ITG Legacy: Cole Parker

In the wake of the pinnacle of Lowndes’ football program sat an incredibly talented group of athletes. Among that seemingly endless pool of D-1 athletes sat a less recruited, but no less important, quarterback. Cole Parker led the Viking offense for 2 years, winning the starting job in the run-heavy wing-T offense, bringing a formerly underutilized dimension to the Lowndes attack: a passing game. Cole took the time to recount his journey from Lowndes High to Cornell University in hopes of providing encouragement, advice, and inspiration to current student-athletes aspiring to play at the next level.

In the Game: Give us a summary of your athletic career, from your youth to today.

Cole Parker: I was born in Atlanta, but Valdosta is my home. We moved here before I ever even started school, so I am a Lowndes Viking to the core. I came up through Hahira/Dewar Elementary and Hahira Middle, always attending Lowndes games and dreaming of the day I would take the field. Then, as I finally made my way up to Lowndes High, I made the most of it, playing football and baseball the whole way through. Quarterback and pitching were always my passions, and I was fortunate enough to be able to succeed in both at each level.

My baseball career started very young, travelling with an incredibly talented team known as the Valdosta Storm. I played alongside Kaleb Cowart, Aaron Shipman, and Larry Greene, all who went on to play at the professional level, as well as many other well-known names in the Valdosta area, such as Tyler Hunter, Harrison Waller, Ryan Whilden, Bo Walthall, and many others. To this day, I still that we were the best little league baseball team to ever take the field!  We traveled the country, racking up numerous state and national championships. So these unforgettable experiences developed my skills and love for the game, all culminating in my career at Lowndes. I was able to pitch for the varsity starting my sophomore year, and eventually worked my way up to being the ace of the staff.

Although I loved and had offers to play baseball in college, football is what I became most known for. During my time as QB at Lowndes, we were loaded with talent. I played with some Lowndes greats such as Telvin Smith, Greg Reid, Tyler Hunter, Gerald Demps, Kenneth Durden, Khari Franklin, Ed Christian, Troy Braswell, and Josh Harvey-Clemmons, yet we were never able to quite live up to expectations, namely a state championship. We clenched region titles, but exited the playoffs much earlier than we would have liked. I was able to bring a much needed (and atypical) passing attack to the run-powered wing-T, but it wasn’t enough for us to maximize our potential as a team and as an individual.

Regardless, Cornell University came knocking at my door. I had several offers to smaller schools to consider, but I chose to attend Cornell, largely because of the academic prestige. The struggling football program, distance from home (all the way up in Ithaca, NY), and brutal winters were all trivial in comparison to the opportunity to get an Ivy League education. Therefore, despite my football career at Cornell never really getting off of the ground (due to a career-ending shoulder injury to my throwing arm), I was still able to leave with great life experiences, a great education, and great opportunities for my future.

ITG: What is your proudest moment/favorite memory from your high school career?

CP: By far, it was my senior year (which was the 2010 football season) against Valdosta. Coming off of the blowout win of 2009, we had to go to Bazemore-Hyder against a Wildcat team loaded with the likes of Malcolm Mitchell, Jay Rome, Ryan Whilden, and others. And really, the whole night was my favorite/proudest memory; it turned out to be the performance of my career and a night that I will never forget.

The first drive of the game, 3^rd down and long, I threw a deep post to Durden, who reeled it in just past the fingertips of two Wildcat DBs, taking it all the way to the house. The crowd exploded and we were on our way to continue our streak against Valdosta (I never lost to Valdosta by the way… just want to throw that out there for all of you Wildcat fans out there). But other than that huge play, if the game had ended after the first half, I would have been the most hated person in Lowndes County. Despite that initial moment of greatness and some other decent play, I had thrown 2 interceptions, lost a fumbled snap exchange on the opposing goal line, and wasn’t able to put many points on the board.

But the second half was a different story: we surged back to overcome the Cats, 17-14, if I recall correctly. I put the shortcomings of the first half behind me, rallied the offense behind career high passing attempts and completions, and was able to show up in the clutch with another passing TD and rushing TD in the 4^th quarter. I wound up with career high numbers across the board, received the MVP award, and people still remind me of that game to this day.

ITG: Do you still keep in touch with your teammates from high school? If so, which ones?

