Brandon Cox (born October 31, 1983) is a former

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Ame ...

, who played collegiately for Auburn University. As Auburn's starting

from 2005 to 2007 he guided the Tigers to a 29–9 record and was a member of the winningest senior class in Auburn history, winning 50 games during their time on the Plains. Cox attended

Hewitt-Trussville High School Hewitt-Trussville High School (HTHS) is a four-year public high school in the city of Trussville, Alabama. It is the only high school in Trussville City Schools and is named for the early local educator Robert Hewitt. School colors are red and gra ...

, the same school as

Jay Barker Jay Barker (born Harry Jerome Barker on July 20, 1972) is a retired professional American football quarterback. He is currently a Birmingham radio personality. Football career Barker attended Hewitt-Trussville High School in Trussville, Alab ...

, former quarterback for rival

Alabama (We dare defend our rights) , anthem = "Alabama" , image_map = Alabama in United States.svg , seat = Montgomery , LargestCity = Huntsville , LargestCounty = Baldwin County , LargestMetro = Greater Birmingham , area_total_km2 = 135,765 ...

. He was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis in his 10th grade year in high school, but fought the disease and continued to play football. Cox, a left-hander, was recruited to Auburn in 2003 but

redshirted Redshirt, in United States college athletics, is a delay or suspension of an athlete's participation in order to lengthen their period of eligibility. Typically, a student's athletic eligibility in a given sport is four seasons, aligning with the ...

his freshman year. After serving one season as backup, Cox stumbled to begin the 2005 season before leading the Tigers to a 9–3 finish. He returned his junior year in 2006 to lead Auburn to an 11–2 finish, including a victory over

Nebraska Nebraska () is a state in the Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by South Dakota to the north; Iowa to the east and Missouri to the southeast, both across the Missouri River; Kansas to the south; Colorado to the sout ...

in the

2007 Cotton Bowl Classic The 2007 AT&T Cotton Bowl Classic was a college football bowl game played on January 1, 2007, at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, USA. The Cotton Bowl Classic was part of the 2007 NCAA Division I FBS football season and one of 32 games in t ...

. Cox began the season as the starter for the third season for the Tigers in 2007. Prior to the season, Cox was one of 35 quarterbacks named to the 2007

Manning Award The Manning Award has been presented annually since the 2004 football season to the collegiate American football quarterback as judged by the Sugar Bowl Committee to be the best in the United States. It is the only quarterback award that incl ...

Watch List. For much of the 2007 season, Cox struggled to find consistency behind an offensive line starting three freshmen. He was briefly benched in favor of true freshman quarterback

Kodi Burns Kodi Burns (born December 24, 1988) is an American football coach who is the wide receivers coach for the New Orleans Saints of the National Football League (NFL). He was previously the wide receivers coach at the University of Tennessee and A ...

during the Mississippi State game. Cox rebounded from being benched to lead Auburn to victories over undefeated Florida, Arkansas and Alabama. In winning the 2007

Iron Bowl The Alabama–Auburn football rivalry, better known as the Iron Bowl, is an American college football rivalry game between the Auburn University Tigers and University of Alabama Crimson Tide, both charter members of the Southeastern Conferen ...

over Alabama, 17–10, the team set a school record with six consecutive wins over its rival. Cox became only the second Auburn quarterback to be 3–0 against Alabama, with his predecessor,

Jason Campbell Jason S. Campbell (born December 31, 1981) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the first round of the 2005 NFL Draft. He played college footbal ...

, being the other quarterback to record this feat. Cox's last win came in the

2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl The 2007 Chick-fil-A Bowl was college football bowl game between the Clemson Tigers and the Auburn Tigers played in Atlanta, Georgia on December 31, 2007. With sponsorship from Chick-fil-A, it was the 40th edition of the game known throughout mos ...

when he led Auburn past Clemson, 23–20 (OT). Cox completed a career-high 25 passes, but it was Burns who ended the game with a touchdown run in overtime. Cox finished the regular season of his senior year with a 117.58

passer rating Passer rating (also known as passing efficiency in college football) is a measure of the performance of passers, primarily quarterbacks, in gridiron football. There are two formulas currently in use: one used by both the National Football Leag ...

. As of the 2007 Iron Bowl, Cox had 6,748 career passing yards, a 59.12% completion percentage (525/888), 42 touchdowns on 31 interceptions for a career NCAA passer rating of 131.58. After leaving Auburn with a business administration degree, Cox became an account manager for Ready Mix USA. He later worked in the construction industry, serving as commercial leasing associate for Daniel Corporation and later the Director of Business Development for Hoar Construction.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Cox, Brandon 1983 births Living people American football quarterbacks Auburn Tigers football players People from Trussville, Alabama Players of American football from Alabama