Where Are They Now: Nick Ferguson

Forget about Carmen Sandiego. Before he joined the Jets, people could have asked where in the world is Nick Ferguson?

A native of Miami, he was a walk-on at Morris Brown College in Atlanta, and then traveled across town and was a walk-on again at Georgia Tech.

Not chosen during the 1996 NFL Draft, Ferguson would go on to play for the Saskatchewan Roughriders and Winnipeg Blue Bombers in the Canadian Football League, and in Dusseldorf, Germany for the Rhein Fire in NFL Europe. He also went to training camp but was released by three NFL teams: Cincinnati, Chicago and Buffalo. Through it all, the safety’s positive attitude never wavered.

“I grew up a football fan, and every kid has dreams and aspirations of one day playing on Sunday,” Ferguson said. “We know that doesn’t always happen, but I just always felt as though it was in the cards for me at some point. It would happen as long as I continue to put my best foot forward.

“I guess I got that attitude and that drive from my mom and my grandfather. They were kind of really quiet people, but, man, they had a drive like no one else that I’ve seen. After watching them sacrifice their time and their effort for the family, I was like, if you want anything out of life, you have to put that time in and just hope and pray that it would all work out in the end.”

Ending up on the Bills’ practice squad in 2000, Ferguson was claimed by the Jets with seven games left in the season. Finally going to be placed on the active roster of an NFL team, he’d have to be excited, right? Well…

“When I got the call that the Jets wanted to pick me up, I was a little bit nervous,” Ferguson said. “The reason I was a little hesitant is because I’d never been to New York City before. But the biggest thing was Bill Parcells. Obviously being a young player, I knew about Bill Parcells and I knew how hard he drives his players.

“There was a video I saw when I was with Buffalo. He was just kind of yelling at one of his wide receivers, just giving him the…