JAMES READY TO KICK ON IN USA
FORMER Bannockburn junior James Ferguson-Reynolds has become the latest Geelong product to land an American football scholarship.
Ferguson-Reynolds has scored a four-year deal with Boise State — one of the leading NCAA Division 1 colleges — and will fly out to Idaho early next year to continue his “life-changing” journey.
It will be a long way from Teesdale, where Ferguson-Reynolds, 20, has had ample room to finetune his punting on the family’s hobby farm.
“It’s very surreal,” he said. “I still can’t get my head around it really. It’s just been a bit of a blur the last few days since announcing it and all the messages of support coming through has been unreal and even the support from Boise State from the players, coaching staff and everyone involved. It’s just been unreal.
“It’s just starting to click now that I’ll be flying off in January and playing in front of a big crowd. It’s unbelievable to think about.”
Ferguson-Reynolds played junior football with Bannockburn and Bell Park but turned his attention to American football late last year.
He reached out to Prokick, the program that transitions Aussie athletes into punting, and gained the interest of Boise State mid-year. “I was getting a good collection of film over and the coaches put it forward to Boise State and I was lucky enough coach (Stacy) Collins liked my film and the coach got in touch with me,” he said.
“I had a virtual tour of the facilities at Boise and then two weeks ago, got on a Zoom meeting with (Collins) and he offered me a scholarship to Boise State University for the next four years.”
Ferguson-Reynolds follows in the footsteps of Joe Couch, Paddy Turner, James Burnip and Cameron Johnston to have made the move overseas.
He now aspires to make it to the professional ranks.
“The dream is to then go on and participate in the NFL draft and get picked up after my college career,” he said.