bubba9497 Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 A Climb Up the Learning Curve From Utah State to Redskins Park, TE Cooley Adjusts Quickly at Minicamp By Nunyo Demasio Washington Post Staff Writer http://www.washingtonpost.com/ac2/wp-dyn/A59747-2004May1?language=printer After his first NFL practice Friday, former Utah State tight end Chris Cooley stayed up late in his Ashburn hotel to decipher the Washington Redskins' playbook for Saturday. Cooley drew up the myriad plays that Coach Joe Gibbs's tight ends must comprehend. After an extensive walkthrough early yesterday, Cooley went back to memorizing plays and jotting some down. In between pre-practice meetings, Cooley, a third-round pick in this year's draft, continuously hit his 350-page playbook. Cooley was overcome by the complexity and size and the playbook Friday. But after Cooley's intense preparations, things seemed to slow down yesterday -- or rather the 6-foot-3, 265-pound rookie sped up. "Today was a lot better because I had all last night to study the plays," said Cooley, 21. "I felt a little faster on the field because now I know what I'm going to do. "I'm really confident right now. I've picked up on the offense." At age 10, Cooley's father took him to his only NFL game: the San Diego Chargers at the Denver Broncos. So Friday was only the second time the Logan, Utah, native had been anywhere near NFL players. And Gibbs hasn't scaled things back from his first minicamp last month. "He won't have any problem adjusting," tight ends coach Rennie Simmons said yesterday. "It's just that he came in here in one night and we threw three days of work at him, and the other guys we took one step at a time." A star wrestler in high school, Cooley was voted Utah State's hardest hitter last season. But his role with the Redskins will go well beyond blocking. H-back, a hybrid of the fullback and tight end, is the second-most mentally challenging position in Gibbs's offense after quarterback. "Knowing what to do, that's the biggest thing," Cooley said. "Your mind is going 100 miles per hour. From the time you're in the huddle until the ball is snapped, I'm trying to remember what I'm doing." The H-back, or what assistant head coach Joe Bugel dubs a "tweener," must block like a tight end, catch like a wide receiver, and act like a fullback while going in motion from various spots on the field. "A multi-movement guy," Simmons said. Unlike the West Coast offense, which is employed by several NFL teams, Gibbs's system emphasizes the tight end. Thus, the Redskins have an unusually high number of tight ends: five, including pure tight ends Walter Rasby and Robert Royal. The Redskins plan on activating four tight ends on game day. Conversely, most NFL teams carry two or three tight ends, as the Redskins did last season. "H-back limits what you can do or expands what you can do," Gibbs said, "based on the kind of people you have there. So it is important to us." Last season, Cooley led Division I-A tight ends in catches (62) and receiving yards (732) while scoring six touchdowns. "He did a lot of things well," Gibbs said. "They used him a lot like we'll use him. The Redskins were just as impressed with his versatility, which put him on special teams, tight end, fullback and his favorite position: H-back. Cooley's knack for getting open and his football acumen appeal to Gibbs. Playing H-back also requires athletic ability, in addition to a high football IQ. "He didn't get tackled as soon as he caught the ball," Bugel said. "He can make people miss and that was a real determining factor right there. . . . He was quick to make that move upfield and he was big enough to run over some defenders." To gain the starting role, Cooley would have to beat out 6-3, 250-pound Brian Kozlowski, an 11-year veteran, and 6-3, 260-pound Mike Sellers, a fifth-year veteran. Kevin Ware, at 6-3 and 259 pounds, appears to be a backup. "I think we've got a gem in Cooley," Bugel said, "but we've got a couple of guys that are really good adjusting to our H-back." Before Cooley, the highest Gibbs ever drafted a tight end was in the fifth round, where he picked Michael Williams in 1982. During Gibbs's first tenure, the draft stretched to 12 rounds. Gibbs said that Cooley isn't a carbon copy of his past tight ends -- Clint Didier was markedly faster, for example -- but he has similarities to Terry Orr and Rick "Doc" Walker. Cooley still is adjusting to one aspect of Washington that no amount of studying will overcome. "No mountains," he said, and laughed. Redskins Notes: The Redskins have fired three front-office officials: scouts Cary Conklin and Marcus Dupree and salary-cap assistant Dustin Nelson, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Dupree and Conklin were among four scouts hired last summer by Vice President Vinny Cerrato. (The other hires -- Mike Kelly, who played a key role in the Redskins signing Tim Hasselbeck, and Foge Fazio, a former Redskins linebackers coach -- remain with the team.) Dupree was a star tailback at the University of Oklahoma. Conklin was a Redskins quarterback from 1990 to 1993. Nelson was hired by the Redskins in 2000 by former vice president Joe Mendes, who left the organization last year. Yesterday, Cerrato declined to comment when reached at Redskins Park, and the team hasn't named any replacements. . . . Wideout James Thrash was excused from yesterday's practice because of his child's illness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
