Audie Raymond Cole (born June 1, 1989) 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 with ...

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, p ...

. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

NC State North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The university ...

and was drafted by the

Minnesota Vikings The Minnesota Vikings are a professional American football team based in Minneapolis. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the National Football Conference (NFC) North division. Founded in 1960 as an expansion ...

in the seventh round of the

2012 NFL Draft The 2012 NFL draft was the 77th annual meeting of National Football League (NFL) franchises to select newly eligible American football players for their rosters. The draft, which is officially called the "NFL Player Selection Meeting", was held ...

Early years

Cole played as a

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 ...

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to risk management, the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are ...

and

at Monroe High School. He was a three-year starter at quarterback and also played defense as a senior. He threw for 3,285 yards and 23

touchdowns A touchdown (abbreviated as TD) is a scoring play in gridiron football. Whether Rush (gridiron football), running, Forward pass, passing, returning a Kickoff (gridiron football), kickoff or Punt (gridiron football), punt, or recovering a Turno ...

in his career and was named All-league as a senior after rushing for 10 touchdowns and throwing for more than 1,700 yards. Cole also

lettered Calligraphy (from el, link=y, καλλιγραφία) is a visual art related to writing. It is the design and execution of lettering with a pen, ink brush, or other writing instrument. Contemporary calligraphic practice can be defined as "t ...

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball sport played between two teams of nine players each, taking turns batting and fielding. The game occurs over the course of several plays, with each play generally beginning when a player on the fielding tea ...

and

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

at Monroe, and was a Golden Glove winner in

boxing Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermined ...

. Regarded as a two-star recruit, Cole was ranked as a top-30 player out of the state of

Michigan Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...

Rivals.com Rivals.com is a network of websites that focus mainly on college football and basketball recruiting in the United States. The network was started in 1998 and employs more than 300 personnel. History Rivals.com was founded in 1998 by Jim Heckma ...

. He chose

North Carolina State University North Carolina State University (NC State) is a public land-grant research university in Raleigh, North Carolina. Founded in 1887 and part of the University of North Carolina system, it is the largest university in the Carolinas. The universit ...

after originally committing to

Central Michigan Central Michigan, also called Mid Michigan, is a region in the Lower Peninsula of the U.S. state of Michigan. As its name implies, it is the middle area of the Lower Peninsula. Lower Michigan is said to resemble a mitten, and Mid Michigan corre ...

College career

As a freshman at NC State in 2007, Cole

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 ...

the season at

Freshman season (2008)

In 2008, Cole saw action mainly on special teams, and his 213 specialty snaps ranked third on the team. He totalled 14 tackles during his freshman season.

Sophomore season (2009)

As a sophomore in 2009, Cole started all 12 games, leading NC State's in

tackles Tackle may refer to: * In football: ** Tackle (football move), a play in various forms of football ** Tackle (gridiron football position), a position in American football and Canadian football ** Dump tackle, a forceful move in rugby of picking up ...

with 85 stops, finishing second in tackles for loss with eight and also tallying four sacks. He led the team in stops versus

Florida State Florida State University (FSU) is a public university, public research university in Tallahassee, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida. Founded in 1851, it is located on the oldest continuous site of higher e ...

(9) and

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...

(10). He racked up a career-high 13 tackles at

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a Public university, public Land-grant college, land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also ...

. He was recipient of the team's Al Michaels Award, which is given to the player who "puts team before self.

Junior season (2010)

As a junior in 2010, Cole played the

Sam 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, pla ...

spot, but moved to middle linebacker in the spring, leading the defense with 809 snaps from scrimmage. He tied for the team lead in

with 97, while his 10.5 tackles for loss ranked third among Wolfpack players. He tied his career-high with 13 stops in the win at

. In that game, he had a six-yard sack and also recovered a fumble. He led the team in tackles at

Central Florida Central Florida is a region of the U.S. state of Florida. Different sources give different definitions for the region, but as its name implies it is usually said to comprise the central part of the state, including the Tampa Bay area and the Gr ...

with a dozen, including a sack, two others for loss, and also pulled down his first career interception. For his performance, Cole was named the

ACC ACC most often refers to: * Atlantic Coast Conference, an NCAA Division I collegiate athletic conference located in the US *American College of Cardiology, A US-based nonprofit medical association that bestows credentials upon cardiovascular spec ...

Defensive Back of the Week by the league and the ACC Player of the Week by ''

''.

Senior season (2011)

In the spring drills, Cole moved to

middle 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, ...

for his senior season.

Professional career

Minnesota Vikings

Cole intercepted 2 passes, on consecutive plays, in the Vikings second preseason game against the Buffalo Bills returning both for touchdowns on August 17, 2012. On November 7, 2013 Cole was waived by the Vikings to make room for OT Kevin Murphy who was signed out of the practice squad due to injuries on the team. On November 9, 2013, Minnesota Vikings re-signed Audie Cole. In Week 13, he was named starting MLB, in place of

Erin Henderson Erin Henderson (born July 1, 1986) is a former American football inside linebacker that played nine seasons in National Football League (NFL). He is currently an assistant linebackers coach at Avila University. He was signed by the Minnesota Viki ...

. In Week 9 on November 8, 2015, Cole started his first game of the season in place of injured

Eric Kendricks Eric-Nathan Marvin Kendricks (born February 29, 1992) is an American football middle linebacker for the Minnesota Vikings of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the UCLA Bruins. As a senior in 2014, he won the But ...

against the

St. Louis Rams The St. Louis Rams were a professional American football team of the National Football League (NFL). They played in St. Louis from 1995 to the 2015 season, before moving back to Los Angeles, where the team had played from 1946 to 1994. The arri ...

. Unfortunately, Cole suffered a fractured ankle in the fourth quarter against the Rams, ending his season.

Jacksonville Jaguars

On March 11, 2017, Cole signed with the

Jacksonville Jaguars The Jacksonville Jaguars are a professional American football team based in Jacksonville, Florida. The Jaguars compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the American Football Conference (AFC) South division. The team play ...

. He was released on August 26, 2017.

New Orleans Saints

On August 28, 2017, Cole signed with the

New Orleans Saints The New Orleans Saints are a professional American football team based in New Orleans. The Saints compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. Since 1975, the te ...

. He was released on September 1, 2017.

Personal life

Cole cut his trademark long hair during the 2013 off season and donated to a charity program benefitting youth fighting cancer (Children With Hair Loss) in

. He took part in 2013 Minnesota Governor's Fishing Opener weekend activities in

Park Rapids, Minnesota Park Rapids is a city in the Heartland Lakes region and is the county seat of Hubbard County, Minnesota, United States. It is near Itasca State Park, the source of the Mississippi River, as well as the beginning of the Heartland State Trail. The ...

, helping youth get involved in outdoor activities and helping promote outdoors programs through

Minnesota Department of Natural Resources The Minnesota Department of Natural Resources, or Minnesota DNR, is the agency of the U.S. state of Minnesota charged with conserving and managing the state's natural resources. The agency maintains areas such as state parks, state forests, recre ...

. He graduated in 2011 with a parks, recreation and tourism degree.

References

External links

Minnesota Vikings profile

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cole, Audie 1989 births Living people People from Monroe, Michigan Sportspeople from Ypsilanti, Michigan Players of American football from Michigan American football linebackers NC State Wolfpack football players Minnesota Vikings players Jacksonville Jaguars players New Orleans Saints players