BATON ROUGE — LSU’s football team has a new player this season who may be one of the few people in this city or state not blown away by the Tigers’ 15-0 national championship season last season.
Jabril Cox played outside linebacker last season for North Dakota State, which went 16-0, thank you very much. And its Football Championship Subdivision national championship was its third in a row with Cox in a starring role on all three teams. It was also NDSU’s eighth national championship since 2011.
LSU’s 15-0 record in its Football Bowl Subdivision championship season was great, but the Tigers lost seven games in 2017 and ’18. North Dakota State has not lost since Nov. 4, 2017, and is 37-0 since.
So, LSU has had to make room for Cox and his three national championship rings. He’ll be starting at outside linebacker when the No. 5 Tigers open the 2020 season against Mississippi State on Sept. 26 at home at 2:30 p.m. on CBS.
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New LSU defensive coordinator Bo Pelini knows Cox pretty well. As Youngstown State’s head coach, he lost to the Bison three times in regular seasons — 27-24 in overtime in 2017, 17-7 in 2018, and 56-17 last year. Maybe that’s why he helped recruit him to LSU.
There is a lot Cox could talk about, but he has been as quiet as a North Dakota night.
“I haven’t heard him say a word,” LSU coach Ed Orgeron said. “He’ll say, ‘Hey, coach,’ maybe if I say hello to him. He came out here with a great attitude.”
Cox also brought a 45-1 record as a Bison to LSU along with 14 career sacks, six interceptions, and two interception returns for touchdowns.
“Usually, I’m more of a doer than a sayer,” he said when asked on a recent teleconference why he is so quiet. “I just felt I had to prove myself coming from a smaller school and going into the SEC. There’s going to be a lot of doubters, a lot of people saying, ‘He’s not ready.'”
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Cox (6-foot-4, 231 pounds) stuffed something else in his luggage from Fargo, North Dakota.
“Work ethic,” he said. “Getting better one percent each day. That’s something that I took from NDSU and brought it here.”
Oh, and North Dakota State plays a 4-3 defensive alignment, which Pelini is switching the Tigers to this season.
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Cox is ready.
Orgeron called him “the best player on the field” after the team’s first practice last month. Also on the field that day for LSU was All-American cornerback Derek Stingley Jr., All-SEC safety JaCoby Stevens, and other five-star signees such as wide receivers Terrace Marshall Jr. and Trey Palmer and freshman tight end Arik Gilbert.
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“He’s a complete linebacker,” Orgeron said. “Very smart. He knows the defense. Very fast, and can key and diagnose. He’s a physical tackler. He can shed blockers well. He can rush the passer well. He drops in coverage.”
Cox may be the defensive graduate transfer equivalent to Joe Burrow, and yes, Cox played quarterback at Raytown High in Kansas City, Missouri. He also played wide receiver, cornerback, safety, and linebacker.
“His development was extremely quick,” North Dakota State coach Matt Entz said in a phone interview Thursday night. “He picked up everything as fast as anyone, and I think it was because he was a high school quarterback. And he played with two other linebackers bound for the NFL (Chris Board and Nick DeLuca).”
Cox was a freshman All-American and the Missouri Valley Football Conference freshman of the year in 2017. He led NDSU in tackles with 75 and in tackles for loss with 13, including 4.5 sacks and three fumble recoveries while also playing on virtually every special teams unit.
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But he was quiet then, too.
“Extremely quiet,” Entz said. “Always very confident, just doesn’t talk much.”
Until he flips the switch … at kickoff.
“He becomes a trash talker,” Entz said. “It’s a unique switch. He’ll let you know if he makes a play. He’s always telling the other team how good he was on a play. He’ll tell his teammates, too, about how many plays he’s made. But after the game, he’s a quiet kid.”
There was a lot to talk about in 2018 as he won the conference defensive player of the year award after leading his team with 91 tackles, 9.5 for loss and four sacks with four interceptions and two pick sixes. Last season as a junior Cox made 92 tackles, 9.5 for loss and 5.5 sacks.
“If he hadn’t hurt his shoulder last year, he probably would’ve declared for the NFL,” Entz said.
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“I had him as a late second rounder or early third round for the 2020 draft,” NFL Draft expert Mike Detillier of WWL Radio in New Orleans said. “But he could have raced up the charts quickly with his workouts.”
Instead, LSU caught his eye, especially when three junior linebackers declared for the 2020 draft — K’Lavon Chaisson on the outside and Patrick Queen and Jacob Phillips on the inside.
“Right there off the bat, that was an eye opening thing for me,” Cox said. “That right there is one of the main reasons.”
After Cox signed with LSU, Chaisson and Queen went in the first round and Phillips in the third.
“And also just knowing Bo Pelini and his scheme and the way he coaches was also a reason to come to LSU,” Cox said.
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And without playing a down yet in 2020, Cox has been shooting up the 2021 draft boards as Queen did late last season.
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“I have him going in the first round — 28th on my list,” Detillier said. “He’s a stud player. He’s a complete linebacker who can run the field well. He’s a very intelligent young man, terrific athlete, reads and reacts very quickly to what is breaking down in front of him. He can blitz off the edge, and he does a good job in coverage.”
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Cox remains quiet, though.
“Coming in, I knew there were already leaders on the team,” he said. “So I just wanted to take the backseat and listen to them and just focus on trying to win a starting position. Just working hard and showing people that I can do it, and not always talking so much.”
Had Cox stayed at North Dakota State this season, he would get to play in one game. The Bison play Central Arkansas on Oct. 3 because of a rash of season cancellations throughout the FCS, and that’s it before a proposed spring season.
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“Me coming here was a blessing as a whole,” Cox said. “Opting out was never a decision for me. If I would’ve opted out, I wouldn’t have been able to get better at football. I would’ve been taking the whole year off.”
Orgeron feels blessed, too, as Alabama also offered a scholarship to Cox.
“We feel he’s going to be an immediate impact player. We’ve done a good job with graduate transfers here,” he said in reference to Burrow, who was still considered a mid-round pick at this time last year. “We’ve talked to some NFL people, and they felt Jabril was going to be a No. 1 draft choice if he went out.”
Cox would be just the second North Dakota State player to go in the first round in the program’s history. Quarterback Carson Wentz was the second pick of the first round in 2016 by Philadelphia. There are 11 Bison on current NFL rosters this season.
“If he goes in the first round, I’ll be honest with you,” Entz said. “I’m claiming him. He was built by NDSU.”
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Publish date : 2020-09-18 03:00:00
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