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Dillon Curtis enters the Utah football program with high expectations.
With limited scholarships available, it’s rare for a program to offer a kicker a full-ride out of high school. Usually, a kicker begins as a walk-on before eventually earning a scholarship — and some programs never put their starting kicker on a full-ride.
Utah has had success in the past with walk-on kickers, like Matt Gay and Andy Phillips, but when one of the top kickers in the nation happened to be right in their own backyard, Utah coaches knew they couldn’t miss out on him.
That’s why Utah made the rare move of extending Curtis a scholarship out of high school, beating out Washington for his services. The Utes made an impression on Curtis early on, becoming the first college program to reach out to him.
Utah kept on the full-court press from the summer before Curtis’ senior season at Murray through the end of his season, texting him before every game and fostering a “family-like” relationship.
It’s evident why Utah’s coaches made him such a high priority in the 2025 recruiting cycle.
Colorado transfer Cole Becker helped stabilize a kicking game that had stagnated since 2018, which was Gay’s last season with the team. Becker’s performance in 2023 and 2024 was respectable — he made 33 of 42 field goals in his stint as a Ute, including a game-winner at USC and was perfect on PATs.
With Curtis, there’s hope within the Utah football walls that the kicking game will continue its upswing and get back to that elite level.
Curtis played both soccer and basketball early on at Murray High, but his athletic life would take a turn when he decided he wanted to add football to the list too ahead of his junior year. Originally, Curtis planned to be a wide receiver, but the team needed a kicker, and with his extensive soccer history, he was an obvious candidate.
“I think just that muscle memory and kicking the ball and then just the aspect of teamwork and chemistry. It just helped tremendously,” Curtis said of his transition from soccer to football.
Curtis reached out to kicking coach Jackson Clark, who helped him better learn the fundamentals of kicking, and through a lot of hard work, started to see results. He made a 59-yard field goal in Murray’s game against Copper Hills, setting the school record, and made six of nine field goals that season.
“It definitely caught me off guard to see just how naturally it came, but it took a lot of work to just get the technique right because the swinging across the body from soccer took a long time to take away,” Curtis said. “But after that it was just putting in the work every day and just seeing what great things come from it.”
During his senior season, with a year of kicking and a full offseason of training, everything started to click.
“I would definitely say my high school coach, Dalton Dunn, helped me a lot. He trusted me a lot to take a lot of long, far kicks and that was huge. My kicking coach, Jackson Clark, helped me a lot. He put me in the right positions to succeed and just all the trainings on the field,” Curtis said. “Collin Barrett helped me a lot, just getting in touch with the right people and just my whole high school staff just helped me to get on the right path.”
Curtis set the UHSAA record for longest made field goal, nailing a 63-yarder against Tooele, and etched his name into the history books again with a perfect 6-for-6 performance against Payson. In all, he made 21 of his 27 field goals his senior year — setting the state record for most field goals made in a season — was perfect on PATs and was regularly registering touchbacks when kicking off.
All of that added up to Curtis becoming one of the nation’s top high school kickers, earning him one of just two spots in the Navy All-American Bowl, where he made a 48-yard field goal, a 27-yard field goal, and was 4-for-4 on touchbacks.
Curtis has the success and accolades from high school, but now he will have to prove himself all over again as he transitions into college football, which comes with its own unique pressures.
As with every position, there are components that are physical and mental, but especially for a kicker, blocking out the noise and focusing on your routine is essential.
“I’d probably say 80% is physical for me because you take your steps, you have your habits, your rituals, and then pretty much that three seconds after you take your steps is all the mental, and then once you start going toward the ball, everything just blacks out,” Curtis said.
While there’s no surefire way to replicate the experience of kicking in a stadium with 50,000-plus fans with the game on the line, the Utes have tried to come up with different ways of simulating pressure throughout spring camp to test Curtis, like having the entire team surround him and scream as he lined up for a 50-yard field goal.
“I think it’s great. I get to get used to people around me screaming and then it really helps me just focus on what matters, like where my steps are, where I want the ball to go, keep my eyes down when I kick and it’s really helpful,” Curtis said.
In another scrimmage, he made multiple kicks from 50-plus yards out with simulated pressure, and was close on a 65-yard attempt.
It’s important to temper expectations until the real pressure is on in a game, but so far, Utah has been pleased with the progress the freshman kicker has made, and hopes that he can pick up right where he left off at Murray.
“I’ve loved the environment, getting to meet new teammates, make new friends, go out and eat with them. Spring ball’s gone great. I’ve gotten stronger in the weight room, stronger on the field,” Curtis said. “I’ve got more consistent getting my off time down just working with the team. I love being with these boys every day.”
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