis originally committed to Georgia before flipping to Vanderbilt in early December last year. This weekend, the highly-touted and gifted quarterback Stein once recruited in his previous coaching stop will be on the opposing sideline when his Kentucky Wildcats welcome Curtis and a Vanderbilt team that is desperate for a win.

When Curtis and Vanderbilt take the field in Lexington Saturday night, Stein will be fully aware of the type of player his defense will be facing off against. And he has plenty of praise for what Curtis brings to the table.

“I know him very well. He is a freak show,” Stein said of his initial thoughts on Curtis. “He’s very young but in terms of the tangibles of the position, being able to throw it, arm talent, running strength. He is a prototype first round talent. He has growth ahead of him but he gets better every single game.”

Stein’s compliments for Curtis are maybe the best any opposing coach has said about Curtis this season. Every coach Vanderbilt has seen this year has praise for Curtis’ skillset, but Stein’s experience of recruiting him says a lot about what he thinks Curtis’ football career ceiling is beyond college.

More specifically on Curtis’ talent, Stein had more praise for him. Between his size, his ability after just four collegiate starts and his arm talent, Stein likes what Curtis possesses a lot and knows he has the potential to cause problems in any given game.

The play style Curtis has as well as his skillset has drawn some comparisons to current NFL quarterbacks. Over the summer, Vanderbilt head coach Clark Lea told Vandy On SI that Curtis’ arm talent reminded him of 2025 NFL MVP Matthew Stafford. 

Stein had his own comparison in his assessment of Curtis.

“I’m not saying he’s this player, but in terms of play style, it’s like a Josh Allen type style. In terms of he can run it and he runs hard and physically. And he’s got the arm talent to literally throw a 70-yard bomb on the dot,” Stein said.

Curtis is still looking for his first SEC win of his college career. Through the six games he has appeared in for Vanderbilt, he has thrown for 1,242 yards with six touchdowns and seven interceptions and has rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns.

Just because the Commodores are on a four-game losing streak does not mean Curtis cannot lead Vanderbilt to an upset win. Curtis’ talent could prove big this weekend. Kentucky is ranked 117th in college football in passing yards allowed, giving up 249.7 passing yards per game.

Maybe something has to give Saturday. But what is for sure is that it will not come as a surprise to Stein if Curtis has a big game.

“I’m excited about him and obviously don’t want him to play well on Saturday versus us, but I know he’s going to be a really big problem for people in his career,” Stein said.

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