Johnie Earl Cooks (born November 23, 1958) is a former professional

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 ...

player who was drafted by the Baltimore Colts as the second overall pick in the

1982 NFL Draft The 1982 NFL draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held April 27–28, 1982, at the New York Sh ...

. A 6'4", .

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

from Mississippi State University, Cooks played in ten NFL seasons from 1982 to 1991 for the Colts, New York Giants, and

Cleveland Browns The Cleveland Browns are a professional American football team based in Cleveland. Named after original coach and co-founder Paul Brown, they compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (A ...

. He was a member of the Giants when they defeated the Buffalo Bills 20–19 in

Super Bowl XXV Super Bowl XXV was an American football game between the American Football Conference (AFC) champion Buffalo Bills and the National Football Conference (NFC) champion New York Giants to decide the National Football League (NFL) champion for the ...

. Cooks was inducted into the Mississippi Sports Hall of Fame in 2004.

College career

Johnie Cooks played college football at

Mississippi State Mississippi State University for Agriculture and Applied Science, commonly known as Mississippi State University (MSU), is a public land-grant research university adjacent to Starkville, Mississippi. It is classified among "R1: Doctoral Univer ...

where he earned four letters, and earned a degree in physical education. During his college career, he amassed 373 tackles, 241 of those unassisted. During his junior year, he recorded a career high 24 tackles in a game against Auburn. He was also the defensive MVP in the 1981 Hall of Fame Bowl. He was named a 1st team SEC and 1st team AP All-American.1992 Cleveland Browns Media Guide

Professional career

Cooks was the second overall draft choice, selected in the first round of the

by the Baltimore Colts. He started only two games in his rookie season, but by the end of the season, he had 63 tackles, one sack, and one fumble recovery. In 1983, he was moved to the outside linebacker position, this time recording 67 tackles that year. He also had a 52-yard fumble return in overtime against the New England Patriots that won the game for Baltimore. After having only 5 quarterback sacks in 1983, Cooks recorded , which led the Colts. His best game occurred against the Raiders, when he sacked the quarterback

Jim Plunkett James William Plunkett (born December 5, 1947) is a former American football quarterback who played in the National Football League (NFL) for sixteen seasons. He achieved his greatest professional success during his final eight seasons with the ...

4 times. In 1988 Cooks was released by the Colts and was picked up by the New York Giants. After playing for years on mediocre Colts teams Cooks won a Super Bowl title when the Giants defeated the Buffalo Bills. He was released by the Giants in 1991 and signed with the

in 1992. Nagging injuries caused Cooks to retire after the 1992 season.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooks, Johnie 1958 births Living people People from Leland, Mississippi Players of American football from Mississippi American football linebackers Mississippi State Bulldogs football players Baltimore Colts players Indianapolis Colts players New York Giants players Cleveland Browns players