Vanderbilt Football Fall Camp Position Preview: Quarterbacks

Vandy on SI’s projected depth chart: 

Starter: Diego Pavia 

Backup: Blaze Berlowitz

Battling: Drew Dickey, Jack Elliott, Jeremy St Hilare, Whit Muschamp

What to watch for: 

Pavia is the guy in this room, there’s no question about it. He could take five reps this fall camp and there wouldn’t be a question as to whether he’ll be starting the whole way.

The only Pavia-related storyline is how Vanderbilt manages his usage throughout the fall after holding him out of most live periods–including the spring game–in the spring. Vanderbilt will likely want Pavia to develop some chemistry with its new targets and will want to simulate what its offense will look like in the season opener, but will have to put Pavia in a position where he can avoid over usage. 

He’ll be taking hits all season, the last thing Vanderbilt needs is a camp in which he’s already starting to wear down. 

The kicker here is that every season Clark Lea has been at the helm of Vanderbilt’s program besides Pavia’s first, he’s had to use multiple quarterbacks for one reason or another. That makes Berlowitz’ fall camp development important. 

Berlowitz has as much true ability as anyone in the room, but his biggest flaw is amplified in Vanderbilt’s ball-control offense. The 6-foot-3 gunslinger has often been loose with the ball in practice and will have to take care of it better throughout the fall for Vanderbilt to feel confident in him as the backup. 

"He made strides this spring. I'm proud of him for that," Lea said. "There's so many dynamic elements of Diego's game that we celebrate, but probably one of his greatest skills is his football IQ and the decisions he makes with the ball. That's part of why we led the nation last year in turnovers, because everything channeled through him and he's very smart with the ball. We need Blaze to grow into that, too.”

It was clear coming out of the spring that Berlowitz had a leg up on the rest of Vanderbilt’s quarterbacks not named Diego Pavia, but he’s left the door cracked open for Dickey and the rest of Vanderbilt’s young quarterbacks to jump him if they have exceptional falls and his turnover issues continue. 

Can Vanderbilt’s sophomore class step up? 

St. Hilaire and Muschamp each came in as somewhat highly regarded prospects, but each will have to take a step forward in order to be in the mix this fall. Otherwise, they’ll be left buried on the depth chart as Pavia departs from the program this winter and Vanderbilt looks for its answer in regards to the future of the position. 

Each of them are also at risk of being passed on the depth chart by Vanderbilt summer enrollee Jack Elliott, who was a proven winner as a high schooler and has drawn comparisons to Pavia from the Vanderbilt coaching staff. 

St. Hilaire in particular has upside that Vanderbilt will likely want to fully see through here. He’s got a rare combination of athleticism and arm strength that Vanderbilt hasn’t often been able to recruit. He’s yet to come close to the top of the depth chart, though. 

Perhaps this is the fall for him to do it. 

What’s at stake? 

Pavia is the starter here, but his exit at the end of the season is inevitable. That’s where the value of this fall camp comes into play. 

If one of Vanderbilt’s younger quarterbacks steps up and looks like Pavia’s heir apparent, that makes things easier on Lea and Vanderbilt offensive coordinator Tim Beck this offseason. If they feel as if they’ve got a legitimate in-house candidate to start, they can bring in a veteran to compete for the job and can afford to allocate money elsewhere. 

If each of Vanderbilt’s quarterbacks still have too much room to go, the Vanderbilt staff will have to recruit a high-dollar quarterback to play over them. That could cause some transfer portal movement in the room and would take away some money from other position groups that Vanderbilt will want to address. 

What happens in the fall could also have an immediate impact on the future of Vanderbilt’s program. Someone taking ownership of the backup role could be the difference in Vanderbilt being able to have an opportunity to win a game or two if Pavia has to miss time.