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Reggie Cobb

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Reggie Cobb
refer to caption
Cobb with the Jaguars in 1995
No. 33, 34, 32, 28
Position:Running back
Personal information
Born:(1968-07-07)July 7, 1968
Knoxville, Tennessee, U.S.
Died:April 20, 2019(2019-04-20) (aged 50)
Santa Clara, California, U.S.
Height:6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight:212 lb (96 kg)
Career information
High school:Central (Knoxville, Tennessee)
College:Tennessee
NFL draft:1990 / round: 2 / pick: 30
Career history
Career highlights and awards
Career NFL statistics
Rushing yards:3,743
Rushing average:3.5
Rushing touchdowns:25
Receptions:123
Receiving yards:949
Receiving touchdowns:2
Stats at Pro Football Reference

Reginald John Cobb (July 7, 1968 – April 20, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a running back for seven seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Tennessee Volunteers, leading the Southeastern Conference (SEC) in touchdowns his freshman year.[1] A second-round selection in the 1990 NFL draft, he initially played for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, registering his best season in 1992 when he rushed for over a thousand yards and scored nine touchdowns. He was later a member of the inaugural roster of the Jacksonville Jaguars.

High school

Cobb was born in Knoxville, Tennessee, where he was a four-year starter at Central High School.[2] During his senior year, he rushed for 1,141 yards and 13 touchdowns, averaging 6.7 yards per carry, and returned 13 kickoffs for 305 yards and a touchdown. He was named to the Nashville Banner Elite 11, and was ranked the number three recruit in the state by the Knoxville News Sentinel.[3]

As a member of Central's track team, Cobb won the state long jump title, and placed fifth in the 100-meter dash.[3]

College

Cobb signed with the Tennessee Volunteers in 1986, part of a stellar recruiting class that included future NFL players Alvin Harper, Anthony Miller, Antone Davis, Charles McRae, and Tracy Hayworth.[3] He redshirted his first year as veterans William Howard, Keith Davis and Charles Wilson handled the bulk of the team's rushing duties. Cobb rushed for 90 yards on 15 carries, including a 54-yard touchdown, in the 1987 Orange-and-White Game, and emerged from spring practice third in the running back rotation behind Keith Davis and Vando Davis.[4]

Cobb received considerable playing time in his first game of the 1987 season and made the most of the opportunity, erupting for 138 yards on 25 carries in the Vols' 23–22 win over Iowa.[5] In Tennessee's 38–10 win over Mississippi State, Cobb scored three touchdowns, including a 39-yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.[6] Two weeks later, he rushed for 66 yards and scored two touchdowns, including the game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter, in Tennessee's 20–20 tie against Auburn.[7] In Tennessee's 38–12 win over California, Cobb rushed for 94 yards and two touchdowns, and caught a 25-yard touchdown pass.[8] He rushed for 140 yards and two touchdowns in Tennessee's win over Georgia Tech,[9] picked up 127 yards and two touchdowns against Louisville,[10] scored three touchdowns against Ole Miss,[11] and finished the season with 144 and 140 rushing yards, respectively, in close wins against Kentucky and Vanderbilt.[12][13] In Tennessee's 27–22 win over Indiana in the 1988 Peach Bowl, Cobb rushed for 146 yards and two touchdowns, including the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth quarter, to win game MVP honors.[14] For the season, he had a school-record 1,721 all-purpose yards, including a team-leading 1,197 rushing yards. His 20 touchdowns (17 rushing and three receiving) was second in the nation behind Paul Hewitt's 24,[1] and tied an SEC record.[15]

During the 1988 season, Cobb missed three full games and part of two games with an ankle injury, and his production dropped to 547 yards rushing and three touchdowns on 118 carries, and 126 yards and three touchdowns on 17 catches. He rushed for a career-high 182 yards against Duke, and picked up 111 yards rushing against Ole Miss before leaving the game with an injury.[16][17]