J33Edwards Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 you have got to cheer for Cooley...sounds like a smart kid who is going to give his all to try and be the best player he can be. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HokieSkinsFan Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 How can you not root for this guy? I just love this kind of attitude and commitment. It sounds like Cooley was born to play for Gibbs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Thinking Skins Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 sad to see we fired Cary Conklin Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
semiskin Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 You guys think Winslow would be trying to learn the playbook the night after the first practice? You've got to love this kind of attitude out of a guy that was drafted just a week ago. Eventhough he may not be the outright starter next year at H-back, he will be for many years to come. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GatorEye Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 Originally posted by bubba9497 Redskins Notes: The Redskins have fired three front-office officials: scouts Cary Conklin and Marcus Dupree and salary-cap assistant Dustin Nelson, according to two sources familiar with the situation. Dupree and Conklin were among four scouts hired last summer by Vice President Vinny Cerrato. (The other hires -- Mike Kelly, who played a key role in the Redskins signing Tim Hasselbeck, and Foge Fazio, a former Redskins linebackers coach -- remain with the team.) Dupree was a star tailback at the University of Oklahoma. Conklin was a Redskins quarterback from 1990 to 1993. Nelson was hired by the Redskins in 2000 by former vice president Joe Mendes, who left the organization last year. Yesterday, Cerrato declined to comment when reached at Redskins Park, and the team hasn't named any replacements. . . . What does it say about two scouts we had to fire after only one season? I wonder who made the decision to fire them - Vinny, Dan or Gibbs. Quite interesting they would can 2 scouts and an assistant salary cap guy. Maybe they were the insider leaks. The bigger question is - was our draft based somewhat on player information gathered by two guys we just fired? :doh: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sisko Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 I suspect that Cooley will be a pretty good H-back for us next season but that he will really break out in his second year. In the meantime, KW2 will probably still be working through rookie mistakes in year two after a long holdout prior to his first season. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Rook Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 Ya gotta love the guy. It's called being a professional. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Skins26 Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 He's already picking up the offense!?!?! Thats pretty crazy if you think about it, wow. This guy is great. Winslow would be in his room trying to think of new cool celebrations after he scores TD's. I really like this Cooley guy. I'm thinking about getting a personalized Cooley jersey, I usually like to get jerseys that are personalized with the smaller guys names on the back, I always figure the big name guys have enough support in the stands, they know how much we love them, so I get jersey's of the smaller guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
triple6mafia Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 sounds encouraging. he's a talented guy and he really wants to learn the offense so he can get better. the type of players we need Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jimbo Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 Hmmm...Marcus Dupree was said to be an up-and-comer in the scouting profession. This is a surprise considering these guys really never got a chance to earn their money due to the low number of picks we had. It's difficult to develop a top notch scouting system with continuity. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jbooma Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 Originally posted by GatorEye What does it say about two scouts we had to fire after only one season? I wonder who made the decision to fire them - Vinny, Dan or Gibbs. Quite interesting they would can 2 scouts and an assistant salary cap guy. Maybe they were the insider leaks. That is a very good possiblity. I believe on of them was left over from Mendes and Vinny hired the other two last year. I think this was a Gibbs call. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
G-Town Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 I doubt Vinny would fire his two guys after only a year. I think someone like Gibbs stepped in and said ba bye. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bird_1972 Posted May 2, 2004 Share Posted May 2, 2004 I don't like it. I want stability and these guys haven't shown me anything that merits dismissal. Now, if they drafted K2 instead of Taylor, then were talking a different story ... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.