He's a business major at USC. He grew up in Northern California. His father, Louis, ran track at California, while his brother, Michael, was on Pomona-Pitzer's football and track teams. His uncle, Nate, played football at Stanford in 1967.

He was a 2000 Super Prep All-Farwest and Prep Star All-Western Region pick as a senior at Mercer Island (Wash.) High. He ran for 1,380 yards and 18 TDs, plus has 480 receiving yards, in 2000. He set 11 school records.

As a 1999 junior, he made All-KingCo 3-A first team while rushing for 1,311 yards (7.9 avg.) and 18 TDs, along with 16 receptions for 228 yards (14.3 avg.) and 2 scores. He also was on the track team (100 and 200 meters and shot put) at Mercer Island. Current Trojan Taylor Odegard also prepped at Mercer Island.

Kirtman redshirted as a freshman tailback and fullback in 2001, his first year at USC.

Kirtman was a reserve fullback and played on special teams as a redshirt freshman in 2002. Overall in 2002 while appearing in 8 games (all but Kansas State, Washington State, Oregon, Arizona State and UCLA), he made 2 tackles.

Kirtman was a backup fullback and played on some special teams as a sophomore in 2003. He even started the UCLA game. Overall in 2003 while appearing in 12 games (all but California), he ran for 23 yards on 5 carries (4.6 avg.), caught 4 passes for 20 yards (5.0 avg.) and had 1 tackle. All of his rushing yards came at Arizona, while he had 2 catches for 12 yards against Oregon State and the tackle was against Michigan in the Rose Bowl.

Kirtman played often as the backup fullback behind Lee Webb and on special teams as a junior in 2004. He even started 4 games (Colorado State, Arizona State, Washington and UCLA). Overall in 2004 while appearing in all 13 games, he caught 19 passes for 161 yards (8.5 avg.) with 1 TD, ran for 45 yards on 8 carries (5.6 avg.) and made a tackle. He had 3 catches against Virginia Tech for 32 yards, and 2 grabs against Colorado State (30 yards), BYU (19 yards), Oregon State (17 yards) and Washington State (12 yards). He caught a 5-yard TD pass versus Arzona (the first touchdown of his USC career).

Kirtman, known for his steady play and pass catching ability, likely will start at fullback as a senior in 2005.

He is now an American football fullback for the National Football League Seattle Seahawks and was the first fullback pick in the 2006 NFL Draft.