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Georgia Tech football: Q&A w/ Lucas Cox
Friday, October 24, 2008
Georgia Tech’s Lucas Cox is touching the ball once or twice a game, but that’s still a lot more than his brother Mike did when he played fullback for the Yellow Jackets.
In the fullback factory that is the Cox family, ball-carrying opportunities are a popular topic.
JOHNNY CRAWFORD/jcrawford@ajc.com
Georgia Tech’s Lucas Cox (left) says the Yellow Jackets are close to putting everything together.
Lawrence Cox played fullback at Temple from 1979-82, and his sons Mike, Lucas and Matt followed suit. Mike is a rookie fullback with the Kansas City Chiefs, and Matt is a freshman fullback at Bloomsburg (Pa.).
Lucas Cox (6 feet, 235 pounds) began his career at Connecticut before transferring to Tech and sitting out last season. The former fullback trimmed down this year to play A-back, a position that requires more speed.
Cox starts at A-back and has backed up Jonathan Dwyer at B-back. When he’s not clearing holes for other backs, Cox has carried 10 times for 99 yards and caught a 29-yard pass.
Cox spoke with staff writer Larry Hartstein in advance of today’s 3:30 p.m. homecoming game against Virginia.
Q: How often do you remind Mike about your offensive role?
A: I’ll let him know every now and then. I’ll say, ‘Hey, I’m still getting carries.’ But he’s always got that card on me that he’s already in the NFL.
Q: Who’s the best Cox fullback?
A: I give [that] to Mike or Matty. Matty is the most athletic.
Q: Is there a genetic trait for becoming a fullback?
A: Growing up, we all played running back. We weren’t really built for speed, so my dad told us to just run north and south and try to run people over. That’s how you get it ingrained in you.
Q: How was the transition to A-back?
A: I could block. That’s why they put me at A-back, and I can go around the corners. It’s not that much different. You can almost say I’m like a tight end.
Q: What did you have to do to make the transition?
A: I had to cut my weight down and get my speed up. Last winter I was probably 260, and I’m down to about 235 now.
Q: How’d you lose it?
A: The Ciano workout plan. [Eric Ciano is Tech’s player-development director.] And they gave me a diet plan and made sure I was eating right. I didn’t have good eating habits. I was bulky, probably the strongest I ever was. I lost a little bit of strength, but I lost a lot of fat, too.
Q: What did you cut out?
A: No more Taco Bell, no more Wendy’s, stuff like that. No more fast food. I wrestled growing up, so I always had to lose weight, but not that much.
Q: What kind of conditioning did you do?
A: We did a lot of running this spring, a lot. Three times a week in the morning, they just killed us. We’d get there at 5:30 a.m. and do the hardest workout of our lives. We had never done anything like that.
Q: Is it paying off?
A: Definitely. I think we’re better conditioned than the teams we’ve played so far, and I think it’s going to be like that the rest of the year.
Q: How far along is the offense in its development?
A: We’ve definitely gotten more fluid as we’ve gone through the year. At the beginning we made a lot of mistakes, but each game we’ve progressed. I feel we’re almost there. Give us a couple more games, who knows what will happen.
Q: Fourth quarter, on the road in the ACC, you’re losing. What is Josh Nesbitt like in the huddle? (Tech used fourth-quarter comebacks to win at Boston College and Clemson.)
A: He’s calm and collected. He keeps us motivated, and he keeps us cool.
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