Connor Cook: Never Satisfied
9/16/2015 12:00:00 AM | Football
By Hanna Sprague, MSU Athletic Communications Student Assistant
Lined up in the cadence with his 80-pound offensive linemen in front of him and his 4-foot-5-inch receivers on either side, fourth-grader Connor Cook called for the snap, turned to fake a handoff and locked his eyes on the end zone.
"I got the ball, ran to the right and held it out like I was going to hand it off to the receiver," said Cook, a native of Hinckley, Ohio. "The defense bit."
Forty yards. His mom's voice echoed from the stands while his dad ran along the sidelines. Thirty yards. The whistles of the trains rang strong over the field, muting the surrounding noises.
"These trains always ran by that Olmsted field," said Cook. "In the cadence, you always had to scream `set, go' and no one could hear you because the trains were so loud."
Twenty yards. His budding legs stretched forward while his arm tightly protected the football. Ten yards. The defense was still recovering from the fake, unable to salvage the play. Five yards. His hands flew up, fist pumping the air as his teammates and coaches ran towards him.
Touchdown Connor Cook.
Flash forward 13 years and Cook finds himself in the same position. Only these days, he sits at 6-foot-4-inches tall on fields resembling a far bigger stage than they had in Olmsted Falls, Ohio.
"No one thought I had the ball," said Cook. "I ran right into the end zone. I remember chucking my hand up in the air; it was so dramatic. I remember it like it was yesterday."
Football was something Cook prided himself on as a kid growing up in the heart of Ohio. From the practice field to the weight room, football was the way Cook defined himself as an athlete, and, eventually, football would become a large part in how Cook identifies himself as a person.
 | "To be able to play in arguably one of the best times in Spartan Football, it's just such a blessing. We continue to strive for greatness. I think it's something that you have to have. You can't try to find it. It's just built - it comes from within." |
Each and every day, Cook looks down to his play card tightly strapped to his left arm, carefully studies his options and relays the information to his offense. He lines up, gets the snap, makes the throw -- completion. The plays change and the offenses come and go, but one thing about his routine has always stayed the same.
"These are the five that I rock," said Cook as he removed the wrist coach to reveal five rubber bracelets tightly fit to his left forearm. "I put them on, and I never took them off."
Silicone bracelets are something millions of people acquire and wear, but to Cook they mean far more than most.
The first bracelet came in 2009 when Cook and his family traveled to watch his older sister play her first collegiate basketball game for Old Dominion University. The school was handing them out to fans, and Cook saw the opportunity to make something special of it.
"This gray one used to say `our time' on it," said Cook. "I've always had that to think about her and how hard she works for her sport. I'm one of my sister's biggest supporters, and every high school and college game I've played in, I've been wearing this."
Three years passed before Cook added another.
This time, his eye caught sight of the bracelet at the 2012 Buffalo Wild Wings Bowl.
"I put it on, and that was the first time I threw a touchdown pass -- wow, first TD," said Cook, recalling his first collegiate touchdown pass. "For me, it's a reminder to never forget where you came from."
The following summer, Cook went home to spend time with his family and his dog, Duke, before heading into what would be the most successful football season in recent history.
"I found this one in my backyard the summer going into 2013," said Cook. "It just said `team' on it, so I added it to my collection. I'm a team player; that's what you have to be as a quarterback. I thought it was fitting, so I put that one on."
A lime green band sticks out amongst the rest as Cook rubs his fingers along the raised silicone notches.
"It's a rosary, and I pray it before every game," said Cook. "My girlfriend at the time gave this to me before the 2013 season. That was a season to remember."
The fifth and final bracelet that rounds out the collection is from a man that has become close to the heart of Spartan Football. Ryan Smigiel, a 21-year-old who spent months fighting a cancerous brain tumor, blindly reached out to Cook on Twitter last season.
Little did Smigiel know, he would impact Cook and his teammates far more than they could impact him.
"Fight with Smeegz," said Cook. "He came to our conditioning, a couple of practices and the spring game. I met him each one of those times, then he hooked me up with one of these wristbands. Everyone preaches the family mentality, but here, they back it up."
Although Cook can't fit a bracelet on his wrist to represent each and every MSU fan that fills the Spartan Stadium this season, he realizes the impact Spartan Nation has had on his time at Michigan State.
"To be here, to be the quarterback, to go into Spartan Stadium and play each and every week in front of such great fans -- it's unreal," said Cook. "We're just trying to make them proud. It's an amazing experience."
The Spartans look to go beyond expectations in 2015, and, with two wins under their belts, the focus on reaching higher is cemented into the program.
Cook manages to stay humbled through all of the success, finding individual ways to reach higher as an athlete and a teammate.
"I'm my biggest critic, and looking back last year, I didn't think I had a good year," said Cook, although he threw for 3,214 yards and 24 touchdowns, second most in school history. "We can never be satisfied. We have to always want more. That's how I find inspiration."
From his first career touchdown to his final season at Michigan State, Cook has gone from a tall, lanky high school quarterback to an undisputed winner, closing in on becoming statistically the best quarterback to ever play at Michigan State. He currently has 25 wins as the starting quarterback, two shy of Kirk Cousins' school record of 27 victories.
"Not a day goes by that you don't think `we're Rose Bowl champs,'" said Cook, whose 25 wins rank tied for first among active quarterbacks in the NCAA Football Bowl Subdivision. "We were a part of a Rose Bowl team. And last year, being a part of a Cotton Bowl win, that is unreal."
Cook's name is quick to be discussed at a national level as he has earned his spot on the Maxwell Award, Davey O'Brien Award and Walter Camp Player of the Year Watch Lists.
Cook's goals for success are far greater than his own, as he pushes his teammates to their greatest potential, making history in the Green and White.
"To be able to play in arguably one of the best times in Spartan Football, it's just such a blessing," said Cook. "We continue to strive for greatness. I think it's something that you have to have. You can't try to find it. It's just built -- it comes from within."
This feature was originally published in the Sept. 12 edition of Michigan State Football Gameday Magazine.
