It's Captain Cook, With the Uniform Markings to Prove It
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Alex Cook is like a 5-star general these days. All you have to do is look at his University of Washington football uniform to know where he stands in the college game.
On the front of his purple shirt is a large letter "C," to signify that he's one of six team captains. This is new from previous coaching regimes.
Captain Cook.
There have been historical explorers, hotels and restaurant bars named this, even before Alex assumed the title. The name, image and likeness possibilities, if he was so inclined, seemingly could be endless.
Across the back of his Husky uniform, above his name and his No. 5, is a patch that doubles as a resume. It tells you that Cook, a sixth-year senior, already is a college graduate, that he might be smarter than you.
If anything, the starting safety could distract Saturday night's Husky Stadium opponent, the equally academic-minded Stanford Cardinal, as those visiting players try to read up on all of Cook's impressive Montlake classroom accomplishments.
Cook is one reason the Huskies are 3-0 entering this game. His team has shown no falloff even after losing a pair of secondary starters early on to injuries in senior cornerback Jordan Perryman and fellow safety Asa Turner, a junior. Cook won't permit anyone to make excuses.
"The DBs, we know, we know, whoever comes in has to uphold the standard, and the standard has been set years ago, from the Budda Bakers and the Taylor Rapps," Cook said. "They set the standard and we know it. We know the blueprint. Whoever steps on the field has to uphold that standard and there's no deviation from that."
In this case, junior Julius Irvin started the past two Husky games at cornerback, a new position for him this season after he began as a safety, and sophomore Kamren Fabiculanan, who moved from the Husky hybrid position to Turner's safety spot.
The year before, Irvin and Fabiculanan were the Huskies' starting safeties to open the season only to get replaced as the team was saddled with a pair of ugly defeats and everything in the program quickly got out of hand. They're rejuvenated and productive players again.
Cook, motivated by new coach Kalen DeBoer, is one of the reasons the UW has flourished early. He's taken it upon himself to be a leader when leadership clearly was a drawback for last year's team. With so many veteran players injured, no one was sure who should step up and speak out.
This is not an issue now. Before each game, you will see Cook in the end zone, surrounded by all of his teammates, exhorting them on in animated fashion. He's one of the guys with a W on his helmet and a C on his game jersey.
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