GREEN BAY – The remarkable odds-defying run was over.
As Jack Coco removed his pads one final time after Georgia Tech’s season-ending loss to eventual national champion Georgia last November, the former walk-on had a sea of family and friends, including his 93-year-old grandfather, waiting to celebrate an improbable five-year college career.
Inside the visiting room at Bobby Dodd Stadium, however, a line of grateful Yellowjackets had already beaten the Cocos to it.
“We were waiting outside, and like 80 players came up to him and thanked him for everything,” said Ed Coco, Jack’s father. “Because he was an inspiration to everybody.”
Or, as Georgia Tech head strength and conditioning coach Lewis Caralla later put it: “Jack Coco might be the best story I’ve ever heard.”
For the past 15 years, Coco has had to punch his ticket every day he’s stepped foot on a football field. As an undersized offensive lineman and long snapper out of Johns Creek (Ga.) High School, Coco put out feeler after feeler to Division I FBS and FCS colleges in hopes of playing at the next level.
For a while, there were no takers – not until Georgia Tech made Coco one of its last preferred walk-ons in 2017. A scout-team offensive lineman his first three years, Coco also served as the “short” snapper on field goals and extra points.
By his redshirt junior year, Coco dropped weight and transitioned to a tight end. He remained a walk-on until his final year at Georgia Tech – and the surprise scholarship announcement quickly became one of the Yellowjackets’ biggest 2021 highlights.
It seemed like that would be as far as this train traveled. Jack was already receiving calls about possible “real world” job opportunities in the Atlanta area. As excited as he was about those prospects, Jack couldn’t help but think “what if.”
“Jack basically said, ‘Dad, I’m not done yet with football,'” Ed recalled.
Jack Coco is the 1% – maybe not in terms of size or Relative Athletic Scores, but in all the areas you can’t track on a clipboard or time on a stopwatch. Since Day 1, he’s been willing to work one more hour and take one extra rep to finish the job.
Because no matter how many times Coco has narrowly slid his foot in the door, he’s self-aware enough to appreciate how precarious the life of a walk-on can be.
Maybe that’s why he felt at ease during the Packers’ final cuts last Tuesday. Coco was nervous, but the long wait to find out if he’d made the Packers’ 53-man roster also felt familiar.
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