Millions of young boys dream of professional football glory, but the numbers bear the harsh reality: There are only 32 NFL teams with 53-man rosters. That limits the number of active players at any time to 1,696. That may seem like a lot until you compare it to the roughly 40 million American males in their 20s and 30s. That’s about 0.004 percent of the eligible population playing in the NFL.
So those stark statistics make the accomplishment of Marion County’s Logan Cooke even more remarkable. The Jacksonville Jaguars selected the Mississippi State punter in the seventh round of the draft Saturday, and then cut their punter for the past two seasons, Brad Nortman, on Monday, clearing the way for the 22-year-old rookie to handle the duties in the coming season.
The Columbia Academy product is the first punter from Mississippi State to be drafted, according to the university, and he tweeted following his selection, “Extremely excited to join such a great program.” The Jaguars are an up-and-coming team that went 10-6 last year, won the AFC South and fell just short of the Super Bowl during head coach Doug Marrone’s first full season.
To join that kind of organization is the culmination of years of perserverance. Cooke noted in an interview shortly after being drafted that schools don’t go looking for punters and kickers like they do quarterbacks and wide receivers. He thanked his family for helping him along the way by taking him to camps to get noticed.
“It was a lot of time and money spent in traveling. I’m forever thankful for all that. It’s unbelievable,” he said.
Cooke will represent this community well on the national stage, and we know many in Marion County will be rooting him on whenever he plays. Congratulations to him and his family on enjoying the fruits of a lot of hard work.
— Charlie Smith
