Junior Jake Curhan’s birthday present didn’t come in a gift box this year—it came in the form of scholarship offers from Washington State and UC Berkeley.

Curhan, a right tackle on the varsity football team, had been waiting on an offer since the beginning of junior year, and now they are coming in bunches.

Previously, Curhan said that he had received interest from multiple Ivy League schools, particularly Dartmouth, who offered him a spot on the team early on in his junior year. Now, Curhan said that his interests have changed since bigger Division I schools began to show interest in him.

Since receiving his initial two offers, Curhan has added a third, fourth, and fifth from Colorado State, San Jose State, and San Diego State. Curhan said that he is keeping his options open.

“With more and more schools offering me, the decision keeps getting harder,” Curhan said. “Part of me just wants to commit now and get this whole thing over with, but I know I should embrace this opportunity and pick the school that is the best fit.”

Curhan’s recruitment began as a sophomore during his first year playing on the varsity team.

According to Curhan, being able to play varsity as an underclassmen was an advantage in his recruitment, because it let colleges get an early look at him. It also allowed him to have multiple years of highlights to send to colleges, since colleges like to to see improvement.

While at times schools would contact Curhan, he said that he would often have to reach out to schools himself.

“It’s a lot of emailing and calling with no response, but you just have to keep doing it until you get their attention,” he said.

Curhan said that in his opinion, one of the most important things to do in the football recruitment process is to go to the schools in the form of college camps.

“It’s good to go to all the different college camps because the coaches want to see how you respond to their coaching,” he said. “You have to be able to catch their attention somehow. You need to stick out somehow so then they might try to get to know you a little better.”

Curhan attributes his on-field success to close-friend and Redwood football alumni Alex Kosinski. Kosinski, currently enrolled at Arizona under a football scholarship, graduated Redwood earlier this year to pursue his football career at the collegiate level.

“When I first started playing, [Kosinski] took me under his wing,” Curhan said. “He taught me how to make blocks and be aggressive.”

Curhan said he has thought about the possibility of playing against Kosinski at the collegiate level.

“Being able to shake his hand after the game and talk to him would be something I would look forward to,” Curhan said.

According to Curhan, he will ideally commit before his senior year.

“I could commit anywhere in between three weeks to two months, the only thing that I know is that I want to be committed before my senior year.” Curhan said.

For Curhan, his final decision will not be based solely on the quality of the football program. He said that academics will heavily factor into his choice.

“I think that my decision will come to down to the best mix of academics and athletics,” Curhan said. “Since I will spend more time playing football than most people will spend working at their job, I want to make sure that I am around coaches and players I like.”