Prior to spring practice in 1989, Cobb was placed on indefinite suspension for failing a third drug test.[18] After completing a drug rehabilitation program, he was reinstated just before the start of the season.[18] He rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown in Tennessee's 17–14 opening win over Colorado State,[19] and added 78 yards against UCLA the following week, sharing time with rising star Chuck Webb to form a running back tandem that became known as "Cobb-Webb."[20] In Tennessee's 28–6 win over Duke, Cobb rushed for 109 yards and three touchdowns, much of his total coming on a 61-yard fourth-quarter touchdown run.[21] The biggest game of Cobb's college career came in Tennessee's 21–14 win over Auburn, when he exploded for 225 yards on 22 carries, including a 79-yard touchdown run in the second quarter.[22] In Tennessee's 17–14 win over Georgia, Cobb rushed for 106 yards on 20 carries, and scored a key touchdown in the fourth quarter.[23]

Cobb was dismissed from the team prior to Tennessee's game against Alabama in October 1989 after he once again failed a drug test.[18] For his abbreviated season, he rushed for 625 yards and six touchdowns on 90 carries.[24] At the time of his dismissal, he was locked in a battle with Florida's Emmitt Smith for the SEC's rushing title.[25] His 6.8 yards-per-carry in 1989 led the SEC.[26]

During his career at Tennessee, Cobb rushed 445 times for 2,360 yards and 26 touchdowns, caught 33 passes for 360 yards and three touchdowns, and returned 16 kickoffs for 326 yards.[27] His 1,721 all-purpose yards in 1987 remained a school single-season record until broken by Cordarrelle Patterson in 2012, and his 17 rushing touchdowns in 1987 remains a modern school single-season record.[28] His 1,197 rushing yards in 1987 remains the 9th-highest single-season total in school history, and his 2,360 career rushing yards is the school's 10th-highest career total.[29]

Professional career

In January 1990, Cobb entered the John Lucas New Spirit Recovery Treatment Center in Houston. He was occasionally visited by Tampa Bay coach Ray Perkins, who became one of his advocates. In spite of his past drug use, Tampa Bay took a chance and made Cobb their second-round pick in the 1990 NFL draft.[30][18] He signed with the Buccaneerss in August 1990.[31] In his first NFL game on September 9, 1990, he rushed 11 times for 43 yards and a touchdown in the Bucs' win over Detroit.[32] His first 100-yard game came on November 10, 1991, when he carried 21 times for 139 yards and three touchdowns, including a 59-yard touchdown run.[33] Two weeks later, he ran 22 times for 110 yards and a 27-yard touchdown in a close loss to the New York Giants.[34] Cobb's best NFL season came in 1992, when he registered four games with 100 or more yards rushing, and finished the season with 1,171 yards rushing and nine touchdowns.[35] In the 1993 season, he had 221 carries for 658 yards and three touchdowns on the ground to go with a receiving touchdown.[36] He did not re-sign with the Bucs after the 1993 season, and became an unrestricted free agent.[37]

Cobb signed with the Green Bay Packers in April 1994.[38] He struggled at the beginning of the season. Green Bay's ground attack ranked 26th in the league at the end of September.[39] In the Packers' loss to Philadelphia on September 18, Cobb scored the team's lone touchdown on a 37-yard pass from Brett Favre.[40] He ran for 66 yards on 13 carries in the Packers' win over Detroit on November 6, and rushed for 78 yards on just 11 tries in the Packers' rout of Chicago on December 11.[41][42] In his lone trip to the postseason, Cobb had 12 yards on 8 carries and an 18-yard reception in Green Bay's 16–12 win over Detroit on December 31, and was held to just 14 yards on four carries and a 12-yard catch in the Packers' loss to Dallas the following week.[43][44][45]

Cobb was selected by the Jacksonville Jaguars in the 1995 NFL Expansion Draft.[46] He was released by the team after the first game of the season, however.[47] In May 1996, he signed with the New York Jets,[48] where he played primarily as a reserve, scoring one touchdown on the season.[49] He was cut by the Jets at the end of preseason in August 1997.[50]

