Last week, SMU’s sen’s soccer added Taylor Curtis, a sophomore transfer from Louisville, to their 2015 roster.
Curtis comes to SMU with two seasons of eligibility left beginning immediately. As a freshman at Louisville, Curtis started all 17 matches on the back line. That season the Cardinals allowed only 15 goals during an 11-5-4 season and trip to the second round of the NCAA Tournament. Despite all the starts as a freshman, Curtis only started two games as a sophomore and decide to transfer at the end of the season.
“I heard about SMU when I was going through the recruitment process in high school,” Curtis said. “I chose to go to the University of Louisville, but I play for a team here in Dallas during the summer, and some of the SMU coaches came to our camp to look at some other players. They saw me there and when I decided I wanted to transfer, I knew SMU had seen me, so I called up Kevin Hudson.”
Hudson recently replaced Tim McClements as the Mustangs new head coach. Curtis didn’t have the opportunity to know McClements or his coaching style, but he has already gotten to know Hudson and can tell SMU is in good hands.
“I think it’s great,” Curtis said. “I can’t really speak on coach McClements, because I wasn’t here. But from what I’ve seen from Kevin so far I think its great- I think he can be a really good head coach and I’m excited to be here during that transition period because its new for me but new and different for the team.”
Curtis is a versatile defender and can play both as a winger and an outside back. He says his natural position is right wing, but tends to gravitate towards right and left back.
“We are very excited to add Taylor Curtis to the roster,” Hudson told SMU athletics. “Taylor possesses a great balance of technique and athleticism that will make him a valuable member of the program.”
Curtis has lived in Dallas most of his life- he moved here in high school and played soccer for Episcopal School of Dallas. At ESD, he scored 15 goals, tallied 10 assists, earned Offensive Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player honors as a senior, earned All-Southwest Preparatory Conference honors once, and was a three-time All-North Zone First Team selection.
Other than getting to spend more time with his family, Curtis said he is most looking forward to the food Dallas has to offer.
“Up in Louisville there weren’t as many choices,” he said. “But I know Dallas has a great selection of restaurants and places near campus.”
Just because he is from the Dallas area doesn’t mean the transition to a new team is going to be seamless. Curtis has to find his role with the team and prove he can contribute.
“Luckily I already know about four or five of the guys just from playing in Dallas and playing with a couple of them over the summer,” Curtis said.”Coming to any new place is different- getting to know the guys and the program, getting comfortable with the team and finding where I fit in. So far the guys have been really nice, I feel like they have kind of accepted me pretty early which is really nice and kind of hard to comedy these days.”
Curtis said he hopes to be completely cemented in the team by spring break.
