Saturday, February 14, 2009

Former Gryphon Cobb inks with Arizona


Travis Cobb, who made more of a splash on the baseball field than on the gridiron when he was a student at Rocky Mount High School, has surfaced as one of the country's best junior college return men and has been signed to a letter of intent to play football at the University of Arizona.

The 6-foot, 180-pounder as a player at Blinn Community College near College Station, Tx. helped lead Blinn to a 9-3 record last fall.

Projected as kick returner and wide receiver by the Wildcats' staff, Cobb, who starred on Coach Pat Smith's baseball team in his third season at RMHS, had 36 catches for 508 yards and four touchdowns in 2008.

Cobb originally gave a verbal commitment to Utah before switching to the Wildcats.

He earned first-team All-Southwest Junior College Football Conference honors as a return specialist. He averaged 34 yards per kick return, with a 95-yarder for a touchdown.

Cobb's breakout game as a receiver was in the SJCFC championship game where he had five catches for 162 yards and three touchdowns in a 49-24 upset victory over then-No. 1 Navarro JUCO.

He was one of 15 Blinn players to sign with a D-I school. Eighteen players overall signed with a four-year college team.

He was coached by Brad Franchione, son of former Texas A&M head coach Dennis Franchione.

Arizona went 8-5 under fifth-year head coach Mike Stoops last fall and closed out the season with a 31-21 win over Brigham Young in the Las Vegas Bowl in Dec.