NFL career statistics

Year Team GP Att Yds Avg Lng TD Rec Yds Avg Lng TD
1990 TB 16 151 480 3.2 17 2 39 299 7.7 17 0
1991 TB 16 196 752 3.8 59 7 15 111 7.4 21 0
1992 TB 16 310 1,171 3.8 25 9 21 156 7.4 27 0
1993 TB 12 221 658 3.0 16 3 9 61 6.8 19 1
1994 GB 16 153 579 3.8 30 3 35 299 8.5 37 1
1995 JAX 1 9 18 2.0 5 0 0 0 0.0 0 0
1996 NYJ 15 25 85 3.4 9 1 4 23 5.8 12 0
Career 92 1,065 3,743 3.6 59 25 123 949 7.7 37 2

Post-playing career

Following his NFL playing career, Cobb entered the scouting profession with the help of fellow ex-Vol (and current senior personnel executive for the Miami Dolphins) Reggie McKenzie.[51] Cobb joined the Washington Redskins administration as a scout in 2001, and subsequently worked for six years as Tampa Bay's Southwestern regional scout. He joined the San Francisco 49ers, where he was the team's Western regional scout, in 2009. In 2011, he was named NFC scout of the year by the Fritz Pollard Alliance.[52]

In July 2011, Cobb was inducted into the Greater Knoxville Sports Hall of Fame.[51] Cobb died in Santa Clara, California from a heart attack due to one of his arteries being 80% blocked on April 20, 2019, at the age of 50.[53][54]

