Walk-on Curtis lead receiver in country
Junior wide receiver Kevin Curtis may be a star on the football field, but off the field he’s the guy next door.
“He’s one of those guys that if you had a daughter you wish she would meet,” Utah State University coach Mick Dennehy said of the 5-foot-11-inch junior from South Jordan.
Walking onto the USU football team, Curtis previously spent two years on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in London as well as attending Snow College in Ephraim.
“If you don’t have a scholarship when you come home from your mission, you pretty much have to walk-on,” Curtis said. “I came home and the few schools that showed interest before my mission, such as BYU, didn’t show that much interest when I came home.”
Curtis was also interested in walking onto the University of Utah team. Fortunately for the Aggies, they weren’t too interested in him.
USU saw potential in Curtis.
“Some of the coaches had a sincere interest in having me come here,” he said.
“Kevin has been an amazing story,” Dennehy said. “Not from the standpoint where he has surprised any of us. I think we knew Kevin was going to be a really good player for us, but just the fact that he’s done some things through the first half of the season really that no one has ever done at Utah State.”
Curtis is currently ranked first in the country in receptions with 10.6 per game.
The consistency, work ethic, level of play and how he is thought of by his teammates are also things about Curtis which impress Dennehy.
Not only is Curtis highly thought of by his teammates, but he thinks highly of them as well.
“It’s an experience [playing with the likes of Emmett White and Jose Fuentes] I will remember for the rest of my life,” Curtis said. “One of the biggest things I’ve enjoyed being up here is the players. The players I’ve met and the friends I’ve made on the team. They’re some great guys.”
Not only is Curtis soaking up the team experience but he is also enjoying the schedule the Aggies are facing.
“I love it [playing nationally-ranked teams],” he said. “We are playing against some of the best teams in the nation and it shows you where you are as a football program.”
Along with the national exposure the Aggies have been receiving, Curtis himself has been receiving a lot of attention, locally and nationally.
“It’s good [the media exposure he has been receiving],” Curtis said. “I try not to think about it, though.”
Showing his incredibly humble nature, he thinks all of the attention on him is a little weird.
“It’s just ink on paper,” he said about a recent article on him in Sports Illustrated.
Outside of football, Curtis, who plans on majoring in marketing, enjoys most sports, especially some of the more relaxing ones like golf and water-skiing, as well as being outdoors and hanging out with family and friends.
“Right now I just go to school and play football,” Curtis said. “I’m married to football.”