Kirk Cousins recalls time he wanted to play for Michigan with no scholarship offers
Kirk Cousins had a dream to play for Michigan, not Michigan State like he did. The Atlanta Falcons quarterback grew up thinking he’d wear the maize and blue.
The Wolverines didn’t pay any attention to Cousins coming out of high school in 2007. Heck, it took five quarterbacks not committing to Michigan State for Cousins to get a spot with the Spartans.
The always humble Cousins recalled the story of wanting to go to Michigan but revealed how it led him to Michigan State.
“Growing up in the state of Michigan, if U-of-M offered me, I mean c’mon,” Cousins said on Bussin With The Boys. “That’s an iconic program and at the time Chad Henne’s the starting quarterback … But you have to understand I was so far not on their radar. Like I was nobody and they had Ryan Mallett committed to them and was signed and for good reason. I mean, the guy was so talented and once you get a Ryan Mallett, you’re not even looking … I didn’t even speak to somebody from university.
“Like I was so far off the radar and the only reason Michigan State came in was because their quarterback decommitted. So they were left kind of at the altar in December like what do we do? Because I walked off the field of my last high school game with no scholarship offers. So all my recruiting happened in the last month.”
With Michigan out of the picture, Cousins didn’t have many options. So he took visits wherever he could find them.
“I was very aware that Division III was on the table,” Cousins said, while saying he did not want to walk on because he wanted to compete. “So I visited the Ivy League, I flew to Princeton I remember on Thanksgiving weekend and my dad and I went to Princeton. We walked around the campus just like hey, if we can’t get a scholarship, maybe the scholarship is to get into a school have this kind of prestige so I was very serious about the Ivy League.
“I remember flying to UConn and (they) said like we’d maybe offer you a gray shirt. Like it was crazy. Like just standing there. Like, please offer me a scholarship. I’d like to play for you and they’d be like, we’re just not sure.”
Kirk Cousins’ Michigan dream ended fast
Cousins searched around the Big Ten as well. He and his dad gauged the interest of Northwestern when Pat Fitzgerald was the head coach.
“And he’s like, you know, we’re not going to offer you but we would give you a walk-on spot and my dad goes ‘how much would it cost to go to Northwestern,’” Cousins said. “Just as a dad. I’ve He said tuition at the time in 2006 was $38,000 a year just for tuition and my dad’s like, ‘it’s gonna be tough coach, like I gotta be honest.’
“So, yeah, so it was it was interesting, because then you go play against Northwestern. And it was just such an odd dynamic. It’s like I was begging you to play for you. Right? And now I’m playing against you?”
Cousins eventually found his way to Mark Dantonio and Michigan State, redshirting in 2007 and backing up Brian Hoyer in 2008. From there, he played three seasons as the starting quarterback.
The rest is history as he was a fourth round draft pick by the then-Washington Redskins, behind Robert Griffin III, in 2012. In 2018, following backup and starting stints, Cousins started for the Minnesota Vikings for the last six seasons and just signed with the Atlanta Falcons this spring.
The four-time Pro Bowler has had a successful career to this point. Who knows what would’ve happened good or bad if he went to Michigan?