Thursday was former Michigan State quarterback Connor Cook’s day to answer for the assembled reporters at the NFL Scouting Combine some of the same questions NFL scouts and coaches will presumably be asking him this week and over the next several weeks.
Cook knows what is out there -- that he’s selfish, arrogant, not a leader or some combination of the three -- and said he’s ready for whatever questions the NFL might have.
“There are a lot of misconceptions about me,” Cook said. “I can settle those in meeting with the coaches and GMs.”
Cook said he’ll use his meetings with teams to “let them know who I am as a person. Get up on the board and show them what I can draw up against a certain defense. Dial the blitz, I can redirect protection. Anything I can do to show them that I’m not just a good football player but I’m mentally sharp and know the game inside and out.
“I’m looking forward to sitting down with these football teams to let them know who the real Connor Cook is.”
Cook was not voted one of three permanent captains for Michigan State last season, something that might have raised some eyebrows in the scouting community because Cook was a three-year starter. Cook answered that by saying you could “ask anyone” on the team if he was a leader. He addressed his apparent brush off of two-time Heisman Trophy winner Archie Griffin following last year’s Big Ten title game by saying he understood it looked bad on TV and that he called Griffin to apologize.
Cook is working out in San Diego with George Whitfield. He said he skipped the Senior Bowl on the advice of his agent and to let his shoulder continue to heal but feels 100 percent healthy and will throw Saturday in Indianapolis.