References

  1. ^ a b "1987 College Football Summary". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved February 25, 2024.
  2. ^ Wilson, Mike (April 20, 2019). "Tennessee football: Former Vols running back Reggie Cobb dies at 50". Knoxville News Sentinel. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c "1986 Signees Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine," 1986 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 82.
  4. ^ "1987 Squad Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine," 1987 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, pp. 56–57.
  5. ^ "TENNESSEE FRESHMAN, BAD PITCH STOP IOWA". Chicago Tribune. August 31, 1987. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  6. ^ "Vols Win SEC Opener Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine," 1988 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 102.
  7. ^ "SEC Battle Ends in Deadlock Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine," 1988 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 103.
  8. ^ "Early Blitz Downs Bears Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine," 1988 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 103.
  9. ^ "Georgia Gets Past Kentucky". Los Angeles Times. October 25, 1987. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  10. ^ "Vol Victory in the Cards Archived June 10, 2015, at the Wayback Machine," 1988 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 104.
  11. ^ "Happy Homecoming For Vols Archived June 10, 2015, at the Wayback Machine," 1988 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 105.
  12. ^ Shelton, Will (November 27, 2009). "Tennessee vs. Kentucky: 24 Years of Heartbreak". Rocky Top Talk. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  13. ^ "Tennessee Football Notes - Vanderbilt Game". University of Tennessee Athletics. November 17, 2008. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  14. ^ "Peach Bowl Win Highlights Season of Comeback Victories Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine," 1988 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 106.
  15. ^ "1988 Squad Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine," 1988 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 59.
  16. ^ "Tennessee Falls to 0-2 In Upset By Duke". The New York Times. Associated Press. September 11, 1988. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  17. ^ "Vols win again, stuff Rebels, 20–12". Kingsport Times-News. November 13, 1988. p. 37. Retrieved March 16, 2024 – via Newspapers.com.
  18. ^ a b c d Tom Spousta, "Cobb Learning You Can't Beat Coke As Easily As a Linebacker," Middlesboro Daily News, April 26, 1990, p. 12.
  19. ^ "Vols Win Season Opener Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine," 1990 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 115.
  20. ^ Matt Dixon, "Cobb Still 'Fond' of UT, Hometown Archived 2013-10-06 at archive.today," The Daily Beacon, September 9, 2011. Retrieved: October 5, 2013.
  21. ^ "Vols Bedevil Duke Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine," 1989 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 116.
  22. ^ "Cobb Leads Vols' Upset of Auburn". Los Angeles Times. October 1, 1989. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  23. ^ Strange, Mike. "Goose egg to Hail Mary, Tennessee football coaches notched notable wins over Georgia | Strange". AOL.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  24. ^ "1989 Offensive Statistics Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine," 1990 Tennessee Volunteers Football Guide, p. 122.
  25. ^ "Around the SEC Archived October 12, 2013, at the Wayback Machine," Tennessee vs. Georgia Football Program, 1989, p. 7.
  26. ^ "1989 College Football Summary". College Football at Sports-Reference.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  27. ^ Individual Career Football Statistics Archived September 28, 2013, at the Wayback Machine, UTSports.com. Retrieved: October 5, 2013.
  28. ^ Individual Football Records Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (2012), UTSports, p. 325.
  29. ^ Individual Football Records Archived March 4, 2016, at the Wayback Machine (2012), UTSports, p. 334.
  30. ^ "1990 NFL Draft Listing". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved May 24, 2023.
  31. ^ Zier, Patrick (August 7, 1990). "Cobb, Chandler Have Agreements With Buccaneers". Sarasota Herald-Tribune. p. 3C. Retrieved March 16, 2024 – via Google News.
  32. ^ "Tampa Bay Buccaneers at Detroit Lions - September 9th, 1990". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  33. ^ "Detroit Lions at Tampa Bay Buccaneers - November 10th, 1991". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  34. ^ "New York Giants at Tampa Bay Buccaneers - November 24th, 1991". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  35. ^ "Reggie Cobb 1992 Game Log". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  36. ^ "Reggie Cobb 1993 Game Log". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  37. ^ Tom Silverstein, "Cobb to Sign With Packers Archived November 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine," The Milwaukee Sentinel, April 22, 1994, p. 1B.
  38. ^ "Packers Sign Tampa Bay Back Reggie Cobb," The Deseret News, April 23, 1994, p. D3.
  39. ^ Tom Silverstein, "Run Scared? No Way Archived November 18, 2015, at the Wayback Machine," Milwaukee Sentinel, September 24, 1994, p. 3B.
  40. ^ "Green Bay Packers at Philadelphia Eagles - September 18th, 1994". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  41. ^ "Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers - November 6th, 1994". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  42. ^ "Chicago Bears at Green Bay Packers - December 11th, 1994". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  43. ^ "Wild Card - Detroit Lions at Green Bay Packers - December 31st, 1994". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  44. ^ "Divisional Round - Green Bay Packers at Dallas Cowboys - January 8th, 1995". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  45. ^ "Reggie Cobb 1994 Game Log". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  46. ^ "NFL Expansion Draft". Tampa Bay Times. February 16, 1995. Retrieved November 2, 2023.
  47. ^ "Reggie Cobb 1995 Game Log". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  48. ^ "PRO FOOTBALL;Jets Get Cobb and Boatswain". The New York Times. Associated Press. May 14, 1996. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  49. ^ "Reggie Cobb 1996 Game Log". Pro Football Reference. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  50. ^ Eskenazi, Gerald (August 26, 1997). "After Jets Trim Down, Roster Is More Youthful". The New York Times. Retrieved February 26, 2024.
  51. ^ a b John Adams, "From Central Casting to Stardom," Knoxville News Sentinel, July 16, 2011. Retrieved: October 6, 2013.
  52. ^ Biggs, Brad (January 5, 2012). "Reggie Cobb named NFC scout of year by Fritz Pollard Alliance". National Football Post. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  53. ^ Biderman, Chris (April 20, 2019). "49ers scout Reggie Cobb dies from heart attack". The Sacramento Bee. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
  54. ^ "Reginald Cobb Obituary (1968–2019) – Santa Clara, CA – Knoxville News Sentinel". Legacy.com. Retrieved March 16, 2024.
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