J.J. Jenkins
sports@mustangdaily.net
In elementary school, Jack Ferguson played Pop Warner football at halftime of Cal Poly games, but the next time he takes the field at Alex G. Spanos Stadium it will be for the Mustangs.
The hotly pursued local linebacker became one of the first commitments to Cal Poly football’s incoming freshman class after an official visit in January. His mother, Gayelynn, said head coach Tim Walsh gave Ferguson 24 hours from the end of his visit to make a decision on the Mustangs, but, as soon as the weekend was over, the choice was clear.
Ferguson would stay home.
“(Playing at the next level) was always something that I envisioned, whether it was at Cal Poly or not,” he said. “I’m really excited for it, it’s going to be a great experience.”
During his senior year at San Luis Obispo High School, Ferguson racked up 110 tackles, including 66 solo stops, a forced fumble and eight sacks for the Tigers, who finished the season with a 6-5 record. The team, coached by David Kelley, finished with winning records in Ferguson’s two seasons after two years below .500.
“He did a great job building our program back to a respectability so he’s a leader that everyone tends to be better by just associating with him,” Kelley said.
Though that leadership translates off the field, where he’s an advanced placement (AP) student, it’s his on-field size, speed and talent that caught the eye of Kelley and now the coaches at Cal Poly.
“It’s a dangerous combination with the power that he has and the speed that he has,” Kelley said. “It’s a force that you don’t normally see. … He can go sideline to sideline with the best of them and when he does, he can bring the hammer.”
At 6-foot-2, 230 pounds, which is as big as or bigger than all of the Mustangs’ linebackers last season, he would provide some size in Cal Poly’s linebacking core on day one, but he can also play defensive end if needed. He even carried the ball six times for 25 yards on offense for the Tigers.
“Linebacker is where I’m most comfortable playing,” Ferguson said. “I did have a lot of fun playing on the defensive line, I won’t be upset at all playing either position. They may see me as a hybrid between the two, so it all depends on how big I get. As long as I’m playing, I can’t complain.”
Ferguson was originally pursued by top-tier teams such as California, Stanford and UCLA, and ended up turning down scholarship offers from a few of Cal Poly’s Big Sky rivals, including Eastern Washington and UC Davis.
The long and emotional process of finding the right fit was like looking for a perfect relationship, Gayelynn said. Jack visited schools and attended camps throughout the West Coast before finding that the team right next door was the one.
“With Cal Poly, versus all the other places he’s been to and looked at and had offers from, it’s just such a comfortable fit,” Gayelynn said. “The coaches seem to really like him and he really likes them. It’s going to be a more smooth transition.”
The coaches at Cal Poly liked Ferguson enough to make him an offer last spring, the first one he received, a fact that gave the Mustangs an edge over their Big Sky foes. Walsh, along with secondary coach Neil Fendall, even personally visited the Ferguson household for a discussion with the family.
“I’ve talked to, if not gotten close to, most of the coaches even before I took my visit,” he said. “Coach Walsh sat down with me and gave me a verbal offer and that meant a lot to me.”
He hopes to play next year rather than redshirting, but he and the coaches will decide the best course as practice moves into full swing and the season rolls around. Regardless of when he takes the field next, the local community will take notice. San Luis Obispo High School doesn’t have a single representative on the Cal Poly football team, until next year. A friend of the family even told Gayelynn that they’d be holding onto their box at Alex G. Spanos Stadium just to watch Ferguson.
“I can’t even imagine the first day seeing him out there,” Gayelynn said. “It’s going to be incredible.”