Cockrell Runs To Super Bowl Title

For five consecutive months, Ross Cockrell's alarm clock went off at 3:30 in the morning so he could be at the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' practice facility within an hour, ready to work.

Hours before others were up on their feet, and before Tampa Bay head coach Bruce Arians was even on site, Cockrell was in defensive coordinator Todd Bowles' office learning the secondary. It started as an everyday occurrence, but as the season went on, Cockrell's early morning routine became a Wednesday through Friday ritual.

And on the first Sunday of February, Cockrell and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers were crowned Super Bowl champions following their 31-9 victory over Kansas City.

The cornerback's journey to the Buccaneers was anything but linear, and anything but smooth sailing, but as Cockrell says, "you're either going to run from it or run to it." And time and time again, Cockrell runs to it despite looming setbacks.

While in high school, Cockrell committed to Duke in 2009 as part of head coach David Cutcliffe's first full recruiting class. But during his last game of his senior year, Cockrell suffered a torn ACL in his left knee.

"I took a year just to rehab really, get stronger, get bigger in the weight room" said Cockrell about his first year at Duke. "It actually allowed me to really kind of grow and develop and get adjusted to life on campus without actually having the pressure of playing on Saturday."

But as soon as Cockrell began suiting up in his Blue Devil No. 6 jersey, his impact was felt off the field as much as it was in the back field.

Cockrell was voted by his teammates to be a team captain his last two years at Duke -- an honor most players don't even get to do once. And because of that, the nickname 'Captain Cockrell' was born.

"The reason Ross had his teammates vote him captain was their respect and confidence in him," said Cutcliffe. "Ross' work circumstance absolutely never changed and so the amount of respect they had for him happened early. I wouldn't have been surprised if he would have been named a three-time captain. He's a special leader."

Dave Harding, Cockrell's teammate, classmate, and eventual roommate at Duke, remembers Cockrell's pregame speeches in the locker room more than anything, especially before Duke's ACC Championship tilt against Florida State during their final season together.

"A lot of people were nervous in there and there was a lot of tension. And he's got this big smile - that smile kind of ear to ear and this calm demeanor and smooth delivery of what he's saying in the midst of so much going on" said Harding.

After his career at Duke, Cockrell was drafted by the Buffalo Bills in the fourth round of the 2014 NFL Draft, and began his career as an "NFL journeyman," as Harding described it.

The cornerback spent one season with the Bills (2014), two with the Pittsburgh Steelers (2015-16), and one with the New York Giants (2017) before he made his way back home to the Carolina Panthers.

Cockrell's signing with the Panthers was a homecoming for him after graduating from Duke. He attended high school just 25 minutes across town at Charlotte Latin School. But the return to North Carolina was anything but idyllic.

During a training camp practice in July of 2018, Cockrell went down with an injury so bad that reporters could hear it from the sidelines.

Cockrell snapped his left ankle, fracturing both the tibia and fibula, requiring surgery and ending the prospect of a 2018 season.

"After I broke my leg at Carolina, it just was being able to do the little things again, like learning how to walk, learning how to just trust my body again, and just learning some of the little things that I kind of took for granted before," said Cockrell. "And then just taking it one step at a time and getting back on the football field."

Even the feel of the grass was something that Cockrell learned to re-appreciate. Ever since his second professional season, Cockrell would walk around stadiums barefoot before a game to feel the surface that he would soon be competing on, especially when he was playing on the road. For Cockrell, feeling the grass (or turf) helped him settle into his surroundings and calm his nerves.

And in his first game back in 2019, Cockrell walked Soldier Field before the Panthers' preseason matchup against the Bears, barefoot.

Cockrell played one season with Carolina before he became a free agent in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. He was ready to sign with the Giants again, but the deal fell through. And just weeks before the 2020 NFL season was set to kickoff, Cockrell was left without a contract.

But three weeks into the season, Tampa Bay signed the veteran to the practice squad. And then a couple of weeks later, the Bucs brought him onto the active roster.

"Coming to Tampa -- that was just a God thing," said Cockrell. "I can't even really explain it. I wasn't really thinking about going to Tampa, but I got the call here and I just knew this was the right place."

In a press conference leading up to the Super Bowl, Bruce Arians said that Ross Cockrell was "one of the best pickups we've had the entire season."

The seven-year veteran is still getting used to being called "Champ" around town but says it's a good feeling to get used to. And as for his former coach, there was some dancing and reminiscing after the game.

"I thought about when I went and visited Ross after his surgery in the hospital when he was a senior. I thought about him as a freshman. I thought about him lining up against Julio Jones as a redshirt freshman out here in Wallace Wade Stadium. I hear his echo still around here saying 'you either run to it or you run from it, and we're going to run to it,'" said Cutcliffe on his reaction to Tampa Bay's Super Bowl victory. "All of that culminated with a Super Bowl Championship, and how sweet it is to be able to be a coach and see people that have come through your program and be that successful."

Cockrell's NFL journey will continue this off-season as he becomes a free agent, ready to run towards whatever comes his way.

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Cockrell Runs To Super Bowl Title

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