On decision day the reasons that matter are the ones important to the recruit and his family.
Oregon has a great tradition of developing quarterbacks for the NFL-- currently there are four Duck QBs with NFL contracts and two, Justin Herbert and Bo Nix are starters. Georgia on the other hand boasts four national championships, in 1942, 1980, 2021 and 2022. They've won the SEC 17 times.
Which tradition trumps the other?
The Curtis family home in Nashville is a few minutes away from Vanderbilt, 200 miles from Knoxville, 270 miles to Auburn, 282 to Athens. Most SEC cities are a day's drive or a short flight away. The entire clan can see every one of Jared's games, replays and coaches' shows on television.
It's the football they know and grew up watching. Curis can readily come home for a meal or a weekend, stay connected rather than halfway around the country.
One thing that's clear is that this isn't an NIL-driven decision. His agent Peter Webb told Jeff Sentell o "DawgNation,"
"If Jared was chasing the best compensation package, this may have been over a long time ago. These schools may not have even been in the finals. His interest in Georgia and Oregon – and really the difficulty in this decision – has been motivated by the relationships he’s developed during the recruiting process and the unique opportunities both programs provide. We won’t even know what this complete financial framework looks like until after he commits to a university.”
Curtis has a great relationship with Oregon offensive coordinator Will Stein, but that's not a clincher. Stein is a hot commodity as a head coaching candidate. The Ducks are apt to lose him if his offense has another productive year, which is likely.