What LSU Transfer RB Chris Curry Brings To Utah Football

SALT LAKE CITY, Utah – The Utah football program received another talented running back in the transfer portal with the addition of former LSU back Chris Curry.

Chris Curry announced on January 13 that he was going to leave LSU and join Utah in the Pac-12.

What does the former four-star running back bring to the Utes? LSU beat writer Wilson Alexander of The Advocate in Baton Rouge joined the Crimson Corner podcast to give some perspective.

What LSU Transfer RB Chris Curry Brings To Utah

On December 21, 2020, Curry announced that he was entering his name into the transfer portal. The reason for that was that he didn’t get the playing time he wanted. Entering the 2020 season, Alexander said that Curry was the lead back of a committee of running backs for LSU.

“He entered this season as the lead back in sort of a running back by committee situation,” Alexander mentioned. “It didn’t really work out for him. He ended up falling behind the other running backs.”

Curry spent three seasons with LSU from 2018-20 where he was a member of the 2019 National Championship team. As a freshman in 2019, Curry played in four games, with 8 carries for 2 yards. He was able to utilize his redshirt that season. As a redshirt freshman in 2019, Curry had 38 carries for 189 yards, along with 3 catches for 23 yards in 7 games. This past season, he recorded 45 carries for 145 yards.

“Chris had to wait for a while to get a shot at even playing,” Alexander said. “He was stuck behind some pretty good running backs. Then late in the 2019 season, he got a chance during the Peach Bowl because Clyde Edwards-Helaire, an eventual first round pick by the Chiefs, got hurt and really couldn’t play in that game much at all. Joe Burrow, he asked the coaching staff to use Chris and he ended up with a career high in rushing yards. When it comes to his style as a runner, he’s a bruiser. He runs very physical, takes a lot to bring him down. He sometimes has been compared a little bit to Marshawn Lynch and the way that he runs, although he’s not obviously at that level. But that’s sort of his play on the field.”

ⁱᵐᵃ ˡᵉᵛᵉˡ ᵘᵖ ᶠᵒʳ ᵉᵛᵉʳʸ ᵗⁱᵐᵉ ⁱ ʷᵃˢ ˡᵉᶠᵗ ᵒᵘᵗ #GoUtes pic.twitter.com/Vt12mfWlEe

— Chris Curry (@thereal_chris24) January 13, 2021

Through three years in Baton Rouge, Curry 91 rush attempts for 336 yards, along with 4 receptions for 33 yards. Curry’s best game in 2020 was against Florida when he rushed for 64 yards on 17 carries in their win over the Gators. In 2019, Curry rushed for 90 yards in their win over Oklahoma in the Peach Bowl.

“He got a couple starts the first few games of the year,” Alexander stated. Then he just sort of fell out of favor. I don’t think it was anything more than just that Tyrion Davis-Price and John Emery, two sophomores, were giving LSU more than Chris Curry was. He ended up actually having a really big game late in the year against Florida with Emery and Davis-Price out. But the next week in the season finale, he had five carries for eight yards. So it was just a matter of he wasn’t going to be playing moving forward and they signed a couple other backs. He needed to go somewhere he’s gonna get to play.”

Before joining the Tigers, Curry was a star running back at Lehigh Senior High School in Lehigh Aces, Florida. As a four-star recruit, Curry was the 15th ranked running back in the country in the 2018 class and the No. 64 overall prospect in the state of Florida.

When he came out of high school, the 5’11, 200 lbs. back received scholarship offers from LSU, Florida, Maryland, Michigan, Nebraska, North Carolina, Ole Miss, Oregon, Rutgers, Syracuse, Tennessee, USC, USF, Western Kentucky and Wisconsin.

Curry joins former Oklahoma running back T.J. Pledger as tailbacks that will transfer to Utah. The Utes have picked up two running backs in the last three days, coming from the Big 12 and the SEC.

Trevor Allen is a Utah Utes Insider for KSLSports.com and host of the Crimson Corner podcast. Follow him on Twitter: @TrevorASports. You can download and listen to the podcast, here.