Five-Star QBs Jared Curtis & Faizon Brandon, Plus Chris Henry Jr. | Recruiting Trail

Vanderbilt's 2025 season was unlike anything the program had seen in over a century. The Commodores won ten games for the first time in school history, and they used that momentum to land one of the most coveted quarterbacks in the country. Jared Curtis, a five-star prospect and Nashville native, had been committed to Georgia for most of his senior year before flipping his decision just ahead of signing day — choosing to stay home and build on something rare in Nashville.

At Nashville Christian, Curtis closed out his prep career on a 23-game winning streak, capping it with back-to-back state championships. His coach described a player whose work ethic elevates everyone around him — unusual, he noted, for someone with that level of natural ability. Curtis himself credits the development of his intermediate and short-area passing game as the foundation that turned arm talent into football intelligence. He's expected to see the field early for the Commodores.

Across the state, Tennessee faces its own quarterback competition. Redshirt freshman George MacIntyre — a two-sport athlete from Brentwood Academy in Nashville — is one candidate for the starting job, but the Vols also brought in Faizon Brandon, a five-star recruit out of Grimsley High School in North Carolina. Some scouts considered Brandon the top prospect in the entire 2026 class. His high school coach, who has worked the Under Armor All-American Game in Orlando, said flatly that no one in the country throws the football the way Brandon does. Brandon, for his part, treats the ranking as motivation rather than validation.

At Ohio State, the wide receiver room adds another elite name: Chris Henry Jr. The 6-foot-6, 205-pound freshman is the son of the late NFL wide receiver Chris Henry Sr., and he arrives from California powerhouse Mater Dei as a consensus All-American. His combination of size, speed, and agility makes him a matchup problem from day one at the college level. Henry has been direct about his long-term goal — reaching the NFL, honoring his father's legacy, and using the game to take care of his family. That clarity of purpose has defined him since childhood.