Brandin Cooks

Brandin Cooks

refer to caption

Cooks in 2015
No. 10 New Orleans Saints
Position: Wide receiver
Personal information
Date of birth: (1993-09-25) September 25, 1993
Place of birth: Stockton, California
Height: 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m)
Weight: 189 lb (86 kg)
Career information
High school: Stockton (CA) Lincoln
College: Oregon State
NFL Draft: 2014 / Round: 1 / Pick: 20
Career history
Roster status: Active
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics as of Week 11, 2016
Receptions: 188
Receiving yards: 2,424
Receiving touchdowns: 18
Player stats at NFL.com

Brandin Cooks (born September 25, 1993) is an American football wide receiver and return specialist for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Saints in the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft. He played college football at Oregon State, where he received All-American recognition.

Early years

Cooks attended Lincoln High School in Stockton, California. As a sophomore, he recorded 29 receptions for 600 yards and seven touchdowns. As a junior he had 46 receptions for 783 yards and 10 touchdowns, while also collecting three interceptions on the defensive side. As a senior, he had 66 receptions for 1,125 yards and 11 touchdowns. Cooks was ranked by Rivals.com as the 26th best wide receiver and the 240th overall prospect in his class.[1] He originally committed to play college football at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) but changed to Oregon State University.[2][3] Cooks also played basketball and ran track in high school.

College career

Cooks played at Oregon State from 2011 to 2013. As a true freshman in 2011, he played in all 12 games with three starts. He finished the season with 31 receptions for 391 yards and three touchdowns. He was also a kick returner averaging 22.4 yards a return. As a sophomore in 2012, he had 67 receptions for 1,151 yards and five touchdowns. The combination of Cooks and Markus Wheaton created one of the most dynamic receiving duos in college football and Oregon State history. The two players combined for 158 receptions, 2,395 yards and 16 touchdowns.[4]

During his junior year in 2013, he had 128 receptions, 1,730 receiving yards and 16 touchdowns.[5] The receptions and receiving yards were Pac-12 records.[6][7][8] He was held to under 100 yards only four times and exceeded 200 yards in a game twice.[9] At the end of the season he won the Fred Biletnikoff Award and was a consensus All-American.[10][11] He was the second Oregon State player to win the Biletnikoff Award, the first being Mike Hass in 2005.

On January 2, 2014, Cooks announced that he would forgo his senior season and enter the 2014 NFL Draft.[12]

Cooks also ran track at Oregon State. He earned a second-place finish in the 60-meter dash at the 2012 UW Invitational, clocking a personal-best time of 6.81 seconds.[13]

College career stats

Year GP Receiving Rushing
Rec Yds Avg Long 100+ 200+ TD Avg/G Att Yds Avg TD
2011 12 31 391 12.6 59 0 0 3 32.6 10 41 4.1 0
2012 13 67 1,151 17.2 75 5 0 5 95.9 19 82 4.3 0
2013 13 128 1,730 13.5 55 8 2 16 133 32 217 6.8 2
Total 226 3,272 14.5 75 13 2 24 86.1 61 340 5.6 2

Collegiate awards and honors

Professional career

Pre-draft measurables
Ht Wt 40-yd dash 10-yd split 20-yd split 20-ss 3-cone Vert Broad BP
5 ft 10 in 189 lb 4.33 s 1.53 s 2.50 s 3.81 s 6.76 s 36 in 10 ft 0 in 16 reps
All values from NFL Combine

During the 2014 NFL Draft Combine, Cooks was awarded $100,000 by Adidas for running the fastest 40-yard dash in Adidas cleats. Cooks was selected by the New Orleans Saints as the 20th pick of the first round of the 2014 NFL Draft; the Saints traded up from the 27th spot, giving their first and third round picks to the Arizona Cardinals in return for Arizona's first round pick, in order to get Cooks.[14] On May 18, 2014, the Saints signed Cooks to a four-year contract worth $8.3 million.[15]

