STARKVILLE — Logan Cooke isn’t a fan of sitting on the bench.
Most football players aren’t, but Cooke may like it even less. The Mississippi State junior kicker expected to be redshirted as a freshman in 2014. But he was thrust into action after a unique situation occurred.
While warming up for the fifth game against Texas A&M that season, regular kicker Devon Bell injured himself. He wasn’t able to go. Coach Dan Mullen asked Cooke, who was dressed out because it was a home game, if he was ready to go. Cooke said he was and his redshirt was burned.
As he looks back on it, it was a good decision.
“I played three sports and both ways on football (in high school), so I don’t like sitting back too much,” Cooke said.
In year three, Cooke is ready to tackle any unique situations that come his way. He’s also ready to take on multiple responsibilities and be a focal point of the Bulldogs’ special teams. MSU plays host to South Alabama 11 a.m. Saturday, Sept. 3 (SEC Network) at Davis Wade Stadium to open the season.
Cooke expects to be the punter and the kicker used on kickoffs. He did both as a freshman, so he feels comfortable with the added workload.
But with more kicking responsibility comes more practice. He said special teams quality control staff member Chris Boniol has given Cooke some rest.
“Through camp, coach Boniol’s been good to me about letting some of the new freshman kickers kick off during scouts,” Cooke said. “I’ve really been resting my legs a lot, which has been good. When I do kick off, I’m feeling so much more energized and my legs are feeling good. I’m pretty excited about doing both.”
Cooke said Boniol has earned Mullen’s trust. Boniol knows everything there is to know about his kickers. So when he sees they are struggling or need a break, he doesn’t hesitate to present the idea to Mullen.
In his two-year career, Cooke is averaging 42.0 yards per punt on 22 punts. Last season he punted the ball 13 times and averaged 42.2 yards per kick. Cooke attempted 54 kickoffs as a freshman and averaged 61.7 yards. He attempted four last year and that nice average dropped to 49.3.
Junior field goal kicker Westin Graves feels like Cooke is up to the challenge of handling both duties.
“Pressure didn’t really seem to bother him,” Graves said. “If he got a new role, he embraced it and kicked butt at it. Any role he gets put at, he’s going to do very good, because he’s proved he can. Any role that he gets given, I feel confident. He’s just an athlete.”
Graves said Cooke has also been his holder in practice. He hopes Cooke is his holder for the season, but that could go to one of the backup quarterbacks.
Graves admitted he didn’t know much about punting. He said he has never punted before, so he’s not an expert. However, he feels like Cooke’s punting has improved.
“I just look up and I like, ‘Dang, that’s a good ball.’ I feel like I do that a lot, so I think he’s doing really good,” Graves said.
Cooke said the biggest thing he learned in the last two seasons was consistency.
“It’s better to be real consistent, 43, 45 yards punts, than hitting a couple of bombs and then hitting some short ones,” Cooke said. “Last year my net was a lot lower than my gross average, which shouldn’t happen. I had too many touchbacks, so that’s what I have to work on, a little short range stuff.”
Cooke is happy with his progress and feels like he will be more consistent this year. He also is comfortable with different places on the field.
Whether it’s at midfield or backed up to his own end zone, he said he knows how to handle the pressure and what punt to use to make it tougher on the opposing offense.
Graves worked every day in the summer, but that wasn’t the case for Cooke. After having a few screws and a plate to fuse his C6 and C7 vertebrae, Cooke was sidelined for June. He got back to work in July.
Although he would have liked to worked on his game in June, he feels like the time away from football will serve him better.
“I think that was good too, get my legs some rest before camp,” Cooke said. “In July I kind of got going full force. I didn’t really kick off a lot until I got to camp. When I did kick off, it didn’t look like I had lost any progress. I hadn’t really gotten to full speed until camp got here.”
The Bulldogs may find another kicker to take the kickoff duty, but if they don’t Cooke will be more than happy to be used often.
After punting and playing wide receiver and defensive back at Columbia Academy, Cooke was glad to play as a freshman.
“I don’t like sitting the bench. I was really glad I got to come here and play my first year and keep that rolling,” Cooke said.
Follow Dispatch sports writer Ben Wait on Twitter @bcwait
Ben Wait reports on Mississippi State University sports for The Dispatch.
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