Recognition:Cobbs big nite gets UNT ntl. exposure

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Recognition

Cobb's big night gets UNT national exposure

11:07 PM CDT on Saturday, August 12, 2006

By Brett Vito / Staff Writer

North Texas running back Jamario Thomas received a call from one of his friends back in Longview, followed by another from his girlfriend on Friday night.

Both wanted Thomas to turn on the television and join in watching Patrick Cobbs’ coming out party in the New England Patriots’ preseason game against the Atlanta Falcons.

The former UNT running back caught a short pass and raced through the Falcons secondary for a 57-yard touchdown to highlight a night in which he caught three passes for 80 yards, rushed for 25 yards on five carries and also played on special teams.

It was Cobbs’ first game with the Patriots after signing with the team as a rookie free agent.

By the end of the game, word of Cobbs’ exploits had spread and several of UNT’s players, coaches, administrators and fans were watching Cobbs do in the pros what he did for the Mean Green in college.

“I haven’t gotten to see it yet,” Thomas said of Cobbs touchdown catch and run. “I am looking forward to it. My cell phone started ringing right after it happened.”

Cobbs’ big night, the boost the UNT football program received from it and the example the former national rushing champion set during his time with the Mean Green was the big topic of conversation on Saturday when the Mean Green opened their first session of two-a-day workouts.

Cobbs played four full seasons at UNT before leaving the school in 2005 as its all-time leading rusher with 4,050 yards. His best collegiate season came in 2003 when he won the national rushing title with an average of 152.7 yards a game. He took a medical redshirt season in 2004 with a knee injury and came back to rush for 1,154 yards as a senior last season.

Cobbs was overlooked in the draft, but was invited to a mini camp with the Patriots and earned an invitation to training camp.

A solid performance in the preseason could help Cobbs overcome long odds to make the Patriots roster or that of another NFL team as an undrafted free agent. The Patriots have five running backs on their roster, including veterans Corey Dillon and Kevin Faulk and Laurence Maroney, the 21st overall pick in the 2006 draft.

Cobbs fit right in with those players in his first preseason game and gave the Mean Green some free publicity in the process. Cobbs and his background at UNT were discussed at length on the television broadcast.

“Those are things that help our program,” UNT coach Darrell Dickey said. “I think they said the words North Texas about 12-15 times in the second half. There are kids out there wanting to be recruited watching those games. It used to be that we would watch those games and we didn’t have anyone playing. … [Cobbs] did a very good job and more importantly helped give himself a legitimate opportunity to make their team.”

Cobbs also played on special teams for the Patriots, which Dickey said will increase his chances of making the team. Even when he was at UNT, Cobbs returned kicks and played on the punt block team.

“He scored and came right back and played on the kickoff team,” UNT linebacker Phillip Graves said. “That emphasizes how important special teams are. … When the young players see a guy like Patrick running down there on special teams in the NFL, his actions speak louder than words.”

Dickey spoke to his team about Cobbs and what he did for the Mean Green after Saturday morning’s practice.

“I pointed some things out to the players: No. 1 Patrick didn’t miss practice, didn’t miss lifting weights, graduated in four in a half years with two degrees with over a 3.0 GPA, was a national rushing champion, bounced back from a very serious injury to have a great senior year, was an outstanding leader and played on every special team we asked him to,” Dickey said. “He’s an example for every kid out here.”

Davenport out with MCL injury

Ryan Davenport missed practice on Saturday with what UNT’s training staff has determined as an injury to the medial collateral ligament in his knee. The severity of the injury and how long Davenport will be out have yet to be determined. Davenport suffered the injury in a one-on-one tackling drill on Friday.

Briefly …

Junior college transfer Brian Carlson has made a move to tackle for the foreseeable future after working at both tackle and tight end early on in practice. Dickey said Carlson made the move because of a lack of depth at tackle and an abundance of players at tight end. … Freshman tight end Victor Gill of Argyle caught touchdown passes during drills in both the morning and afternoon practice sessions. Dickey said he has been impressed with Gill so far in practice.