Poock received offers to play football from Minnesota, Illinois, Texas Christian and others.
Cody Poock, a 6-3, 230 pound freshman linebacker from Iowa Western Community College who visited Minnesota for the Wisconsin game, committed to the Golden Gophers Saturday.
Poock, who is from Spirit Lake, Iowa, was a full qualifier and will enroll in January. He was named first team All-Midwest Football Conference his freshman season.
Poock ranked first on the team with 73 tackles (30 solos), averaging 6.6 stops per game. The 2013 Spirit Lake graduate made eight tackles for a loss, forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and intercepted two passes that he returned for touchdowns. Both of his defensive touchdowns came against North Dakota State College of Science. Poock returned a pick 32 yards for a score in a 25-0 win September 14th and had a 53-yard interception return in a 60-7 victory October 26th.
Poock received offers to play football from Minnesota, Illinois, Texas Christian and others.
Gopher Hole caught up with Poock to learn the latest on his decision.
Gopher Hole: You have had a couple of busy weeks the past few weeks as you won a big Bowl game, made a couple of college visits and made your college choice. Even though you just made the choice yesterday, do you feel like a weight has been lifted off your shoulders?
Cody Poock: Yes. I feel that there is a lot of weight off my shoulders. I stopped answering phone calls. I told all the other coaches that I was going to Minnesota. It felt good.
Gopher Hole: Was it an easy decision to make or was it hard to make the college choice that you did?
Cody Poock: It was hard and then Friday morning I was like ‘I think I am going to be a Gopher’ and then I thought I was going to be a Gopher Friday night and I called them on Saturday.
Gopher Hole: What was the main factor that made you pick Minnesota over some good choice that you had like TCU and some other schools?
Cody Poock: Just the players. I feel that I have the same kind of background as them. Play with a chip on their shoulder and I had a really good relationship with Coach (Bill) Miller and the distance from home. It is not very far, so it was good.
Gopher Hole: How hard was it to call the other schools and tell them that you weren’t going there?
Cody Poock: It was tough, especially TCU, because I had a really good bond with their coaches, but I just felt that special bond with Minnesota, but it was tough.
Gopher Hole: When are you signing with Minnesota?
Cody Poock: Wednesday morning.
Gopher Hole: When are you coming up here to start school?
Cody Poock: I think whenever school starts. I’m not for sure. I think it is January 12th, maybe.
Gopher Hole: Are you excited about starting up here?
Cody Poock: Yes. I am very excited to be up there. It should be fun.
Gopher Hole: Do you happen to know anyone else from your high school or anyone else that you know that goes to Minnesota?
Cody Poock: I know some girls that go to St. Ben’s from my school. There are some people from around the area that are going to school there next fall that I know.
Gopher Hole: How big of an advantage will it be for you to participate in the spring practice and get a head start rather than starting in the summer?
Cody Poock: I think it is big. Just to know all the schemes and the calls and checks. That just doesn’t come overnight, so that will be huge.
Gopher Hole: What have they you about what they are expecting out of you next year?
Cody Poock: They said that they want me to come in and compete for a starting spot. That is what I like to hear, because I don’t want them to give me a spot. That is not what I come from. I want to go in there and compete for the spot.
Gopher Hole: Which linebacker spot do you think that you will play?
Cody Poock: I think Will (weakside linebacker).
Gopher Hole: That is what you played at Iowa Western, right?
Cody Poock: I played Mike (middle), but I also played Will. We just had a rotation. One of our Mikes didn’t know how to play Will. He was more of an inside guy, so I played Mike and Will, when our Will needed a break
Gopher Hole: Did you like the recruiting process or were you kind of glad to get it over with?
Cody Poock: I enjoyed it probably the last month. The first month, so many little schools. Everybody that offered me was calling me and I had to tell everyone right off the bat that I was probably not going to go there and I was probably going to come back (to Iowa Western) if I didn’t get some that I was going to want to go to and then Minnesota and TCU popped up and that is when I started to enjoy it.