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Cook gets the starting nod as the team's third choice in a
National Football League wild card clash with the Texans (9-7)
in Houston on Saturday, following the absence through injury of
Derek Carr and Matt McGloin.
Most valuable player (MVP) candidate Carr broke his leg two
weeks ago while journeyman replacement McGloin injured his
non-throwing shoulder last week.
While Cook is untested in the cauldron of the NFL, he is known
for his strong throwing arm and his former coach at Michigan
State, Mark Dantonio, predicts that he will comfortably handle
the pressures of making his first league start in the playoffs.
"Connor has got a huge upside," Spartans coach Dantonio told NFL
Network. "He's played on a big stage. He was the Rose Bowl MVP
when he was a sophomore. He was the MVP in the Big 10
Championship Game, just things of that nature.
"He's been in the spotlight. I know it's an elevated level of
play and it's all relative, but he's played on a big stage and
he's had a lot of anxiety, big-game jitters, and things like
that, and he's played very well in those games. That's going to
serve him as well as anything as he takes this opportunity."
With his powerful arm at the ready, Cook has plenty of options
with the biggest offensive line in the league at his disposal,
and could throw to 1,000-yard receivers Amari Cooper and Michael
Crabtree or hand off to dangerous running backs such as Latavius
Murray and rookie DeAndre Washington.
"He prepares very well," Dantonio said of Cook. "He was very
particular in terms of everything (at college level). He wanted
to be right. Good at overcoming mistakes, that's as big as
anything.
"He threw an interception and bounced back from that, and
continued to play on through it. I don't think he's going to be
intimidated by the scope of the game. That hasn't been a problem
for him when he was here. I expect him to play very well."
(Reporting by Mark Lamport-Stokes in St. Augustine, Florida;
Editing by Andrew Both)
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