Jim Nantz Quotes

I had played in a tournament with the captain of the University of Minnesota's golf team, and he thought I was good. He called his coach, and the coach called me and recruited me. A five-minute phone call changed my life.

My family and I took visits to each and every school and listened to each coaching staff. I felt the most comfortable with and really excited about playing at SC. Being close to home in one of the best offensive systems is paying off now as I'm making the jump to the pros.

My relationships with the Duke coaches were the best, and they made me a priority.

Playing golf led me to Georgetown. I played on the women's team there.

Football was the best route to obtain my independence.

There'd be a call from Michigan Scout, then Michigan Rivals, then Iowa Scout, then Iowa Rivals. These guys are competing, and I'm just the guy in the middle giving them the story.

When I chose Mississippi State, of course I dreamed about being a big-time college football player. But I'm so grateful that actually became a reality - and it became a reality in a small town.

I went to the University of Arizona on a full athletic scholarship for gymnastics, where I competed and got 9th in the nation at the NCAAs.

The structure of college basketball never made sense to me. The coach is the star and you get up at 5:30 A.M. to run before class. That was never appealing to me.

I was the lead recruiter at Louisville. I think I signed four or five guys before I left.

I don't know how Coach Saban found me all the way in Hawaii from Alabama.

Playing for Midland, that helped me get to Arkansas. It was really all I ever wanted to do.

Notre Dame was my dream school growing up. But in recruiting, they had some other plans, what position they wanted me to play.

Nebraska and Indiana were really the only Division One schools that expressed any interest in me.

I had a full-ride football scholarship as a middle linebacker.

I wasn't going to play on defense in college.

I had a coach when I was getting recruited say maybe you should play basketball at a Division III level, because you're not good enough to play football in college.

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 all the way from one scholarship offer, you know, Coach Bohl and Coach Vigen, they believed in me when I came out of junior college.

If you play college sports, it's not like you have to - the next step in your career is another sport. You don't have to go into another sport. If you play college sports, you obviously graduated with a degree.

Central Michigan was the one FBS team that recruited me hard.

Basketball is my main sport, which I got a lot of scholarships through, but I chose modeling over basketball, though.

I thought I was going to play soccer in college.

I played volleyball for Brown University and loved playing there. I played all four years and was captain my senior year. Second team all-Ivy, academic all-Ivy. I really loved it. When I was graduated, I figured that was it.

When I first got to college, in my mind, I was going to end up playing professional football. When I tell people this story, they always end up laughing, and I chuckle about it at my own expense. I was a big fan of American football; I played in high school, and I ended up earning the opportunity to play in college.