football
MIKE MARINO
Mel Cook: actions speak louder than words
Besides being one of the best
football players in the Pac-8, Mel
Cook is honest.
Voted the outstanding defen
sive player of the game last Satur
day against Stanford, Cook would
trade all the accolades for a win.
“It's nice to have the big plays
and be nominated as I was," Cook
said. "But our purpose is to please
the coaches. When you do, it
makes life worthwhile."
With the play Cook has shown
thus far this season, it's no doubt
that he s making his coaches lives
worthwhile, too
"Mel has just played outstand
ingly this year, said Defensive
Coordinator Howard Tippett.
He s consistently been the best
player we ve had on defense this
season
Certainly it showed against
Stanford. Cook spent the entire af
ternoon in the Cardinal backfield,
continually harassing the much
feared Guy Benjamin. He s a
great mtimidator with his reputa
tion. Cook said But we put the
heal on him all day long
Cook himself is quite an m
timidator At 6-4, 210, he regis
tered 11 unassisted tackles in
earning Chevrolet s nomination
as Saturday s defensive star He
was picked as the player of the
game. Tippett said, but the
should have been the player of the
week m the Pac-8. If anybody did
more than he did last week, I don t
know who Of course it didn't help
that we lost
And it s just that, the losing that
has Cook trying harder Were
1-3 now and people say that
we ve improved so much over last
year Cook pointed out Sure
we ve gotten better, but there s no
way lm happy with 1-3.
Last year we were 3-1, but I
feel 100% better at this year I see
no way that we re going to have a
losing season—we just have to
get it together
As a senior. Cook is undoub
tedly one of the leaders of this
new day And the leadership,
which is something Rich Brooks
and his staff are counting on,
comes both on and off the field
The younger kids will look at the
films Monday morning and see
what Mel has done. Tippett said
It II be a pointer for what they
have to shoot for.
What the younger players saw
last week few could ever hope to
imitate. When problems de
veloped on defense. Cook was
told by coach Andy Christoff that
Ken Page, shown here breaking the Luv*\o unmaiw nuuuw against aiarrrora, is one or the
football in 1977. So far Page has caught touchdown bombs of 60 and 70 yards.
people are more optimistic about Oregon
he might be played at the other
linebacker spot. "It was different,
but it was the same position I
played last year, Cook confes
sed But the first thing I thought
about was that Stanford would be
stunting alot on my side, so it
would give more changes to get at
the quarterback.
Get at him he did, but thegame s
end result had Cook anything but
pleased. Giving up 475 yards in
total offense was way too much.
Cook said If we re gonna do
something we re gonna have to
cut that down to 250 or less
But the real result is what s on
the scoreboard. Weve given up
27 points, then 24. then 22, and
then 20. It II just have to keep com
ing down
There s been alot of talk, espe
cially last weekend, of all the star
Oregon high school athletes that
have gotten away After all. it was
an interception by Larry Reynolds
of Corvallis and a touchdown run
by Phil Francis of Beaverton - not
to mention several key catches by
Bill Kellar of Hillsboro - that even
tually did in the Ducks.
But Mel Cook, now he s another
story He s one that didn t get
away. Actually, Oregon was my
last choice," said the 74 grad of
Aloha "I played basketball,
though and I couldn t get the
chance to take all my recruiting
trips back East. So it came down
to Oregon, because it was here,
and Hawaii, for the prestige.
' But when I went to Hawaii, the
coach quit and they had a big
gambling scandal, so that left
Oregon."
Which is a decision that Cook
says he doesn t regret, despite all
the years of hardship The fans
in Oregon have to be the best in
the conference—even better than
USC or UCLA, he said flatly.
They stand behind the team bet
ter than any fans I ve seen. We ve
had some real bad years, but they
keep commgg back, and now
they re filling the stadium."
Filling Autzen despite a record
of 1-3 We re going to have a
winning season—my goal is to be
7-4 or 6-5 at the least," Cooks
predicted People say that we
don t have the talent, but that's a
bunch of crap. We have the talent,
it's just that some people don t
think it's fun to win as it is just to
improve.
Against Wisconsin, their of
fense knew they had to march 80
yards and score to win the game,
he continued "They knew they
had to score, but our defense
didn t have a total feeling—we
didn t have the feeling we had to
stop them We had the players
and the formations, but we didn t
have the desire. That s what we
have to improve
Cook insists that he doesn t say
much to the other players about it,
but rather he lets his actions on
the field talk for him And so far,
he s said a season-full But with
Oregon at 1-3, Mel Cook will be
saying alot more as the season
progresses.
There are people who say
we re 1-3 and that s o k. Those are
the people that I want to prove
something to.
And coming from a player-of
the-week, you get the idea that he
means it.
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