CP: I am still best friends with many of my baseball teammates, namely Teddy Welch and Reid Pope, but since most of my football teammates scattered across the country to play in college, it was hard to maintain close relationships. I still occasionally talk to guys like Tyler Hunter, Kenneth Durden, Chris Scurry, Geraldo Orta, Troy Braswell, Telvin Smith, Greg Reid, and others.

ITG: What do you remember about the recruiting process from high school to college? Is there any advice you would give to someone in the midst of it or about to enter into it?

CP: Although I wasn’t as highly recruited to big D1 programs like some of my teammates, I did still experience the chaos of the recruiting process. Countless letters, consistent phone calls from recruiting coordinators, going to camps and showcases, unofficial and official visits to college campuses, and the pressure of making such a life-altering decision, all took place in my life as an 18 year-old.

I will say, though, one of the coolest things I got to do was take unofficial visits to Florida games. Since Telvin Smith was a good friend of mine and Florida was recruiting him incredibly hard, I got to tag along with him on his visits. My Dad and I would take Telvin to and from the games, so we would get all of the perks as if I was the one actually being recruited. On top of the typical free food and sideline access, we were given the royal treatment. Private meetings with Urban Meyer in his office, holding the National Championship trophy, and sitting in on position meetings were all a part of the royal treatment, even if it wasn’t actually for me. Moral of the story: take all the visits that you can!

I would simply advise current-student athletes to carefully listen to, weigh, and assess the input of loved ones. It is ultimately your decision that you have to make, but the people that love you and have cared for you for your whole life have valuable wisdom and advice. So listen to them, but find the balance between respecting their advice and making the best decision for your own life.  There will be a million different voices trying to sway you, so hone in on the few that have only your best interest in mind.

ITG: How would you advise student-athletes on how to choose which college to attend?

CP: Thoroughly examine the culture. The football culture, the campus culture, the regional culture, all of it; will you, as an individual, not just as a football player, fit in to the culture? You will spend the vast majority of your time doing sports-related activities, but your life outside of that will often determine your quality of life within it.

ITG: What are the main differences, in your opinion, between being a student-athlete in high school and being a student-athlete in college?

CP: Time management and your sport becoming your job are the obvious ones, as many before me have attested to, but I think one major, underrated difference is the standards that you are held to. No longer are you treated as a young, naïve high school student, but you are treated like an adult. Sure, you have plenty of maturing left to do, but a lot of that growth comes from having more expected of you. Your conduct, performance, reliability, independence, and every other metric, all have the bar raised. Your coaches expect more. Your family and friends expect more. Your professors expect more. Fans and followers, potentially at a national scale, expect more. The weight of these expectations will either crush you or mold you into a more disciplined, respectable man or woman.

ITG: Which have you enjoyed most? Playing as a kid, in high school, college, or the pros (if applicable)? Why?

CP: Due to the way that my career was ended by injury, high school was the peak of formal athletics in my life. Since my injury prevented me from ever taking the field at Cornell, it stripped my joy from football. All of the commitment, all of the hard work, all of the grind of football, yet none of the reward of playing. It wore me down very quickly. I wasn’t a 5 star talent, I wasn’t the next greatest anything or anyone, but I loved the game and the opportunities it gave me along the way. I loved being a Viking: my teammates, the roar of the crowd, the recognition in the town, the pressure of living up to the expectations of a city.  My sports career taught me innumerable lessons that have gradually developed me into a better player, friend, and man.

ITG: If you could give any advice, tips, or encouragement to any high school student-athletes that are aspiring to play at the next level, what would that be?

CP: If I have one regret, it’s that I didn’t enjoy those crazy, game-changing moments while I was on the field. I was more of the calm, cool, and collected type on the field, never showing any emotion, but looking back, I wish I would have had more fun with it. While there is a lot to be said about being a levelheaded QB, there is also a lot to be said about a visible, vocal leader that not only loves the game, but shows it.

So my encouragement is to love the game while you can.  Love the game, whatever that sport is for you, for the game itself. Don’t love it for the fame. Don’t love it for potential money. Don’t love it because your family does. Don’t love it for any other reason than you just love the game. If you do that, you will love it all, good and bad.

I say that because if you don’t, you won’t survive at the next level. You, like so many others before you, will fizzle out. The schedule and expectations will overwhelm you, you will lose sight of why you play the game, and that’ll kill your drive. Only your drive to excel for the love for the game will take you to the next level.