EDMONTON – The 2024 season was one of highs and lows for defensive lineman Noah Curtis.
On the field, the 26-year-old emerged as a key contributor for the Elks, setting a new career high with six sacks — good for second among all National defensive lineman. Off the field, Curtis was able to fulfill a life long dream, but was also forced to miss time to head home and look after an ailing family member.
GoElks.com sat down with Curtis to discuss last season, and what he has been doing since in the latest edition of Elks in the Offseason.
First of all, Noah, how’s your offseason going?
“Offseason is going good. You know, mostly working out. I did the wrestling match in December, I’ve been taking care of my dad, and spending a lot of time with my girl.”
Where is home for you in the offseason?
“West Palm Beach, Florida.”
So you didn’t have to worry about any cold weather this winter, eh?
“Nope. I got out just in time.”
What does a day in the life of Noah Curtis look like these days?
“Usually, I wake up in the morning and go to the gym. Then I get some treatment on my body like Normatec boots, or a sauna, cold plunge, stuff like that. And then I go take care of my dad when I’m needed to. I’ll go back to the gym later in the day, do some mobility stuff, and then hang out with my girl for the rest of the night.”
How is your dad doing in recovery?
“Well, my dad got the heart transplant in November, so he’s slowly coming along. But he’s doing much better than what he was before with the new heart, so I’m thankful for that.”
When you’re not training, what else do you kind of do to get away from football? Do you have any hobbies or do you have anything that you like to do?
“I mostly play video games with my boys back home, hang out with my girlfriend, travel to Miami, spending time with the family, or go to the beach.”
What are you playing for Video games?
“NBA 2K, Overwatch 2, Marvel Rivals, NCAA, college football, Fortnite, and Batman.”
Last year you set a new career high in sacks. What do you feel allowed you to have that success and kind of grow as a player.
“The way I changed my mindset from my rookie year to my second year. Knowing there was a lot of expectations on the D-line last year, I kind of ignored all the naysayers and ignored what everybody was saying about how I need to step up and take over. I kind of just said, ‘man, I’m doing this for me. I don’t care what nobody thinks about me says about me.’ So, I just went out there, and did my best to have fun, and I did really good last year.”
You’ll be kind of reunited with coach Demetrious Maxie and Jake Ceresna. How excited are you to be back with those guys?
“Oh man, Jake and I have been talking throughout the offseason. Same with coach Maxie. I’m so excited for them to be back. Coming into year one, Jake was my veteran guy who I could go to for advice on how to work hard, and how to be a pro in CFL. Maxie is just one of the best D-line coaches I’ve ever had. He put a lot of confidence in me year one, because usually not a lot of rookies play year one, but he had the faith and he trusted me and that experience carried over to year two. I’m excited to be working with him again and to be back on the line with Jake.”
It’s looking like it’s going to be a pretty nasty D-line this year with yourself, Jake, Robbie Smith, Brandon Barlow and Jared Brinkman. When you have that amount of talent on the line, how does that help you guys work with each other and just be able to continuously attack quarterbacks.
“Well, it means nobody should get tired on the D-line since we have a lot of fresh bodies to roll. Don’t forget Sam Acheampong, he’s another guy that we re-signed to come back this year, so we have a lot of depth, and we have a lot of skill. Now, gameplans can’t be catered around one person. They’ve got to worry about five, six of us now on the D-line, so that’s going to cause many problems for opposing teams. I’m just excited because that means we could get freed up on a lot more one-on-ones, we can work some more games. I’m just excited for it.”
You already kind of alluded to this, but you made your wrestling debut this offseason at Top Talent Wrestling in Edmonton. What was that experience like for you?
“It was a dream come true and I want to do it again. I mean, just going behind the scenes and seeing what wrestlers do on a daily basis. All the moves, how to run the ropes, take bumps, how to put on a show for the crowd — I mean, it’s pretty amazing. I fulfilled a childhood dream and I would love to do it again.”
SHOWTIME NOAH CURTIS ‼️
Donning the Green & Gold in the ring, Elks DL @Showtime_Noah90 made his professional wrestling debut with a big W last Friday at @TopTalentBrand!#GoElks pic.twitter.com/RmZKYly64l
— Edmonton Elks (@GoElks) December 18, 2024
I’ll get you your way too early 0redictions for WrestleMania, or what you’d like to see happen? (Interview recorded before Elimination Chamber)
“I think this is a great question. Whoever wins the elimination chamber, which I’m hoping is CM Punk. I want CM Punk and Cody Rhodes to face off because we don’t need another Seth Rollins match. I want Rollins to fight Roman Reigns for WrestleMania. I think that would be a really good, really good match. Let’s see. I kind of want John Cena to go up against Randy Orton. I hope Randy Orton comes back from his injury when Kevin Owens piledrived him. But I also want John Cena to win the title, so it could be like Randy Orton and John Cena at WrestleMania for a one-on-one match. That’s like my dream match that one right now. Maybe it’ll be like Rock and Cody, something like that. We’ll get a better picture after elimination chamber but I think those are like the few matches I want to see.”
Last one for you, do you have any exciting plans for the rest of the offseason? Any trips booked, anything that you’re planning on doing.
“Me and my girl are still trying to figure some things out before we go back. Probably take a couple more trips to Miami, maybe Orlando. Everything’s still in development, so we don’t know yet. Just depends on both of our schedules.”