In just over a week, Boise State product Curtis Weaver will officially be an NFL player. His journey to this position was long, difficult, and far from certain.
In fact, if you had told the freshman version of Weaver that he’d get drafted, he would have laughed in your face.
“Freshman year of college, I can’t lie to you: I was 300 pounds,” Weaver said on The Zach Gelb Show. “The NFL was a dream, but it didn’t look like it was going to be for me.”
Weaver, however, changed the summer after his redshirt freshman season. Like, literally changed. As in, he lost weight and got in shape.
“It was a different type of conditioning for me, a different type of atmosphere,” he said. “I just bought in, literally after the summer when we got to fall camp. But I didn’t really think about the NFL until probably after my first year of playing because I didn’t see it yet. I have the dream. Everybody has the dream – that’s what we play for, to get to the next level – but I didn’t see it within my playing yet because of how my redshirt year went. But then it cracked my eyes after that first year.”
Fast-forward a couple of seasons, and Weaver became one of the best players in the country. In 2019, he was Mountain West Defensive Player of the Year and, depending on the outlet, a first- or second-team All-American. He is also the MWC’s all-time sacks leader (34.0), which he achieved in just three seasons on the field.
What does that mean to him?
“It means I found something that I’m good at,” said Weaver, now 265 pounds. “That’s what it really showed for me. It didn’t really wake me up every day, motivation – it wasn’t that. But it made me find out I’m good at something and I have this tool that most people want in life. Carrying that every day, it was just a blessing. You always want to find that one thing you’re good at, and that’s what I found on the football field.”
Weaver had 3.0 sacks against UNLV last October to became the MWC’s all-time leader.
“I didn’t even know it when I got it,” he said. “They told me after the game, all the interviews and stuff. I just felt like all the hard work I’ve put in – when I came into Boise State, I wasn’t the premier pass rusher that they thought I was going to be. I had more of a B-end spot, more of a stop the run and fill some gaps. But then I found myself, and I’m just grateful for that.”