Welcome to being a full-time coach, Joe Cox.
Cox has been with the Colorado State Rams football team since last season, joining as a graduate assistant. He’s now graduated to the tight ends coach and we got to talk to him for the first time Monday morning.
“Me, playing quarterback for Coach Bobo, I was responsible for learning what everybody had to do,” Cox said about not playing tight end but still knowing a bit about the position. “Learned a lot last year, especially from coach (Will) Friend. And really looking forward to putting it all together.”
From 2006-2009, Cox played quarterback at the University of Georgia, with Bobo as his offensive coordinator. But, it wasn’t until 2009 that Cox became the full-time starter, throwing for 2,584 yards with 24 touchdowns and 15 interceptions that season. In 2013-14 he was part of the Mallard Creek high school coaching staff as quarterbacks coach and then offensive coordinator before joining his former coach in Fort Collins.
“It’s crazy,” Cox said of coaching for Bobo. “My whole time, my whole college career, I was in this position where I never wanted to let down Coach Bobo. Here I am, 30 years old, and I’m still in a spot where I don’t want to let down Coach Bobo. He’s been one of the biggest role models I’ve ever had. And to get an opportunity from him was unbelievable. I want to do everything I can to make him proud.”
Now, Cox is setting goals for his tight ends, starting with the intangibles like being leaders.
“We’ve got to have guys step up and be not only leaders in the room, but leaders on offense and leaders of the football team,” Cox said of his guys. “Obviously you have a guy like Nolan Peralta that played a lot of fullback last year, he’s been in the room with us a lot so far this spring. He’s still going to be able to do both. He’s a smart kid and has proven himself to be a leader of the offense. But we need to have more guys like that. We need to have Danny Nwosu, the same thing, Mitch Parsons.
“I’m the new coach, we have some new guys that need to step up and make plays. So, we’re all in it together,” he continued.
Clearly, losing senior leaders Kivon Cartwright and Steven Walker impacts the tight end position, but that means it’s time for Peralta to take the lead tight end and for the younger guys, Nwosu and Parsons, to really challenge Peralta.
“I would say it’s open competition,” Cox explained. “Obviously, I’d say the main two right now are Danny and Nolan. Nolan did it last year. He’s a proven tight end. He didn’t play as much as Kivon and Steven at the tight end position, but he was out there on the field and we know what he can do. So, we’re really looking forward to him having a big spring. But a guy like Danny who didn’t get a lot of reps, he’s got to be there to push Nolan.”
But, what specifically does Coach Cox want from his position? Fans would love to see more production in terms of yards and touchdowns within Bobo’s offense. But, Cox said the first focus begins with run blocking.
“Honestly, probably the biggest goal right now is stepping up and being leaders on the football team,” Cox said. “We need to do a better job of that. And, I think, the biggest thing in terms of actually playing is the run game. There’s a lot of time where our block is the key to the play. And there’s a lot of times we got that done last year but there’s a lot of times we watched on film we didn’t get it done.
“Our guys need to understand that we’re only going to go as far on offense as we allow them to at the tight end spot,” Cox continued.
He has a great point. Unlike being a receiver, where the primary job is to catch passes, tight ends have a more split task list. On one play, they’ve got to be like a sixth offensive lineman, setting the edge for a run outside or opening up a hole for an off-tackle carry. On the next play, they’ve got to be ready to go out and catch the football in crucial situations.
And, as we saw last season, Bobo’s offense is run-first, increasing the importance of run-blocking well.
Cox may be young and somewhat inexperienced with the position of tight ends, but it seems he’s got a great head on his shoulders and already has laid out goals for his players to achieve. It will be interesting to see which player emerges as the Rams top tight end, and some of that will be decided in spring practices which begin soon.
