Cobbs brings experience, new dimension to Twisters
Posted on Thursday, June 19, 2008
Running back Cedric Cobbs has carried footballs for the Arkansas Razorbacks and the NFL’s New England Patriots and Denver Broncos.
He signed Wednesday to carry them as a fullback for the Arena Football 2 ’s Arkansas Twisters.
“I’ve come to a point in the middle of the road where I have nowhere else to go,” Cobbs said. “I’m just basically sitting and waiting like a duck in a pond. I thought I would take action and make the best of it.
“ The Twisters have a nice organization, and I get to stay home. I think everything will work out great.” Cobbs played high school football for Little Rock Fair and for the Razorbacks from 1999-2003, where he remains the fourth-leading career rusher with 3, 018 yards. He rushed for 1, 308 yards as a senior in 2003, and New England drafted him in the fourth round in 2004.
Cobbs carried 25 times for 59 yards in two NFL seasons with New England and Denver, and he was cut last summer after a week in Denver’s preseason camp.
Arkansas Twisters Coach Chris Siegfried said Cobbs will not travel Saturday for the Twisters’ game with the Tri-Cities Fever in Kennewick, Wash., but he should play when Arkansas hosts the Iowa Barnstormers on June 28.
“We have to pace ourselves with him and get him back into game shape,” Siegfried said. “That should take a couple of weeks.
“ The plan is to play him against Iowa, but I don’t want to commit to that. A lot depends on how quickly we can get him up to game shape. We don’t want to put him out there just because he’s a big-name guy. We have to do what we think is in the best interest of the athlete. We think he’ll be ready.
“ We want him on the field. I wanted him on the field four weeks ago.” Siegfried said it helps that Cobbs is well-known in Arkansas, but that was no more than a bonus.
“That’s a huge factor, but I didn’t factor that in my decision at all,” Siegfried said. “He could’ve been from the University of Iowa or Penn State or Miami. He’s a great player, and he’s here in town and available. That’s all I need, but it does give fans here in town another great reason to come out and see a Twisters game. Now they can be intrigued by Cedric Cobbs.
“ Obviously it’s going to help put fans in the seats.” Fullbacks in Arkansas’ offense have seen few carries, which is typical of AF 2 offenses. Darnell Small set Arkansas records for carries in a game (10 ) and a season (79 ) in 2003. As a team, Arkansas has rushed 89 times through 11 games this season, with fullbacks getting the ball 20 times.
No AF 2 player is averaging more than 37. 2 rushing yards per game this season.
“Your traditional fullback in Arena is pretty much a blocker that every now and then carries the ball,” Siegfried said. “[Cobbs is ] a guy that we can hand the ball to and something special could happen. Teams are definitely going to have to game plan for that, and I don’t know how they’re going to do it.
“ Cedric is a guy who’s going to add a dimension to our team that not too many teams in this league have: the ability to run the ball and have the potential to score on any given play. Does that mean we’ll run the ball 30 times a game ? No, but we will run it more than we have.” “Arena Football is for people who can play football,” Cobbs said. “I’ve played it all my life. I’m actually more of an athlete than I am a running back. I’m sure Coach will make me look good, and I will help the team look good.”
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