Arkansas has landed an in-state commitment with the pledge of 4-star offensive and defensive lineman Carius Curne.
Curne, 6-5 and 300 pounds, of Marion chose the Razorbacks over scholarship offers from Georgia, Ole Miss, Missouri, LSU, Louisville, Florida, Tennessee, Mississippi State and other programs.
Arkansas was the first Power 5 program to offer Curne in June 2023. He visited Fayetteville for the Jan. 27 Junior Day.
His comfort factor with Coach Sam Pittman and defensive line coach Deke Adams helped seal the deal.
“I decided to be a Razorback because I have a good connection with coach Sam Pittman and coach Deke Adams,” Curne said. “What I’m looking for in a college… I really don’t care about the money. What I look for is family and how the coaches treat their players.”
Hearing from Razorback players and others who worked for Pittman impacted his decision.
"I said ‘Yeah, I know this is for me',” Curne said.
Curne, who plans to major in business, said the Jerry and Gene Jones Academic Center also helped him with his decision.
“I like how they said we’ll have a tutor for our classes,” Curne said. I liked all that.”
He said he felt like royalty during his recent trip to Fayetteville.
“The love, once I walked through the door, man [it] was crazy,” he said. “Just every coach up there was showing me the real.”
He graded 90% and had 70 knockdowns on offense last season. Arkansas is recruiting him to play on either side of the ball. While he praised Adams, Curne is also high on offensive line coach Eric Mateos.
“I really can't explain the love, but it was crazy,” Curne said of Adams and Mateos “[Those] guys are great. Really, I love Coach Mateos.”
He also visited Ole Miss on Feb. 3 prior to his decision. Three of the four major recruiting services rate him a 4-star prospect with ESPN rating Curne the No. 16 offensive tackle and No. 110 overall recruit for the 2025 class.
Curne is the highest rated commitment in the Hogs’ 2025 class with a prospect rating of 90.28 by On3.com industry ranking. He’s the fifth prospect to commit to the Razorbacks.