They drove 64 yards in the fourth quarter and got the ball to the Concordia-Moorhead one-yard line, down seven. Carleton head coach Tom Journell sent in Nick Toole at quarterback to try to punch it in on the ground. Two runs lost a yard. The tying touchdown never came.
A few minutes later, after a defensive stop, the Knights got one last chance. The clock read 1:59. Senior quarterback Jack Curtis came back onto the field and pushed Carleton into Concordia territory, still trying to throw with fingers he had re-broken earlier in the game. On the fourth down, the final pass fell incomplete and the last drive ended at the Concordia 45 with a score of Concordia 31, Carleton 24.
Curtis finished his Carleton career with 37 completions on 56 attempts for 344 yards, three touchdowns and an interception, all while playing through a hand injury and undergoing treatment for late-Stage IIunfavorable Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
Two months later, Curtis picked up the phone on the first ring. “I’m driving back to Carleton now,” he told me. “Got an hour left.” He had been visiting his sister at college.
When I asked him to describe the season in one word, he didn’t hesitate. “Memories,” Curtis said. “That’s the reason I played. Through all the adversity I had to deal with, it’s to make memories with the seniors who are going to graduate. I wasn’t going to play with them ever again.”
The résumé is straightforward: Curtis finished the 2025 season as the Minnesota Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (MIAC) Offensive Player of the Year and a finalist for the Gagliardi Trophy, Division III’s top individual award. He threw for 3,120 yards and 29 touchdowns, completed 72% of his passes and set Carleton single-season records in completions, completion percentage and passing yards.
Curtis has heard the quick summary of his year: played through chemo and still put up numbers. He said the part people miss isn’t the games or treatment itself but the time in between. “A lot of people don’t realize how hard the mental side of it is,” he said. “They think of chemo and all the physical side effects. What they don’t realize is that for four or five days after you get your infusion, you can’t get out of bed. You’re alone with your thoughts. It’s really easy to get trapped in all the negative things.”
Over time, he said, the week became predictable.
“You find your new normal,” Curtis said. Monday at Mayo Clinic, 12 hours. Tuesday in bed. Wednesday, living on chicken noodle soup. Thursday, maybe better. “If you do that for four months in a row, you start to get the hang of it. You start to get into this false sense of normality.”
That routine left little room for conventional preparation. Curtis described weeks when he barely practiced, then relied on what he already knew. “Walking out there on the first drive,” he said, “I had to trust myself, trust my guys, trust in my abilities, trust in my receivers and, most importantly, in my O-line to protect me.”
When asked for his standout moments from the season, Curtis pointed to three games. At Gustavus, he said he injured his hamstring scrambling near the sideline, taped it up and finished; Carleton won 45–28, its first victory at Gustavus since 1989.
He moved next to St. Olaf, where he said it was a chemotherapy week and he “wasn’t feeling [his] best” going in, but still played one of his sharpest games. “I walked out there, I had one of my best games,” Curtis said. “Highest completion percentage, quite a few touchdowns and no picks.” And he came back to Concordia, when his fingers re-broke and he still tried to run the final two-minute drive: “That’s something I’ll hold and never forget,” he said. “I left it all out there.”
By the time the season ended, Curtis’ story had gained recognition beyond the MIAC. Earlier this month, he repeated it on a larger platform in an interview with former NFL coach Jon Gruden for Barstool Sports. Curtis said he didn’t hesitate when the request came. “My answer was anytime, any place,” he said.
He said the appeal was obvious, adding that it was unique to hear his season described to him by someone with Gruden’s status. “To hear him talk about me in the same breath as NFL players was an amazing experience,” he said.
Curtis isn’t sure about what comes next for him in terms of football. “I’m really trying to take it one week at a time,” he said.
The immediate priority is his throwing hand. He has an MRI scheduled and doesn’t know yet whether surgery is on the table. Hee wants to get healthy enough to continue playing, whether that means a pro day, a camp or an opportunity abroad.
“School is not going anywhere,” Curtis said. “The job market’s always waiting. Why not chase this childhood dream a little longer?”
After the season, Curtis went to Texas for the Dream Bowl, a postseason all-star event held at AT&T Stadium. His throwing hand “flared up again,” but he “fought through the same exact pain” and still got some reps in.
When asked what “winning” looks like now, without another Saturday afternoon on the calendar, Curtis pointed to following a process: “Winning right now is getting my checklists done.Am I doing the right things? Am I setting myself up for success in the future?”