The five star quarterback from Nashville took another major stride in his recruiting process. On February 22 he whittled down his choices to two schools, Oregon and Georgia, which followed his decommitment from the Bulldogs in the fall. Curtis took official visits to both schools in early March, both of whom do not have a quarterback committed in the class of 2026. The Curtis family seemed to be very impressed with the efforts put forward by Dan Lanning and his staff, as his Mother Barbara told On3 that “she would be feeling good, if Jared chose to go there.”
Receiving a commitment, and maintaining it would be a massive get for the Ducks. According to 247Sports industry rankings, he would be the second highest Oregon signee of all time, just behind Kayvon Thibodeaux, who signed in the class of 2019. Also, Oregon does not currently have a quarterback committed in the class of 2026, a class that is already imbalanced towards the defensive side of the ball. Lanning and his staff previously had quarterback Jonas Williams committed, until he flipped to Lincoln Riley and USC in February. The widespread belief around Williams’ decommitment is that Oregon was prepared for this, and believed to be in a strong position with Curtis, and other highly ranked quarterbacks from the same class.
Throughout the Dan Lanning era at Oregon, we are only now about to see the first non-transfer signal-caller, in either Dante Moore or Austin Novosad. The two prior, Bo Nix and Dillon Gabriel, were two of the most experienced college football players of all time. All this to say, it is difficult to determine how the depth chart and overall quarterback situation would pan out, if Curtis were to sign with the Ducks. He is a higher rated prospect than Akili Smith Jr. was, who was the lone quarterback signee in the class of 2025, and Luke Moga, who signed in the class of 2024.
If Curtis were to end up with Georgia, Oregon should have other options. They have been persistent with fellow class of 2026 quarterback Ryder Lyons, out of Folsom, California, who is also a five star prospect.
Jared Curtis' potential commitment to Oregon makes a lot of sense. Very few teams in the nation have recruited pass-catchers at the rate the Ducks have in the last few cycles, they have had back-to-back Joe Moore Award finalists (for the best offensive line unit in the nation), and their last two quarterbacks have ended up in New York in December as finalists for the Heisman Trophy.
Stay tuned to Autzen Zoo to see the latest on Jared Curtis’ decision.