2014

In his first career game, Cooks caught seven passes for 77 yards and a touchdown in a narrow loss to the Atlanta Falcons.[16][17][18] Cooks had 53 catches for 550 yards and 3 touchdowns before breaking his thumb in Week 11, ending his season.[19]

2015

Cooks began the year as the number one wide receiver for the Saints. Cooks caught for over 100 yards in a game for the first time in his career in a Week 5 game against the Philadelphia Eagles, where he had 5 catches for 107 yards and a touchdown. In Weeks 15 and 16 combined, Cooks had 15 catches for 247 yards and 2 touchdowns. He finished the year with 84 catches for 1138 yards and 9 touchdowns, leading the Saints in all those categories.

2016

Before the season, Cooks was pegged as a breakout candidate by ESPN and Yahoo.[20] He lived up to the pre-season hype when he caught 6 passes for a career-high 143 yards and two touchdowns in Week 1. He caught a 98-yard touchdown pass to set the Saints franchise record for longest play. Cooks, along with Willie Snead and Michael Thomas, finished the day with over 350 receiving yards combined.[21]

Career statistics

Season Team Games Receiving Rushing Fumbles
GP GS Rec Yds Avg Lng TD Att Yds Avg Lng TD FUM Lost
2014 New Orleans Saints 10 7 53 550 10.4 50 3 7 73 10.4 28 1 1 0
2015 New Orleans Saints 16 12 84 1,138 13.5 71T 9 8 18 2.3 11 0 1 0
Total 26 19 137 1,688 12.3 71T 12 15 91 6.1 28 1 2 0

Personal

Cooks was 6 years old when his father died of a heart attack, and he was thereafter raised by his mother, Andrea Cooks. He is one of four brothers.[22]

See also

References

  1. ↑
  2. ↑ Brandin Cooks now with Oregon State
  3. ↑ Beavers Insider: Brandin Cooks prepares to face UCLA, team he snubbed for Oregon State
  4. ↑ http://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/markus-wheaton-1.html
  5. ↑
  6. ↑ Civil War football: Cooks sets Pac-12 receptions record in loss
  7. ↑ Oregon State wide receiver Cooks looking to break another Pac-12 record against Boise State
  8. ↑ Brandin Cooks putting up big stats for Oregon St
  9. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-12-13. Retrieved 2013-12-14.
  10. ↑ Oregon State's Brandin Cooks wins Biletnikoff Award
  11. ↑ Oregon State football: Brandin Cooks earns consensus All-America status
  12. ↑ "Brandin Cooks declares for draft". ESPN.com news service. 2 Jan 2014.
  13. ↑ http://or.milesplit.com/athletes/2432928-brandin-cooks/feed#.VATXUvmSwrk
  14. ↑ "New Orleans Saints select Brandin Cooks No. 20 overall in the 2014 NFL draft". Sports Illustrated. May 8, 2014.
  15. ↑ Vargas, Ramon Antonio. "Saints sign No. 1 pick Brandin Cooks". The Advocate. Retrieved 18 May 2014.
  16. ↑ "Brandin Cooks impresses in NFL debut". NFL.
  17. ↑ "Brandin Cooks is popular target for Drew Brees in Saints' debut". The Times-Picayune. September 7, 2014.
  18. ↑ Triplett, Mike (September 7, 2014). "Saints' Cooks lives up to hype in debut". ESPN.
  19. ↑ Triplett, Mike (November 19, 2014). "Agent: Brandin Cooks out 4-6weeks". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 17, 2014.
  20. ↑ http://sports.yahoo.com/news/espn-believes-brandin-cooks-break-112928538.html
  21. ↑ http://www.nola.com/saints/index.ssf/2016/09/saints_wr_corps_use_speed_to_o.html
  22. ↑ Mays, Robert (May 7, 2014). "The Big Promise of Brandin Cooks: The smallest man in this year's NFL draft just might be the most talented". Grantland.

External links

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