Nick Ferguson Quotes

I haven't had a chance to pick where I wanted to play since 2007 when I chose to go to Michigan State.

I wasn't a good student in high school. I wanted to go to college, but they weren't exactly beating down my door to offer me admission, and it's so expensive in the U.S. If you join up for a period, the army will pay your school and provide a stipend.

USC has been really involved with trying to recruit me, from my experience going out there.

One day, though, I was asked if I'd like to go to the University of Florida and become a Gator.

I was the youngest of seven kids and I would not have been able to go to college without an athletic scholarship.

If I was going to go to college, I had to have a scholarship. By my sophomore year, it was evident golf was not going to be the path.

I got into Temple University on a track scholarship.

Wealthy parents have long relied on a properly timed donation to improve their children's chances at admission to college.

I coached at Northwestern for eight years, where the admission requirements were high.

I'm not a fan of early commitments. I just think people right now are handcuffing players, pressuring players and I don't want to do that.

Coming out of high school, however, I wasn't a decorated recruit. As a result, I found myself one month from signing day with only two scholarship offers and they were from the Mid-American Conference.

I wouldn't have gone to a Division I school if I didn't have scholarship help. We couldn't afford it.

It never even crossed my mind I wouldn't go to college.

I took all the courses you would need to be able to go to law school. But my experience in college with football made me want to go into coaching.

It's one thing to make financial aid available to students so they can attend college. It's another thing to design forms that students can actually fill out.

I went to University of Illinois team camp. And that was a big deal for me. I got MVP of the camp, but they offered another kid from the camp, which was fine. I laughed with the couple coaches I know who were there at the time, who were part of recruiting the other guy.

I kept up top grades, and by senior year, a flow of mailed college recruiting brochures accumulated into an avalanche on our dining room table.

I love Torrance Gibson. I love his talent. I love the fact he did well academically.

I want to see kids go to college more.

I'm saying when young men get to the NCAA Tournament, let's find a way to get their parents and their brothers and sisters a plane ticket and a hotel room. I don't think that's asking too much.

My senior year of high school, I probably wouldn't get so much out of it as if I went to college.

I played college football for free. I had to pay to play, really.

I didn't even dream of going to college. College was not in my definition. If somebody told me I was going to play for the Missouri Tigers in 2009, I would laugh at them.

I made three visits during my senior year of high school to Duke, UNC, and Virginia. If I hadn't gone to Duke, I would have went to Carolina, just like a lot of Carolina players who, had they not gone there, would have went to Duke.

I would call universities and community colleges and say, 'I really want to go to college. How do I get to college? What do I do?' And they would say, 'You have to get an application. You have to get letters of recommendation.' It was terrifying. I had no idea what I was doing.