Better Know a Badger: Three-star NT Curtis Neal

Wisconsin signed 14 scholarship players in December as part of its 2022 class. Most will begin their journeys to Madison this summer. However, Paul Chryst expects six players to enroll early in January.

BadgerBlitz.com brings back its annual "Better Know a Badger" series, where we check in with the incoming freshmen as they begin the transition from being prep standouts to college athletes. Next up is nose tackle Curtis Neal, who committed to Wisconsin in late June and continues to work back from an ACL injury.

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Defensive line coach Ross Kolodziej discussed Neal's individual skill-set and what stands out about the North Carolina native.

"Just explosive get off. Violent at the point of attack," Kolodziej said on Dec. 15. "When you watch his quote-unquote highlight tape, it's 10, 12 minutes of what looks like the same play over and over and over again. So to me, that was one of the most impressive things is again, a lot of guys you throw on their tape and the first couple of plays are 'wow' plays, but some of them are from like multiple angles and there's some filler in there, and you get to about four minutes and they kind of run out of tape.

"Just his consistency with that, the effort, the passion of playing the game. That's a big piece I think in the recruiting process is you want to find guys that that love and choose to play football, not football chose them or the recruiting hype loves them. You want guys that are in it for the right reasons."

BadgerBlitz.com spoke with Neal on Jan. 11, just days away from his upcoming travels to Madison. Questions and answers are lightly edited for brevity and clarity.

First, I see on your Twitter profile it says, Curtis Neal. I saw on the National Signing Day [roster from Wisconsin] it says Curt Neal. Are you going by Curt now?

That's what people call me., but my full name is Curtis Neal.

Gotcha, just making sure because we had some fun with it. Because we were looking at it like, "Oh, it's Curt Neal now instead of Curtis Neal?'

[laughs]

Almost a month since the early signing period. Just how's it feel to have everything signed and everything official that you're going to be a Badger?

"Man, it feels great. Feels like a blessing. Definitely a dream come true. Always waited for this moment. It's finally happening, so feels so unreal, but it's real. It's real, man. It's not a dream, it's real. Definitely exciting."

Have you had any conversations between you and the other Wisconsin signees after the early signing period, and just what you all experienced in the last month?

"We were just all excited. Honestly, all can't wait to see each other again, and some of us that haven't met, we're excited to meet each other and spend some time at each other's apartments and stuff like that and hang out. Just all excited, definitely a new journey."

How did you celebrate the early signing period? How did you celebrate signing with Wisconsin? What type of events did you have going on?

"So me and my teammates that were signing, we just signed and we all hung out during our little signing thing. We all got together and signed, and then I just had a dinner with my family, and I had some family members that came over. A couple of calls from the Wisconsin coaches and just that was that."

Even before you signed and whatnot, were there other schools still trying to recruit you or talk to you or try to see what your status was before you signed on the dotted line?

"West Virginia kept hitting me up, and that was like pretty much it. That was the last school that really was trying to get me, but that was pretty much it. I was like, 'Nah, I'm not flipping.'"

Since we last spoke -- it was about a month ago actually almost to the day -- how often have you been in contact with the Wisconsin staff with your arrival on campus coming soon, and who have you been talking with the most?

"I honestly talked to Coach K [Ross Kolodziej] literally yesterday, just checking up on me, seeing how I was doing. We were honestly trying to decide who are we going to pick for tomorrow. We both went with Georgia, and they ended up winning, so it was crazy."

Which player from this class in your eyes are you looking forward to seeing the most on the field?

[Pauses] "I guess I'll say Myles. Myles Burkett, definitely. I can't wait to see him on the field, see what he's like.

"Definitely thinks he has a chip on his shoulder just by looking at his tweets and what he talks about. Can't wait to see what he proves and stuff. Think he definitely could become a good quarterback."

When's your move-in date, and who's your roommate?

"My move-in date is the 16th, and [offensive lineman] Barrett Nelson is my roommate."

With conversations with Coach Kolodziej, have you talked about if you're going to be able to participate in spring ball, or is that still up in the air? What's kind of the timetable for your return to the field?

"Honestly, I know I'll be able to do like drills and stuff but I don't know if they're gonna rush me into doing like the physical contact. It's all about how I'm feeling right now, and I honestly feel like if I had to go right now, I could go. My knee really healed crazy fast, which is unexpected - was not normal - but it happened. So it's healing really fast."

I know we talked about the ACL injury on the YouTube show that we had last month, but for those that don't know, where are you at physically now three to four weeks later with that ACL injury?

"If I had to give you like a percent?

Sure.

"If I had to give you a percent, I definitely feel like I'm 85-90%. I just have to start cutting. Like I haven't started planting, cutting yet, which I've been working on it a little bit, but I wasn't trying to rush into it. So just when I get down to Wisconsin, I'll guess we'll start working there and see where I'm at.

"That's really like the only thing I need to start doing. Like I haven't started doing it yet, because I didn't want to rush that. So that's usually eight to nine months into it. I'm like seven months, I'm pretty sure."

For those that have never gone through an injury like that, just what's been the hardest part for you in trying to get back to 100%, and to be ready to play college football?

"Definitely, it's more mental than physical really. It's all the thoughts in your head? Like, what if you don't bounce back, and just definitely the mental aspect. Fighting that fight in your head, so that's really the tough part.

"But it's just pray to God and you have faith and thank God that everything's been going great. I've been healing good, and I've been putting the work in."

Just what do you feel that you'll be able to bring to Wisconsin's defense in that defensive line room?

"I definitely think I'll be able to bring some high-quality nose tackle play. Hopefully be able to make some key plays and wherever they need me, be able to fill in that spot. Be a key contributor. If it's not making a play, disrupting the play, and stuff like that. Affecting the play, doing what I need to do. Getting down and dirty."

Have you had a chance to talk with the new signee, Isaac Hamm, and Tristian Monday, both of whom are right now projected to be defensive ends on that line with you?

"I talked to Isaac but not [Tristan], but I talked to Isaac. Isaac was actually on my official with me, so we did hang out a lot. I was really trying to get him to come. We were like, we're gonna commit to Wisconsin. That was the plan, and he followed through."

What are some areas that you see yourself improving in once you get to Wisconsin?

"Definitely my footwork. Adding some more moves. ... Just getting better on technique.

"You could honestly improve on everything. If you feel like you don't need to improve in something, then you're just not playing the sport. I feel like I can get better at everything I do."

Last question for you, Curtis, what are your goals for your freshman year?

"Definitely to work myself into rotation and learn the play book. Be a student-athlete, get in the books and kick butt in the classroom and stay focused, stay motivated. Don't let the women distract me, and stay the course, stay the path."

Sorry, absolute last question. What do you hope to major in?

"I want to major in psychology, but I don't know if that will change. You know, it changes a lot so I don't know. That's the plan, psychology."

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