Leo Curtis Signs with Nebraska

Nebraska men’s basketball coach Fred Hoiberg announced Thursday that Leo Curtis has signed with the Huskers for the 2025-26 season.

Curtis, a 7-foot-1, 220-pound forward from Reykjavik, Iceland, spent his senior season at Cambridge Arts, Technology and Science (CATS Academy) in Braintree, Mass., where he earned National Prep All-American Honorable-Mention honors after moving to the United States last fall.  Playing for coach Cary Herer, Curtis averaged 12.3 points, 10.1 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.7 blocks per game. His effort helped CATS Academy to a 28-7 record, a runner-up finish in the New England Preparatory School Athletic Council (NEPSAC) Class AA tournament and a No. 5 national ranking. For his efforts, he was a first-team All-NEPSAC Class AA honoree.

At the National Prep Championships in March, Curtis averaged 12.5 points, 8.0 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 blocks per game in games against Sunrise (Kan.) Christian and Vermont Academy to help CATS Academy to a quarterfinal appearance.

“Leo’s combination of size and skill set is an ideal fit for our system” Hoiberg said. “He is a natural stretch forward who can initiate offense and put pressure on the rim.  At 7-foot-1, he can impact both ends of the floor. He played for one of the best prep teams in the country this past season, and that will help him in his adjustment to the college game. He is a natural athlete who played soccer before turning his attention to basketball. He is just scratching the surface of his potential, and I believe his best days are ahead of him.”

Curtis, who didn’t play basketball competitively until he was a teenager, is ranked No. 84 nationally in the class of 2025 by On3, which also has Curtis as the No. 11 center in the 2025 class. He was also ranked in the top 150 nationally by 247 Sports and a four-star prospect.

Curtis played for IR Reykjavik in the Iceland Subway League in 2023-24 and averaged 15.4 points per game on 58 percent shooting, including 42 percent from 3-point range, along with 8.9 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game. He totaled 10 double-doubles in 31 games in 2023-24, highlighted by a 35-point, 13-rebound effort. He was also a member of the Iceland National team pipeline, as he averaged 5.3 points, 4.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game the 2024 U20 European Championships and averaged 8.6 points, 7.0 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game at the 2023 U18 European Championships.

Curtis, whose full name is Frithrik Leo Curtis, will be the second player from Iceland to play at Nebraska, as Thorir Thorbjarnarson was a two-year starter for the Huskers in 2019-20 and 2020-21.  Curtis looked at a host of schools during the recruiting process and took visits to Arizona State, Indiana and West Virginia as well as Nebraska.

Curtis joins Quentin Rhymes (Hillcrest Prep) in Nebraska’s 2025 freshman class, as both Curtis and Rhymes are ranked in the top 150 players nationally by On3. In all, Nebraska has added eight newcomers for the 2025-26 season, including six transfers: Kendall Blue (St. Thomas); Will Cooper (Air Force); Jared Garcia (Tulsa); Ugnius Jaruševičius (Central Michigan); Jamarques Lawrence (Rhode Island) and Pryce Sandfort (Iowa).