Canute J. Curtis (born August 4, 1974) is a former American college and professional football player who was a

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

(NFL) for six seasons during the 1990s and early 2000s. He played college football for

West Virginia University West Virginia University (WVU) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Morgantown, West Virginia. Its other campuses are those of the West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Beckley, Potomac State Coll ...

, where he was a consensus All-American. He was drafted in the

1997 NFL Draft The 1997 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 19–20, 1997, at the Paramount T ...

, and played professionally for the Cincinnati Bengals. Curtis is a former defensive line coach at

Towson University Towson University (TU or Towson) is a public university in Towson, Maryland. Founded in 1866 as Maryland's first training school for teachers, Towson University is a part of the University System of Maryland. Since its founding, the university h ...

Early years

Curtis was born in

Amityville, New York Amityville () is a village near the Town of Babylon in Suffolk County, on the South Shore of Long Island, in New York. The population was 9,523 at the 2010 census. History Huntington settlers first visited the Amityville area in 1653 du ...

.National Football League, Historical Players
Canute Curtis
Retrieved February 2, 2012. He attended Farmingdale High School in

Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale is an incorporated village on Long Island within the Town of Oyster Bay in Nassau County, New York. The population was 8,189 as of the 2010 Census. The Lenox Hills neighborhood is adjacent to Bethpage State Park and the rest of the ...

,databaseFootball.com, Players
Canute Curtis
. Retrieved February 2, 2012. where he played for the Farmingdale

high school football High school football (french: football au lycée) is gridiron football played by high school teams in the United States and Canada. It ranks among the most popular interscholastic sports in both countries, but its popularity is declining, part ...

team.

College career

Curtis attended West Virginia University, where he played for the

West Virginia Mountaineers football The West Virginia Mountaineers football team represents West Virginia University (also referred to as "WVU" or "West Virginia") in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) of college football. West Virginia plays its home games at Milan Puskar ...

team from 1993 to 1996. As a senior in 1996, Curtis led the nation's top-ranked defense by setting the Mountaineers' single-season record for quarterback sacks with 16.5, and also made 11 tackles for a loss. He totaled 67 tackles, forced two fumbles, and had an interception. Curtis was recognized as a consensus first-team All-American, and was named the

Big East Conference The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

Defensive Player of the Year. He was also among the finalists for the

Dick Butkus Award The Butkus Award, instituted in 1985 by the Downtown Athletic Club of Orlando, is given annually to the top linebackers at the high school, collegiate and professional levels of football. The award, named in honor of College Football Hall of Fame ...

for best college linebacker and for the Bronko Nagurski Award for best college defensive player. Curtis finished his career as WVU's all-time sack leader with 33.5 sacks. He also became a member of Alpha Phi Alpha fraternity.

Professional career

The Cincinnati Bengals selected Curtis in the sixth round (176th pick overall) of the

,Pro Football Hall of Fame, Draft History
1997 National Football League Draft
Retrieved February 2, 2012. and he played for the Bengals from to . During his six-season pro career, he played in 70 regular season games, started 15 of them, and compiled 87 tackles.Pro-Football-Reference.com, Players

Retrieved February 2, 2012.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Curtis, Canute 1974 births Living people All-American college football players American football linebackers Cincinnati Bengals players People from Amityville, New York Towson Tigers football coaches West Virginia Mountaineers football players People from Farmingdale, New York Farmingdale High School alumni