Cali WR still looking at Utah
Growing up, Alex Cook dreamed of playing in the Pac-12 Conference. That dream is about to become a reality for the 6-foot-2, 178-pound receiver out Sheldon High School in Sacramento, Calif. Cook holds 11 offers and lists five Pac-12 schools as his current favorites.
“I’d probably say [the] top five are Washington, UCLA, Cal, Arizona and Oregon,” he said. “I’m for sure a Pac-12 guy. I grew up liking [the] Pac-12 Conference, dreamed of playing in the Pac-12 conference, and to me those are like the biggest schools in the Pac-12, or some of them.”
Although Utah didn’t make his top five, the Utes are still in the running for the three-star prospect. “I’ve been talking to coach Scalley, the safeties coach,” Cook said. “Coach Scalley is definitely the most intense coach I’ve talked to. Before Washington offered me, he was probably the only [coach] who talked to me pretty much every day, recruited me really hard. When he calls me, [he’s] super hyped-up to talk to me. I won’t say he’s desperate but he’s really anxious for me to get out there to their facilities and visit the school. I’ll tell him I have a camp and he’ll tell me to call him after, ask how I did. Just little things like that.”
Owing to his background, Scalley originally recruited Cook at safety. “Coach Scalley, before he offered me, he messaged me on Twitter and told me to give him a call. I called him and he offered me a scholarship to play safety. In the back of my mind I was like ‘Ahh, I don’t know about safety.’ I was actually the backup for my football team for safety. My brother was the starting safety ’till he tore his ACL, so I pretty much stepped in there. But I was always a receiver in high school. I told the head coach (Kyle Whittingham) I was more interested in playing offense. And I guess the rumor got around that I wanted to play offense instead of defense and that’s when Coach Holliday hit me up and told me to give him a call. And he wanted me to play receiver. I was his top 2 receiver for the class of ’17. He got super excited about that.”
Cook said he talks to Utah 1-2 times a week and is still learning about the program. “I watched them play last year against Washington,” he said. “They were real physical and then composed. I don’t really know much about the football team, but I know …those two facts for sure. And Salt Lake City, can’t get any better than that. I’d just heard about it and seen pictures of it. And there’s nothing like it. Honestly. And I’d probably say I like the coaching staff, really, also too. Pretty cool [guys]. I definitely want to visit them, just to make sure I’m not missing out on any opportunities, but I don’t really have a visit planned or scheduled out for them yet.”
Watching his film, it’s easy to see why Utah envisioned Cook on the defensive side of the ball. He is a tough, physical tackler who flies to the football and punishes ballcarriers. That being said, he’s also an excellent receiver with great hands and deceptive speed, racking up 1,160 all-purpose yards in 2015.
“I can definitely pinpoint the ball in the air pretty well, get the ball at the highest point, so I’m really good at that. People underestimate my speed, how it works in my advantage. And then with being able to catch the ball in traffic, [going over the middle], that’s no problem. [A] little contact won’t hurt. If there were no contact in it, I wouldn’t even like the sport.”
Cook said he’ll commit sometime before the upcoming season, and talked about what he’s looking for in a school. “First, the degree, what degrees they have available and how good they (the degrees) are I guess. If I take a visit there, how I take it in. And if I feel comfortable then yeah this would be an option. Third would be just seeing if I fit in well in the program. That’s about it. I’m leaving to Washington this Friday (4/22) and the following week I’m going to probably be in Oregon. But we might plan a trip to Duke during the summer. I’m going to Washington’s spring game and Oregon’s spring game.”
As for his senior year, Cook said, “I just want to finish up my school year and then academics, try to boost my GPA up as high as I can. And football-wise, continue to get better, do big things for my school’s program, leave a legacy I guess.”
NOTES
Although Cook declined to name a favorite, Washington is in a very good place with the dynamic receiver. Cook said he talks to Washington more than any other school and that, “I have a friend that goes to Washington. He gives me insight into what Washington and Seattle’s all about.” … Cook is a serious student who plans to study engineering in college. “People say it’s hard, but I don’t care,” he said. … Cook says he enjoyed watching former LSU star Tyrann Mathieu growing up. “I tell myself I’m not a DB, but I always watched Tyrann Mathieu. When I think of college football, I think of him … Regarding playing in the NFL, Cook said if “that option opens up, [I] can’t say no. I’ll I’ll play football ’till the day I die if I could.”