Recruiting pressures only motivate Marion’s Curne
Scholarship offers and publicity during the recruiting process sometimes can overwhelm a prospect, but Marion junior lineman Carius Curne has taken it in stride.
“Some kids let it get to their heads. He lets it motivate him,” Marion Coach Lance Turner said. “He had a good offseason in the weight room. That’s why he’s up to 300 pounds from 280 last year. He didn’t lose anything explosive wise.”
Curne, 6-5, 300 pounds, received his first Power 5 scholarship offer from the University of Arkansas on June 7 during a visit to Fayetteville. He previously had offers from SMU, Liberty, Texas State, Texas-San Antonio and Memphis.
He’s since added offers from Georgia, Ole Miss, Tennessee and Mississippi State.
“He really listens to the coaches,” Turner said. “He’s grown up a lot. He had some maturity issues his freshman and sophomore years, but he’s grown up a lot. Every year he’s grown up and this year he’s grown up in a way he’s been listening and taking advice. He’s truly tried to get better and focus on that. He’s focused on his teammates, not really focused on anything else. I love it. He’s still a little kid.
“Every time a college calls and talks to him, he’s all excited. He doesn’t care who they are or where they’re from. He just gets excited.”
Curne plays the majority of his snaps on the offensive line for the Patriots, while playing up to 10 snaps on defense in some games this season.
“On the field, he’s been the offensive lineman of the week twice which he wasn’t any last year,” Turner said. “Which means he graded out the highest. It’s him grading out and doing his assignment much better. He’s playing more defense this year. He didn’t play much last year defensively.”
Curne graded out at 86% with 13 knockdowns on offense and had 4 tackles, 2 tackles for loss in 26 snaps on defense going into Friday’s game against Benton.
Two recruiting services rate Curne as a 3-star recruit, while Rivals ranks him the No. 15 offensive tackle in the nation for the 2025 class. If he continues to progress, he’s a strong candidate to be evaluated to 4-star status.
Few linemen get offers to play either side of the ball, but Curne has the capability to play offense or defense on the next level.
“Arkansas offered him as a D-lineman, Ole Miss as an O-lineman, Mississippi State as a D-lineman, Tennessee as an O-lineman, Georgia as a D-lineman,” Turner said. “I’ve dealt with high [level] recruits before, but I’ve never had a lineman get Power 5 offers on both sides of the ball.”
Turner said Curne is well thought of by his teammates
“He’s well-liked because he doesn’t make a deal out of it [recruiting] and he wants to root for everybody’s successes,” Turner said.