Arizona junior up to ten offers

There is some good football being played in the state of Arizona and the team that is playing the best may be Mountain Pointe High School out of Phoenix. The program is off to a 5-0 start to the season with wins over three of the state’s top programs in Hamilton, Desert Vista and Chandler. A win this weekend against Brophy College Prep and Mountain Pointe becomes the clear team to beat in state.

Natrell Curtis could play guard or defensive tackle on the next level.

A big reason for the Mountain Pointe success is the play of its offensive line which features two of the top linemen in the state, if not the country. UCLA commit Kenny Lacy anchors the group but fast rising junior Natrell Curtis is the next in line.

Curtis is currently playing on both sides of the ball at left guard and defensive tackle and he’s already up to ten scholarship offers. The most recent offer arrived from the Big Ten and Nebraska.

“It’s great,” Curtis said of the Huskers. “That’s a great program. They have great traditions and the best of academics and all-american football players.”

Nebraska joins a list that already includes both major in-state programs of Arizona and Arizona State, Boise State, Vanderbilt, Arkansas, Colorado and Nevada. Curtis has yet to be offered by his childhood favorite of USC though the Trojans did stop by and evaluate him in the spring.

Curtis also is excited to have the in-state offers in hand even though he didn’t necessarily grow up a fan of either major Arizona schools.

“I didn’t grow up a fan of either one of those schools,” he said of Arizona and Arizona State. “But ASU, I’ve got a cousin that plays there (LB Isreal Marshall). So I’ve been around that program a lot.”

Already this fall, Curtis has attended games at Arizona State for its wins over Illinois and Utah. He also plans to attend the Arizona State game in Tucson against Arizona. Another game on schedule is UCLA-USC in the Rose Bowl.

Along with his ten current offers, Curtis feels that Oklahoma and Notre Dame may be very close to joining the fold. Tim Kish from OU has already visited Mountain Point this fall and Texas was also at one of his games to evaluate Curtis and his fellow elite 2014 teammate Jalen Brown.

To date, the interest in Curtis has been on either side of the football and no college coaches are limiting him to offense or defense. While Curtis notes that he has no preference as to which side of the ball he plays on, he also notes that he thinks his better position is defensive tackle.

“I like how you don’t know what the line is going to do but I just try to take advantage of the offensive line,” he said. “You can be more aggressive on defense than on offense.”

Whichever side of the ball Curtis is on, effort is one of his greatest strengths.

“I just feel like I go out there every night and play my butt off and play harder than the guy in front of me.”