Iceland12
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 12, 2008
- Messages
- 24,725
- Reaction score
- 2,398
- Points
- 113
He had arrived in College Park two years earlier as a heralded quarterback recruit out of Baltimore powerhouse Gilman, but he hated the player he had become. His athletic gifts were rotting away. His parents had devoted thousands of dollars and countless hours over the years for their son to get specialized quarterback training beginning in the seventh grade, but Cockerille knew he needed a change.
He eventually worked up the courage to tell his parents about his plan to save his college football career, which set in motion an unlikely transformation from backup quarterback to fullback to one of the Big Ten’s most productive linebackers in his first college season playing the position. Entering Saturday’s game against Minnesota, Cockerille is tied for fourth in the conference with 9.0 tackles per game and has become a pillar for a Maryland defense that is vastly improved under first-year Coach DJ Durkin...
Cockerille was one of the few bright performers during Maryland’s 38-14 loss to Penn State last Saturday, recording a team-high 13 tackles, including one for loss. Perhaps his most memorable play came on a third down in the third quarter, when he blitzed and batted down a pass by Nittany Lions quarterback Trace McSorley. Cockerille stared down McSorley, as if he were looking at his own reflection from the past, and waved his hands. The play underscored Cockerille’s rare athleticism and his ability to telegraph a read on his former position — but on a deeper level, it also illustrated how liberated he feels at his new position.
[Terps’ defense looks to bounce back vs. Gophers’ backup QB]
“Offensively, you have to have a little calmer state of mind. And defensively, you can be a little bit more wild. You can go out there and be a little more relentless and free and get into a player’s head a little bit,” Cockerille said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...f85946-9215-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html
He eventually worked up the courage to tell his parents about his plan to save his college football career, which set in motion an unlikely transformation from backup quarterback to fullback to one of the Big Ten’s most productive linebackers in his first college season playing the position. Entering Saturday’s game against Minnesota, Cockerille is tied for fourth in the conference with 9.0 tackles per game and has become a pillar for a Maryland defense that is vastly improved under first-year Coach DJ Durkin...
Cockerille was one of the few bright performers during Maryland’s 38-14 loss to Penn State last Saturday, recording a team-high 13 tackles, including one for loss. Perhaps his most memorable play came on a third down in the third quarter, when he blitzed and batted down a pass by Nittany Lions quarterback Trace McSorley. Cockerille stared down McSorley, as if he were looking at his own reflection from the past, and waved his hands. The play underscored Cockerille’s rare athleticism and his ability to telegraph a read on his former position — but on a deeper level, it also illustrated how liberated he feels at his new position.
[Terps’ defense looks to bounce back vs. Gophers’ backup QB]
“Offensively, you have to have a little calmer state of mind. And defensively, you can be a little bit more wild. You can go out there and be a little more relentless and free and get into a player’s head a little bit,” Cockerille said.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/spor...f85946-9215-11e6-9c85-ac42097b8cc0_story.html