Coker bowing out in big role for Tide
phoenix» Jake Coker watched his last national championship game from the sidelines on crutches, and he wouldn’t have played anyway.
Then the quarterback transferred to Alabama from Florida State and found himself a spectator for another contender. Another lost position battle, with the clock ticking on his college career.
That is Coker’s back story, an improbable journey to the brink of college football’s pinnacle: a national championship.
This time he is Alabama’s starting QB and a team captain heading into Monday night’s title game against top-ranked Clemson and Heisman Trophy finalist Deshaun Watson.
“It’s made me appreciate this year way more than most guys appreciate it,” Coker said Saturday.
It’s something he grew up dreaming of in his backyard in Mobile, Ala., leading his boyhood team to a national title. Even for a one-year starter, it would mean a sacred spot in Alabama lore.
The Crimson Tide arrived at this point in no small part because of Coker’s season-long evolution. He has gone from a bit of a gunslinger throwing too many interceptions to more of the Alabama QB prototype with a pristine, playmaking turn in the semifinal rout of Michigan State in the Cotton Bowl.
Switch his jersey number to 10 from 14, and it could easily have been fellow St. Paul’s Episcopal School product AJ McCarron, who led the Crimson Tide to national championships in 2011 and 2012.
When Michigan State loaded up to stop Heisman Trophy-winning tailback Derrick Henry, Coker delivered his best game. He was 25-of-30 passing for a career-high 286 yards and two touchdowns. Afterward, Henry gave the ultimate compliment on Twitter to a player who has been ostensibly the guy behind the guy to two Heisman winners: “#JakeCoker4Heisman!”
Coker had lost out to Jameis Winston — an eventual No. 1 NFL draft pick — at Florida State. Hardly a knock on his own ability.
He was still recovering from a knee injury when Florida State beat Auburn in the 2013 national championship game.
Ask him about that experience now, and Coker mentions the similarities of those Seminoles and this Alabama team. He mostly skirts any frustrations or concerns about his career he might have been feeling, quickly turning the personal back to the collective. But there is no question he is happy with where his college career is ending.
“Five years ago, I never thought I’d be in the position I’m in now,” Coker said. “It’s pretty special, and looking at it now there’s no place I’d rather end up.
“It makes things a little easier. Things that used to be a big deal aren’t as big. I’m just having the time of my life right now playing for Alabama.”
Along the way, the 6foot-5, 232-pound Coker became respected enough that his teammates voted him one of the Tide’s permanent captains, along with Henry, center Ryan Kelly and linebacker Reggie Ragland.