John Ursua

BIOGRAPHY

John Ursua was born on January 17, 1994 in Kailua-Kona, Hawaii. He is a Wide receiver for the Seattle Seahawks in the NFL.

Ursua was an accomplished quarterback during his high school football career. He was rated by Rivals.com as the Number 10 prospect and by 247Sports as the Number 18 prospect for the state of Utah. Initially, Ursua verbally committed to BYU during his sophomore year at Westlake High School. Norm Chow, who was Utah’s offensive coordinator at the time, discovered Ursua's talents as a wide receiver. After Chow was named Hawaii’s head coach in December 2011, he offered a scholarship to Ursua. In between high school graduation and the start of his collegiate football career, Ursua served on a two year mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Later Day Saints to Paris, France.

Ursua was redshirted for the 2015 season. During his sophomore season of 2016, Ursua appeared in all 14 games (13 starts) as a slot receiver. He finished second on the team with 53 receptions for 652 yards, 3 touchdowns, and two 100-yard games. He also carried the ball four times for eight yards during the season and scored his first career rushing touchdown against Nevada. He was the team’s primary punt returner with eight returns for 63 yards. Despite finishing the regular season with a losing record of 6-7, Hawaii qualified for a bowl game and won the 2016 Hawaii Bowl against Middle Tennessee by a score of 52-35. Prior to the 2017 season, Ursua was named to the Polynesian College Football Player of the Year watch-list as well as to the Fred Biletnikoff Award watch-list for the nation’s top wide receiver. He played in six games before suffering a season-ending injury against San José State on October 16. He entered that game leading the nation in receiving yards per game with 130.6 and second in receptions per game with 9.2. Despite missing half of the season, Ursua finished as the team’s leader in receiving yards with 667 and receiving touchdowns with 5. He finished the season with 47 receptions, averaging 14.2 yards per catch, and produced three 100-yard receiving performances. On August 26 in an season-opening win against UMass, Ursua amassed 272 yards and one touchdown on 12 catches. The 272 yards was the best nationally in 2017 for a single game, the fourth-highest total ever by a UH player, the fourth-highest total ever by a Mountain West player, and his 85-yard touchdown catch during that game was the fifth-longest catch in school history.
rsua led the nation in receiving touchdowns with 16. During the 2018 season, he reached the feat of having at least one catch in 30 consecutive games dating back to his first season on the team.

Ursua declared for the 2019 NFL Draft on Christmas Day of 2018. He was drafted by the Seattle Seahawks in the seventh round with the 236th overall selection. n the 2019 season, Ursua appeared in three regular season games and recorded one reception for 11 receiving yards, which occurred in Week 17 against the San Francisco 49ers.