Oct. 10, 2003
Style. Everyone has it and in the world of football, it can very easily be something that defines a player. Whether it is on the field or off, everybody’s got it. For Georgia Tech junior wide receiver Nate Curry, it’s definitely his off-the-field sense of fashion that has caught attention in the past, but his performance on the gridiron in 2003, has begun to draw notice.
After playing in all 11 games as a rookie in 2000, Curry missed the entire 2001 season with a knee injury and then was severly limited last fall by another knee injury. With all of those setbacks behind him, he has become a top threat in the Yellow Jackets’ evolving passing attack this year and is well on his way to having an outstanding season. He is Tech’s second-leading receiver entering this week’s game at Wake Forest.
“With the injuries I’ve had in the last two years, this season has been a long time coming,” said Curry, who was named to the ACC’s 2003 Academic Honor Roll and is one of the football team’s representatives on the Student-Athlete Advisory Board. “I’m really just happy to be out there and have the chance to give it all that I’ve got. I came off of the first injury two years ago and then I had another one. I don’t want to say that I’m happy that it happened, but a lot of good has come out of it. I was able to watch a lot of film while I was out and learn a lot from what other people were doing and that has helped me this year.”
That learning has come to fruition through the first six games of 2003, as Curry has already matched his career high for receptions in a season with 22 and is well on his way to surpassing his career-best yardage mark of 298 as a rookie in 2000, having gained 250 yards midway through the fall. Perhaps his top catch of the year came just last week against NC State, when he was on the business end of a five-yard Reggie Ball touchdown pass to give Tech a 22-10 lead just before the half. That play, as it was originally drawn up, wasn’t supposed to go to Curry, but a quick read by Ball set up the score.
“The play that I scored the touchdown on was something that we had called earlier in the game,” recalls Curry. “It really wasn’t supposed to come to me, it usually goes to one of the front two receivers. Reggie has worked on developing his ability to read defenses this year and that was what helped him see me in one-on-one coverage on that play.”
Now that we’ve covered the on-field exploits of Nate Curry, what about that sense of style off the field? Well, during the 2002 season, road trips meant formal attire during travel for the Yellow Jacket football players, and as a result, Curry’s choice of dress was often a topic of discussion. Decked out in a lilac suit, complete with matching shoes, tie and belt, the winner for best dressed each week was never in doubt. However, with heightened airport security in place this fall, Tech has donned team warmups on the road, keeping Curry from breaking out the latest addition to his wardrobe.
“I had one more suit to pull out this year,” says Curry. “It was a grey and silver one. My mom has expensive taste so she picks out some good suits for me. I like it because she has good idea of what looks good on me. I’ve always said that if you look good, you play good, so that’s how I look at it.”
Looking good and playing good, sounds like a recipe for success in any endeavor. Although little can be done to give the Yellow Jackets’ gold helmets, white jerseys and gold britches any kind of individual flair, the play of Nate Curry and the rest of the Tech receiving corps should have the Jackets’ offense looking good for the rest of 2003.
