Patient Dog earns his spot

ATHENS —- Nine years ago in Charlotte, McClintock Middle School’s football team lost to Northeast Middle School.

And why, you might ask, would such a triviality be brought up here today?

Because that was the last time any team with Joe Cox as its starting quarterback lost a game.

“We were up 12-0 and lost 28-12,” the former McClintock quarterback recalled. “Last game of my eighth-grade season.”

In the years since, Cox has started 32 games —- 31 at Charlotte’s Independence High, all victories, and one at Georgia, a 2006 victory at Ole Miss. On Saturday, he puts his winning streak on the line, starting for Georgia at Oklahoma State.

A fifth-year senior, Cox finally gets a season as the Bulldogs’ starting quarterback, thanks to his own patience and perseverance and, of course, Matthew Stafford’s decision to leave school for the NFL.

Like most players, Cox came here with gaudy high school statistics and no expectation of waiting long to play.

“Of course, when you dream everything up, you dream of coming in and playing early,” he said. Then he broke into a grin and added: “Things change. No. 1 draft picks come in and play in front of you.”

His path blocked, Cox waited.

“Of course I had people telling me I should transfer,” he said, “but they had never been here [and] didn’t know anything about Georgia. They were just thinking you could pack a bag and walk out and go somewhere else to play.

“For one, I don’t even know if I had anywhere I could have gone. Anyway, there were too many things I had started here, and I am the kind of person who thinks you should finish what you start.

“I was on track to get a degree from here, which is very important to me, and I had made tons of friends here. I knew somewhere along the road I might get an opportunity to play, and I wanted that opportunity to be here.”

Cox seems to be reveling in his long-awaited moment, taking the responsibility seriously but maintaining the ability to laugh at himself. He said he’s sure Oklahoma State has watched video of every snap he has taken at Georgia because, well, “there aren’t that many.” When told of an Oklahoma State player’s comment that he seems to have pretty good speed, Cox laughed and said: “He might have seen a couple of sped-up clips or something.”

Cox has serious aspirations, though, for this season.

“I’ve got a lot of things I want to accomplish,” he said. “I want to win an SEC championship really bad.”

How he feels about losing is demonstrated by his vivid recollection of McClintock’s loss to Northeast in 2000. Mohamed Massaquoi, Cox’s future high school and UGA teammate, was playing for Northeast. “He was playing corner, and we almost got into it on the sideline because he hit one of our running backs late,” Cox recalled.

Cox has the respect of his teammates, coach Mark Richt said, “because he has waited for this opportunity, knowing it might never come, and been a team guy all the way.” His undefeated portfolio as a starting quarterback has helped, too.

“He’s been on teams that won —- actually, never lost —- and teams that had camaraderie and togetherness,” Richt said. “It’s easy to have that if you never lose, but he wanted to re-create that feeling. … I don’t know how it’s going to translate on the field, but he has done as fine a job of getting everybody ready to go [as any player] since we’ve been here at Georgia.”

Georgia at Oklahoma State, 3:30 p.m. Saturday (ABC, 750 AM)