News - Sports - College

Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008

'E-Cook' continues to lay the hits for Gamecocks' football team

COLUMBIA -- Emanuel Cook can remember all of his missed tackles this season, which is not too surprising considering he can count them on one hand.

It is a testament to Cook's reputation as South Carolina's "Hit Man" that those rare times when he whiffs on tackles prompt 'Did that just happen?' moments from his teammates and coaches.

Cook, the junior strong safety who is on pace to lead the Gamecocks in tackles for the second year in a row, says he has missed three tackles all season. USC safeties coach Ron Cooper thinks the number is four.

Either way, the fact that Cook can recount more details about his misses than his favorite hits speaks to the standard of excellence the player known as "E-Cook" holds for himself.

Quiet and soft-spoken off the field, the 5-10, 203-pound Cook lets his shoulder pads do the talking for him. Cook leads all SEC defensive backs with 76 tackles, a total he hopes to add to today against Florida, one of the three big in-state schools that snubbed him three years ago when he was a two-way star in south Florida.

Cook, who played linebacker and running back at Palm Beach Gardens High, said he was recruited but never offered a scholarship by Florida coach Urban Meyer. The coaches at Florida State, Cook's favorite childhood team, told him they had plenty of linebackers.

And Miami, located just down Interstate 95 from Cook's home in Riviera Beach, never called.

"I had offers from everywhere except for the big three in Florida," said Cook, adding that he likely would have stayed in Florida had he been offered by one of the state's triumvirate.

USC is glad to have him, even if opposing ball-carriers wish he'd stayed on offense.

Cook learned the proper tackling form at a young age from the coaches of the Palmetto Raiders, his first youth-league team.

"I used to do bully-in-the-ring all the time," Cook said of the popular tackling drill. "Used to do a lot of hitting."

Still does.

Cook might not have the interceptions or coverage skills to match former Rock Hill High standout Ko Simpson, USC's All-SEC safety in his third season with the Buffalo Bills. But Cook has a knack of reading plays as they develop and packing a wallop when he arrives at the ball.

At one of the August scrimmages, Cook put a big hit on tight end Weslye Saunders, who is seven inches taller and 71 pounds heavier than him.

"He laid me out pretty good, knocked the wind out of me. I was out for a few plays. It was pretty bad," Saunders said of Cook's hit. "I've seen him do it plenty of times. ... He's always looking for an opportunity to lay somebody out. He's never really chilling."

"He tries to kill people. And every time I see him, they always go down," added safety Akeem Auguste. "I haven't seen him miss too many tackles."

Such a go-for-broke approach would seem to make Cook vulnerable to a juke or head-fake in the open field.

Not so.

USC defensive coordinator Ellis Johnson said Cook is equally adept at making the one-on-one tackles in space as he is fighting his way through traffic to make stops near the line of scrimmage.

"There's not a lot of kids that are like that," Johnson said. "You'll find a big old safety that can come up there and make those plays at the line of scrimmage, but he can't tackle in the open field. And then you'll have good, athletic safeties that can make those open-field plays, but they get up in the box and they're a liability for you because they get knocked out and bounced around. He's both."

Johnson, who uses Cook at linebacker depth about 60 percent of the time, said Cook's instincts set him apart.

"I think the No. 1 aspect that makes him such a great tackler and gets him so many tackles is really the way he can read run or pass very well, and he gets a jump on it," Johnson said. "He's fast, but he's no faster than a lot of 'em in this league. But he really gets himself in position so much better than the other kids do because he's very instinctive and he reads the run-pass stuff so well."

Meyer suggested Cook's small stature and speed might have caused schools to overlook him, Florida included.

"I'm real upset he's not playing for us. Last year, I thought he was one of the best players in the SEC," Meyer said. "I mean, he'll knock your head off. He's a football position guy. One of the things you do when you evaluate -- everybody gets caught up in size and speed. ... I think the Cook guy is as good as there in the SEC, which means he's as good as there is in the country."

ESPN draft expert Mel Kiper ranks Cook the third-best NFL safety prospect among juniors. Cook said this week he plans to ask the NFL's underclassmen committee to evaluate his draft status after the season.

"I'm just going to wait until the end of the year and look at my options, send my evaluation in and everything," Cook said. "I've got to sit down and talk to my family about that."

Cook is looking forward to seeing friends and family members after the game today in Gainesville. A few are converted Gator fans.

"It's going to be a real big event," Cook said.

With Cook in the house, fans can expect a few big hits, as well.