Jared Curtis among 4 SEC football quarterbacks cultivated in Nashville area

Nashville’s influence on SEC gamedays is hard to ignore these days.

Few, if any, cities have produced the passing talent Music City has on display every Saturday, with four SEC starting quarterbacks emerging from Middle Tennessee.

There’s the in-state duo of Vanderbilt freshman Jared Curtis and recently minted Tennessee starter George MacIntyre.

Curtis was the nation's top-ranked high school quarterback during his senior year at Nashville Christian in 2025, capturing a pair of TSSAA football state championships and Mr. Football awards. MacIntyre was a four-star recruit out of Brentwood Academy, where he threw for over 8,200 yards in his career.

The most established of the bunch, Texas A&M quarterback Marcel Reed, was a Mr. Football winner at Montgomery Bell Academy, which he led to three TSSAA championship games in four years.

Then Kentucky starter Kenny Minchey, who transferred to Lexington from Notre Dame, was a four-star prospect out of Pope John Paul II with 53 career touchdowns and over 5,200 passing yards, despite a senior season cut short with an injury.

Add Iowa quarterback and former Lipscomb Academy star Hank Brown, and that makes five Power Four quarterbacks from the Nashville area.

Longtime quarterback trainer Thomas Morris founded “QB Country” alongside his brother, a name which has proved prophetic with his work in Nashville. He’s trained all four of Nashville’s SEC starters since their high school years, some since middle school, owning a unique look at what’s carried them to collegiate success.

“Those four guys are from Nashville, developed in Nashville,” Morris said. “I think there are just great coaches top to bottom here. Really good 7-on-7 programs too. So they’re kind of getting everything they need here from a development standpoint. I’m just grateful to play a small piece in it.”

While Curtis never got the chance to face off against his SEC counterparts in high school, the remaining three of Morris’s passing protégés went toe-to-toe on the TSSAA stage.

Reed’s MBA emerged with a victory over Minchey and JPII in 2021, while the following year he’d help the Big Red take down MacIntyre and BA.

Minchey got the last word though, leading Kentucky to an upset win over Reed and then-No. 9 ranked Texas A&M on Sept. 19. MacIntyre could have the chance to enact a similar revenge when Tennessee faces the Aggies on Nov. 14. MacIntrye will get his first career start in Knoxville against Arkansas on Oct. 10.

Minchey's Wildcats will host LSU, Reed and A&M will play at Missouri while Curtis is expected to start in Vanderbilt's Oct. 10 game against Ole Miss.

While on the field their competitive flair overtakes any notion of camaraderie, off it there’s an abundant respect between Nashville’s top passing products. They were molded in the same training sessions, played under the same lights on Friday nights and each carry the same pressure upon their shoulders.

“They have great relationships and they respect each other,” Morris said of his SEC products. “They’re also just proud to be from Nashville, to kind of rep the 615 and they have pride in that like I do. It’s been really fun (to see) those guys cheer for each other. They support each other.

“And they get to work with each other, so they know how hard each one’s worked. They know how talented they are, and like I said, they’ve been in the mud with each other.”

Harrison Campbell covers high school sports for The Daily Herald and The Tennessean. Email him at hcampbell@usatodayco.com and follow him on X (formerly Twitter) @hccamp.

This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jared Curtis among 4 SEC football quarterbacks cultivated in Nashville area