Curtis pulls in Nebraska offer

The events of Thursday evening were a long time in the making for Phoenix Mountain Pointe offensive linemen Natrell Curtis. Nebraska coaches have been keeping an eye on the 2014 prospect since the spring. Men adorn in Husker Red have shown up at his high school to chat and come out to watch him practice. This week's offer was simply the next step.

Receiving a scholarship invite is nothing new for Curtis. He currently holds 10 of them. To him, though, this one is a bit different.

"That's a great program," Curtis said of Nebraska. "I know that. I also know that they have the most graduated Academic All-Americans and other small things like that. I haven't really dug too much into the program yet, but I'm going to."

At first his words seem plucked from the list of standard post-offer platitudes. Ask the rising junior a few more questions, though, and you'll discover the impact. Until this point, Curtis has stated that Arkansas is the clear leader in his recruitment. On Thursday night, that had suddenly changed.

Nebraska has the lineman's attention. That much is clear.

"I don't have any school at the top right now," Curtis said, reversing course from previous interviews. "I'm just focused on school and football."

Cornhusker assistant Ron Brown is heading up Curtis' recruitment for Nebraska and called to make the offer official at roughly 8:30 PST on Thursday night. The conversation wasn't lengthy. Instead, the coach's words were to the point.

"He said all the coaches were really impressed with me in spring ball and so far this season, so they decided to go ahead and offer," Curtis said.

As for visits, there's no rush. With more than a season and a half worth of high school football still on his plate, Curtis will bide his time. For now, he has just two destinations in mind.

"I'm going to the Arizona State-Utah game," Curtis said. "My only other visit so far is going to be (to UCLA) for the USC game."

Curtis' friend and teammate, four-star tackle Kenny Lacy, is already committed to the Bruins, but Jim Mora's staff is yet to offer Curtis. Oklahoma has recently stepped up its contact as well, leading the junior to believe the Sooners could make things official in the near future.