Another Cole Magner Article from Anchorage papers
Posted: Sun Jul 31, 2005 4:20 pm
Sorry, So you don't have to register
NFL: Colony grad is dreaming of the pros
Colony's Cole Magner tries to catch on with Atlanta as free-agent receiver
By KEVIN KLOTT
Anchorage Daily News
Published: July 31st, 2005
Last Modified: July 31st, 2005 at 04:39 AM
He's too small. He's not fast enough. He's too young looking. He's from Alaska. Ah, he'll never make it as a wide receiver in the NFL.
Cole Magner of Palmer has heard it all. Good thing criticism goes through one Atlanta Falcons helmet ear-hole and out the other. Football is Magner's religion and if all goes well at the Falcons training camp in Flowery Branch, Ga., it could be his profession too.
"I'm focused on one thing: making the team," Magner said by phone from his Falcons dorm room in Georgia. "It's going to be tough."
Three months ago, Magner, 22, signed a free-agent contract with Atlanta, the defending NFC South champions. His contract had no guarantees, just a small signing bonus after four solid seasons as a Bowling Green State University wideout.
Now, the 2001 Colony High graduate, who was an all-state quarterback in high school, is determined to take his game to the next level. All Magner needed was an NFL team to give him a chance.
The Falcons may have gambled signing a scrappy 6-foot-1, 198-pounder, Magner said, but it could be a match made in Georgia heaven. Even if he's small and from Alaska.
"People say he's too young, looks like a little kid," Magner's father, Randy, said.
Atlanta finished the regular season 11-5 last year and lost in the NFC Championship game. They have 11 wide receivers on their pre-season roster and five, including Magner, are rookies. Three of the 11 have played two seasons or less.
Magner doesn't know how many wide receivers Atlanta will keep, but regardless, he's liking his chances so far.
"I don't see a reason why I wouldn't (make the team)," he said. "I'm working hard and making clutch catches."
And Magner couldn't ask for a better quarterback.
Michael Vick, one of the most electrifying and athletic players in sports, has been using Magner's curly blond mullet as a target.
When Magner first saw Vick, the day veterans arrived to camp, he was sporting his usual spandex shirt and braiding his cornrows in the team's dressing room. Instinctively, Magner wanted to walk up to the former No. 1 pick and introduce himself.
Rookies just don't do that, though. So Magner kept his seventh-heaven feeling to himself.
"I was really excited, but I didn't want to act like a spaz," he said. "So I thought, 'Man, I'm here, and this is really happening.' "
Later that day, Magner introduced himself to Vick his own way -- catching the southpaw's tightly spiraled bullets. And boy did they feel good.
"It had some zip to it," he said with a laugh. "But it's not too much different from college."
One difference from college is his nickname. Magner's Bowling Green teammates called him the "Alaskan Assassin."
The Falcons have nicknamed him "Sunshine," a moniker that originated in the Walt Disney movie, "Remember the Titans." Kip Pardue played the role of Ronnie "Sunshine" Bass, who had long blond hair and hippie-like personality.
Magner isn't a hippie or into the Atlanta nightlife scene, he said, but having a nickname helps assure him that teammates have accepted the rookie.
"Sunshine is what I'm known as right now," Magner said. "It's a little trademark I suppose."
"He's always had a baby face," Magner's mother, Cynthia, said. "He only grew his hair longer to look older."
But having a long mane surely doesn't help Magner cool down in Georgia's hot afternoon sun.
On Monday, the first day of training camp when Magner caught his first pass from Vick, temperatures reached a humid 96 degrees. While the sun baked a huddled Falcons offense, which included Vick and Pro-Bowl tight end Alge Crumpler, Magner acquired his handle.
As Cynthia Magner tells the story, her son joined the huddle and Vick looked him straight in the eye.
"(Vick) told him, 'Okay Sunshine, the next one is coming to you,' " Cynthia said. "Cole told me, 'Wow mom! He's was talking about me!' "
"I'm just glad they know who I am," Cole Magner said.
Falcons wide receivers coach George Stewart hasn't given Magner much feedback. Stewart is a former wide receivers coach for the San Francisco 49ers, where he coached two future NFL Hall of Famers: Jerry Rice and Terrell Owens.
According to the Falcons' Web site, Stewart was instructing Magner and the rest of their young receivers to deceive cornerbacks and safeties. While running routes, Stewart kept yelling at his players, "Eyeball me, eyeball me."
Later in the week, Magner took those words to heart. He looked DeAngelo Hall in the eye during a route and wanted to earn some respect, according to Randy Magner.
The All-Pro cornerback tangled with Magner and apparently he didn't like how physically the rookie was playing. So Hall took a swing at Magner. The rookie backed off, stood there and watched Hall explode in anger, Randy said.
"Everybody was laughing at him (Hall), Randy said. "So Cole must be doing something right if he's pissing people off right away."
Playing physical was a characteristic that made Magner an asset to Bowling Green and Colony, said Randy, who was his high school coach. Other than having great hands, his ability to block in the secondary allowed the backfield to find more holes and score more touchdowns.
Magner finished his Bowling Green career with a school-record 215 receptions, 2,385 yards and 18 touchdown passes.
Those numbers weren't good enough to get him invited to this year's NFL scouting combine, where top draft prospects perform in front of scouts. That didn't keep Magner from striving to make the pros.
And if you're talking work ethic, Magner is the epitome of a weightlifting, conditioning fiend.
His mom said that wasn't the case in high school.
"If you got him out of bed, you were doing good that day," Cynthia said.
"(But) this isn't high school. The stakes are higher now."
Magner weighed 170 pounds after his senior year at Colony, nearly 30 pounds less than he weighs today. Getting bigger and stronger will only improve his chances of making the Falcons.
Magner said he's flying with the team to Toyko, Japan, this week to play in the American Bowl on Aug. 6 -- an exhibition game against the Indianapolis Colts. He is expecting to play much of the second half.
"It should be fun," he said. "I've never traveled overseas."
Once the Falcons return to Atlanta, they'll have about a month to prepare for their season opener against the Philadelphia Eagles on Monday Night Football at the Georgia Dome. It's a rematch of the 2004 NFC Championship game where the Eagles won 27-10.
Magner should know whether or not he made the team by Aug. 30 at noon. That's when rosters are cut down to a maximum of 65 players.
If Magner doesn't make it, he said he'll be on the practice squad. If he does make it, he'll be working every Sunday trying to help the Falcons earn a trip to the Super Bowl.
When cuts are made, Magner said, a man walks around the locker room and pulls the discarded ones aside to relay the news. Call him the Grim Reaper.
"You don't want to know that guy. Nobody does." Magner said. "It's stressful, but I'm just going to keep plugging away."
Daily News reporter Kevin Klott can be reached at [email protected] or 257-4335.
Wide receivers at Atlanta Falcons camp:
Name experience college
• Brian Bratton R Furman
• Romby Bryant 1 Tulsa
• Brian Finneran 7 Villanova
• Michael Jenkins 2 Ohio State
• Kerry Johnson R Miss.
• Cole Magner R B. Green
• Kendrick Mosley 1 W. Mich.
• Peerless Price 7 Tennessee
• Derrick Tinsley R Tennessee
• Dez White 6 Ga. Tech
• Roddy White R UAB
*R-rookie