Why Georgia football commit Jared Curtis improvised on highlight-reel touchdown catch
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It was Jared Curtis at his improvisational best.
The Nashville Christian quarterback, and Georgia football commit, made a highlight-reel touchdown catch early in the fourth quarter to extend what would become a 42-14 win for Nashville Christian over Jackson Christian in the quarterfinal round of the TSSAA football Division II-A playoffs on Nov. 14.
Curtis made slight adjustment on a play reminiscent of the Philadelphia Eagles' famed "Philly Special".
Curtis' leaping touchdown catch was supposed to leak out wide to the end zone, but Curtis saw Jackson Christian's safety dropping back to cover the deep corner. Curtis cut his route up field and backup quarterback Tate Mathis threaded a pass between three Jackson Christian players.
Nashville Christian (11-0) will host Trinity Christian (9-2) in the DII-A semifinals on Nov. 21.
Curtis needed all 6-foot-4 of his frame to haul in the back-shoulder throw.
"We drew it up this week and when we designed it, we didn't think it was going to go quite like that," said Curtis who threw a pair of touchdowns and ran for two more TDs. "It was supposed to go outside. But I just saw the open gap and (Mathis) made the throw and I had to go get it."
Mathis didn't want his one opportunity at a touchdown pass to go to waste. But he also didn't want to see the Eagles' starting QB, the nation's No. 1-ranked quarterback for the class of 2026 to have work so hard for the catch.
"There's wasn't a lot of pressure," Mathis said. "We were up a lot by that point and Jared is really athletic. He's the most athletic player I've ever been around. I had no doubt he was going to make that catch. I see him do stuff like that at practice all the time."
Reach The Tennessean's high school sports editor, George Robinson, at georgerobinsontheleafchronicle.com and on the X platform (formerly Twitter) @Cville_Sports.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Jared Curtis makes acrobatic TSSAA football playoffs TD catch
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