Cooks talks progress in secondary, move to Lubbock
Kerry Cooks was Matt Wells' final hire to round out his coaching staff in early January. Wells assigned Cooks the duty of coaching the safeties.
Cooks spent his time last year coaching in a familiar place – Norman, Oklahoma. Cooks has had coaching stops at Notre Dame, Wisconsin, Minnesota, Western Illinois and Kansas State, which was back in 2003.
Cooks takes over a secondary that lost key players like Jah'Shawn Johnson to graduation and Justus Parker off of an NCAA violation. For him, it's about growing his current players into leaders on the field. He added leadership was something they discussed as a group early on that second or third team guys are ready for unexpected situations where that's needed.
"Well, you know, the good thing for us is we had spring to kind of go through and talk about leadership and kinda see who the guys would be that we can count on to step up. You'd hope the veteran guys that left showed good qualities to where those guys picked up and 'next man, up' so when that guy steps up the leadership is already there. You just got to go and continue to foster that."
Stepping up early is Douglas Coleman in that leadership and accountability factor. Cooks said the Louisiana native is the first in line for drills, first in the team meetings and his showing the young guys how to do it.
Some freshmen defensive backs like Alex Hogan and Dadrion Taylor are showing progress. For them and the other young safeties/DBs it's about adapting to the pace of college football and familiarizing a lot more than simple coverage calls.
Cooks said it's important for them to hone in on not being a one-dimensional defensive back. He wants them to grasp the idea of being versatile and letting loose from the high school days of focusing on covering a receiver in man-to-man coverage every down.
Thomas Leggett has caught Cooks' eye with his discipline and progress through camp for far. Leggett's currently in the mix with Adam Beck, Adrian Frye and Coleman at safety.
"I would take a thousand Leggett's," Cooks said. "I mean, Leggett is a – 'coach, tell me what to do, I'm going to get it done every time, the exact same way that you told me to.' Leggett's been outstanding. Then again he's got a guy like Coleman in front of him. It's a pretty good battle."
"Beck is a guy like we're talking about. He's still making the adjustment to the culture, to the system, to the coaches. But, he's doing what we're asking him to do. He's just probably a little bit further behind than Legget is in that respect."
A former Iowa Hawkeye safety, Cooks discussed the move to Texas and what it means for his family. His familiarity with Wells and his fellow coaches was not necessarily a tight, close relationship that dates back for years before moving to Lubbock. He coached against and had some recruiting battles with Wells and Patterson, though.
Cooks is a native of Irving, Texas. He has two brothers, two sisters and nieces and nephews in the double-digits. A majority of his family is located in Las Colinas.
"I was the only one that left ... Mom's still around. All of my family – not just my family, my wife's family is there. We have tons of family in the metroplex. Very convenient."