Indianapolis— Former Penn State LB Curtis Jacobs has a famous cousin with the same last name.
It isn’t Jimmy Jacobs, who used to manage Mike Tyson.
It isn’t Richard Jacobs, who used to own the Cleveland Indians.
Nope, Jacobs’ famous cousin was once the starting running back on a Super Bowl champion: Brandon Jacobs of the New York Giants.
Brandon Jacobs rushed for more than 1,000 yards on the 2007 ‘G-men” that ended up pulling one of the greatest upsets in NFL history over the 18-0 Patriots.
Curtis Jacobs was five years old when the Giants won that Super Bowl and 11 when Brandon played his last game.
Now, Curtis is 21, done with a successful college career at Penn State and on the verge of going to the NFL, hoping to help his draft spot at this year’s Combine in Indianapolis.
Jacobs said that earlier this month, his big cousin reached out to him with “some encouraging words.”
Curtis had an encouraging response.
“I told him the impact that he had on me,” Curtis said at his Combine presser Wednesday morning.
And how did Brandon respond?
“He was incredibly thankful,” Curtis said, and I was incredibly thankful for that moment, too. It’s just amazing when your heroes get to reach out to you and tell you that you’re doing the right thing and they’re proud of you.”
Jacobs became a starter in his second season at Penn State and held that post through his last college game. He ended his career with 169 tackles, 9.5 sacks and two interceptions.
After his college career ended, Jacobs got to play in the East-West Shrine Bowl in Frisco, Texas and was happy with how that experience turned out.
“I feel like I had a really good week,” Jacobs said, “learned a lot. Got to play a couple of different positions, played a little bit of MIKE which I hadn’t played before. But I thought I did a really good job and I was really thankful for what I learned, we had a bunch of great coaches just really instilling good habits into us, instilling good things to take into the next level, and I’m really thankful for that experience.”
Every prospect needs to train ahead of the Combine. So what have Jacobs’ offseason training goals been?
“I definitely wanted to add a little bit more bulk, get a little stronger. I feel like that’s an area you can always improve in. Just being able to be physical with your strength. And then I wanted to improve my speed. I feel like that’s why everyone goes to training. Being able to show what they can do on the biggest stage. You can show that you can really be an athlete, and I think as a linebacker, that’s one of the most important things in this game.”
Jacobs said he’s “met with pretty much every team” thus far.
“It’s been a really good process,” he said. “It’s kind of quick. You have a bunch of meetings, just really talking things through. It doesn’t hit you that you really met with these guys until it’s over, so I feel like it’s been a really good process.”
Jacobs feels whichever team gets him will be getting “a reliable guy.”
“Everything that I do is with intention,” he said. “I feel like I’m the type of guy that as soon as I step into the building, I’m going to do everything I can to pretty much get everyone’s trust, players and coaches. You need the players that are battling around with you, you need their trust just as much as you need the coach’s trust. So I feel like that’s going to be one of the most important things for me when I step into a building. I feel like that’s what’s going to set me apart.”
Jacobs has received plenty of advice over this draft process but feels the best came from his trainer.
“Being smart with your money,” Jacobs said. “I know that’s going to be a big point of emphasis for me coming into the league. I’ve never seen this type of money before, so just being able to make a budget and be smart with it and not spend it on frivolous things.”
