As David Cobb was packing up the items in his campus apartment earlier this month, he came across something that he felt compelled to share on social media.
It was a note from his mother, Nina, which she wrote to him and put on his dorm room wall when he first arrived on the University of Minnesota campus as a freshman from Kileen, Tex. In the note, Nina Cobb warned her son of the perils of drinking, drugs, and texting and driving. It was her way of making sure her 18-year-old son was staying in line, even though they were many states apart.
The letter starts off by Nina saying: "We have been waiting a long time to watch you grow into the young man that you are." Cobb's mother closed the letter by telling him: "We can't wait to see GREAT things that you will do over the next couple of years."
Four years after that letter was written, Cobb has indeed transformed from an 18-year-old teenager to a man. And he certainly has done great things for the Gophers football team in the last few years, too -- great enough that he very well may have a professional future in football after he plays his final game with Minnesota on Jan. 1 against Missouri in the Citrus Bowl.
At the time that his mother wrote him that letter, Cobb may not have fully grasped everything that was said. With the benefit of hindsight, he now has a better appreciation for it.
"When you're 18, you think you know it all," Cobb said. "You want your mom to get out of your room and you don't want your roommates to see your mom babying you. When I cleaned my room the other day, I was reading the note. She's been there for me since Day 1. She calls me every day, still asks me (if) I need food and stuff like that and treats me like her baby. It's been great having that family support. The years have gone by so fast."
The Gophers are wishing Cobb's career wasn't coming to an end, but they're glad it's worked out the way it has. After two years in which the 5-foot-11 running back had just 11 total carries, there were questions as to whether Cobb would ever be a contributor on Minnesota's offense. His sophomore year resulted in just one carry for eight yards. He was buried on the depth chart, third on the list of running backs.
Due to some good fortune (and hard work) of his own and at the expense of a few of his teammates, Cobb eventually ascended the depth chart to find himself in a starting role -- one he hasn't let go of since. The result has been a pair of 1,200-yard seasons as a junior and senior. Cobb saved the best for last, too. During his impressive senior campaign, he's totaled 1,545 rushing yards, which set a new single-season Gophers record. Though Cobb has been overshadowed in the Big Ten by other running backs like Wisconsin's Melvin Gordon and Nebraska's Ameer Abdullah, he has been the steady hand on Minnesota's offense.
The Gophers hope Cobb has one big game left in the tank. They'll need him against a stout Missouri defense thank ranks 30th nationally in rushing yards allowed per game (136.0). But every time Minnesota has needed Cobb this season, he's delivered.
In a big road win against Michigan, Cobb ran for 183 yards and added 50 receiving yards. In a close one-point win over Purdue, Cobb ran a season-high 35 times for 194 yards and a score. And even though the Gophers' regular-season finale against Wisconsin was a loss, Cobb played through a hamstring injury and did his best to thwart the Badgers' defense by gaining 118 yards and finding the end zone on a 40-yard run.
Those types of games are an indication of just how far Cobb has come as a player, from one who could barely get on the field as a sophomore to one who hardly ever came off it as a senior. But Minnesota's coaches have been equally impressed with his development off the field -- something his mother predicted in that letter.
"It's a great story. I'm very proud of David," said Gophers head coach Jerry Kill. "I worked him hard early and stayed on him. I think he understands now why. He's accepted what he needed to do, and then he had to do it. He's done a great job doing it. That's a great satisfying thing when you're coaching. This is a young man you get the best out of you can. He's giving his best right now. That's our job, and then that carries over into what his dreams are."
Those dreams are a future in the NFL, something that was unfathomable two years ago. If Cobb is indeed selected in this year's NFL Draft, he'll be the first Gophers running back taken since 2006 when the New England Patriots took Laurence Maroney -- the same back whose single-season rushing record Cobb broke this year.
Depending on which mock drafts you look at, Cobb could go anywhere from the third to seventh round. In this day and age when running backs are underutilized and interchangeable in the NFL, it's anybody's guess as to where Cobb might land. But he's proven that he has the tools, the physicality, and, perhaps most importantly, the mindset to play at the next level.
Cobb insists he's not worrying too much about that just yet. He still has his sights set on Missouri.
"The biggest thing, it could come as a distraction to a couple guys, but really, I have great coaches and a great family and I have my cousin (linebacker Damien Wilson) here with me. We talk about things like that, but you don't really think about it because you could go out here and have a bad bowl game and all that would go out the window," Cobb said. "I don't really worry about it right now. We've lost two bowl games consecutive, so I kind of want to win first."
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