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Sidelines
Kalani Simpson
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Cox looks for open space in crowded backfield
KEALOHA Pilares is the guy with the great moves. Leon Wright-Jackson is the guy with another gear. David Farmer is Mr. Reliable. Alonzo Chopp is the guy who works at 7-Eleven in the middle of the night (
see Dave Reardon's great story, here).
If you want a storyline, you can find it at Hawaii's running back spot.
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Trying to squeeze that many guys into that position is like trying to fit them into a phone booth. There's only one running back in this offense. And though Nate Ilaoa was arguably June Jones' most successful fullback here -- Colt Brennan is great, but last year Nate made the whole thing go -- this might be the deepest and most competitive the position has been. See the first paragraph, above.
Which brings us to this:
Remember Mario Cox?
HE WAS A highly-touted recruit out of Oakland. He was going to be the Man. This in itself isn't anything noteworthy -- everyone is destined for Manness on signing day. But with Cox it wasn't about his accolades. It was more of a gut feeling. You just knew this guy was physical. He was powerful.
But he's had a few detours, along the way.
"Detours," he says. "Yeeeah ..."
He played as a freshman in 2005, but this can be a tough offense for a true freshman to pick up. He finished the year with 71 yards. There had been a window there, when Ilaoa was in the doghouse for being heavy, but Cox didn't make the leap. He got heavy -- in the spring he was listed at 250 pounds. Last season he redshirted due to academics -- he was eligible, but Jones wanted to see better. He pondered a switch to linebacker.
Now he's back. Back in camp. Back at running back. Back at his prep playing weight, 230.
"Each year everybody's been looking at me to do good and I had a couple setbacks," he says. "This year is my breakout year."
Which is great. Except it's kind of tough timing to have your breakout year at the same time the position is probably more competitive than it's ever been. All these guys ...
"Yeeeah," Cox says, the word coming out slow and smooth. "We got about ... I mean, how many guys we got? Like eight."
Give or take, that sounds about right.
Cox doesn't sound worried.
"I know what I gotta do," he says.
AND WHAT'S THAT? "Be a better blocker," Cox says.
He says, "The coaches already know I can run, but I've just got to be a better blocker."
He sounds like Mike Cavanaugh, as many times as he uses the word "technique." He saw what Ilaoa did, losing the weight. He saw what Ilaoa did on the field.
He says, "I actually learned that there's no such thing as being good enough -- you've got to learn something each year."
We've already pigeonholed all the backs into their particular roles -- this guy's the blocker, these guys can run. Cox sees his role as knowing all of them.
"There's guys we've got for blocking," Cox says. "There's guys we've got for run plays. But if they key on that, there's always got to be a running back who can do both."
If he can do that, the position may be more crowded than we think.