Last week, three senior student athletes signed a letter of intent for their respective colleges. The three athletes, Brock Ferguson, Jaeden Gordon and Ethan Thoem, each signed to different colleges. Brock Ferguson signed a letter of intent for cross country and track at Augusta University, Jaeden Gordon signed to Rutgers University for soccer, and Ethan Thoem signed to Reinhardt University for golf. We spoke with Ferguson specifically, hearing his experience with signing and recruitment.
“It feels good to be accepted, I kind of expected it,” Ferguson said.
The three gathered in the Dodd Banquet Hall in front of teammates, coaches, friends and family who watched them each sign the letter of intent. Each of the seniors chose which college they wanted to sign to to play sports, and when the colleges accepted the students they would sign a letter of intent, which is a piece of paper that contains the terms and agreement that the athlete must abide by.
“It was my top choice in school for academics as well, so I just pursued them heavily and they were the school that was showing the most interest so that’s where I decided to go,” Ferguson said. “I had some other schools I was looking at, probably the most contact I had outside of them was University of West Georgia, I also applied to Samford and Mercer as well.”
Seniors each get the chance to individually scavenge and find the colleges that they want.
“I had an old teammate who went there, and even last year there were some people from Darlington that went there,” Ferguson said. “I had a teammate tell me about it and I looked into it.”
Augusta University, where Ferguson signed, is a D2 school within the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Augusta University had five runners make the U.S. Track & Field and Cross Country Coaches Association. The transition between playing sports on the college level after graduating from high school can be a challenge, due to more academics, commitment and keeping up with time management.
“It becomes more of a job for sure, not even with just academics. You have to know time management, balance all your workload, as well as making time for practice, making sure you’re eating right,” Ferguson said. “It becomes more full time than it is in high school, and definitely a lot more serious.”