Cook, Conklin, other Spartans prepared for NFL Draft
EAST LANSING – Connor Cook took to the national airwaves Wednesday morning to answer yet another important question about what makes him tick.
Would you rather meet quarterback Tom Brady or snowboarder Shaun White?
“Tom Brady,” Cook told host Dan Patrick. “If you would’ve asked me in seventh or eighth grade, I for sure would’ve said Shaun White. But right now, I think I’m a little bit more into football than I am snowboarding.”
Being a coveted NFL Draft prospect can change a person’s mind. Getting picked in the first round, which Cook hopes will happen Thursday night, can change a player’s life.
Cook is one of more than a dozen former Michigan State players who want to hear their names called during the three-day draft in Chicago. It starts with Thursday’s first round, continues with the second and third rounds on Friday and wraps up Saturday with Rounds 4 to 7.
“It only takes one team to pick you,” coach Mark Dantonio said Sunday following MSU’s team banquet. “Once you get that one team and you belong to them, that part of the process is over and you start fresh, you start new and you start earning who you are. And everybody has to earn their keep.”
Left tackle Jack Conklin appears to have the best shot to go on the first day. The former walk-on, who entered the draft after his junior season, is projected in a number of mock drafts to go anywhere between the bottom of the top 10 to the middle portion of the opening round.
Senior quarterback Cook remains one of the draft’s most polarizing prospects. He has been heavily scrutinized throughout the pre-draft process and could go as high as the late first round or potentially fall deep into the second day.
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That was something former MSU quarterback Kirk Cousins experienced on during the 2012 draft, which Cook said has prepared him for the unexpected. Cousins heard he could be taken as early as the second round but ended up falling to the fourth round at pick No. 102.
“Whatever it is, there’s always gonna be someone talking negative about you – whether you're successful, if you’re not successful. Just keep working hard and tune it out,” Cook said Sunday. “There’s more motivation for those purposes, for that reasoning. But you know, I’m just gonna continue to be me. And I think being me and being myself has gotten me pretty far in life.”
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One of the knocks on Cook is that he wasn’t named one of MSU’s three captains in 2015. Those players – center Jack Allen, defensive end Shilique Calhoun and linebacker Darien Harris – are all rated behind him on draft prognosticators’ prospect rankings. Calhoun said he has talked to teams about converting to linebacker and could go as early as the second round.
“I’ll relax with my family and have a good time,” Calhoun said of his draft plans. “Just celebrate the moment, live in the moment, and understand it’s a blessing.”
Allen, wide receiver Aaron Burbridge, defensive end Lawrence Thomas and defensive tackle Joel Heath are considered potential third-day picks.
Harris is among the Spartans hoping to either hear their name called late or sign a free-agent contract after the draft. So, too, are fullback Trevon Pendleton, safety RJ Williamson, cornerback Arjen Colquhoun, offensive lineman Donavon Clark, receiver DeAnthony Arnett, snapper Taybor Pepper and receiver A.J. Troup.
“Any team. I’m anxious to get any phone call from any team,” Burbridge said. “I only had one workout with the Lions, but a lot of teams have been calling me and talking to me. So we’ll see what happens.”
Conklin plans to be in Chicago for the draft. He’ll likely do the podium walk-up for the handshake and hat-and-jersey photo-op with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell. It’s the perk of being projected so high.
Cook, meantime, will be at home with family and friends in Hinckley, Ohio. He said he wants “to control my environment,” rather than worrying about being the last quarterback left backstage. That happened to Aaron Rodgers and Brady Quinn, so it’s clearly not a good barometer of future success or failure. Neither is going as the No. 1 or No. 102 overall pick.
But Cook said he is ready for the lead-up to the draft to be done – “A lot of me. Most of me. All of it.” He made eight in-person visits with teams after the NFL Combine and MSU’s pro day, and called the past few weeks of travel and meetings “a grind.” The draft marks the end of that process and the beginning of a pro career.
In football, not snowboarding. And, perhaps, it’ll provide that chance to talk with Tom Brady someday soon.
“I thought I connected well with all of the coaches that I met with, that I sat down and talked with,” Cook said. “I’m just ready to be on a team, call that team mine, call that city home – whatever it is – and get to work, get the playbook, learn it and just be part of a great organization.”
He should know where that is by the end of the weekend.
NFL Draft
► TV: ESPN, NFL Network
► Thursday: Round 1, 8 p.m.
► Friday: Rounds 2-3, 7 p.m.
► Saturday: Rounds 4-7, noon