A year ago, a path to the NFL did not seem readily clear for Nathan Cottrell. To that point, he had been part of the A-back rotation for former Georgia Tech coach Paul Johnson. He was effective, but not a standout, and had started a total of three games.
Coach Geoff Collins envisioned him as a special-teams ace and sold him on the role. He devoted himself to special teams in his senior season, improving throughout. He helped himself by running the 40-yard dash in 4.38 seconds at Tech's pro day.
Saturday, Cottrell agreed to an undrafted free agent deal with the Jacksonville Jaguars, who wanted him for his special-teams expertise.
“I never would have thought this was going to be a realistic opportunity (going into the season),” Cottrell told the AJC. “And as we kept going through the season, (I) just kept hearing more and more from coach (Geoff) Collins and the other coaches about how scouts had been asking about me, and it all started to come together, and here we are.”
Cottrell and his agent Joel Turner had had pre-draft conversations with the Jaguars, among other teams. Cottrell said that one scout had told him that he was its No. 1 special-teams player on its draft board.
Nathan Cottrell's mind has been blown by pre-draft interest
Saturday morning, back home with his family in Knoxville, Tenn., Cottrell awoke from a restless night of sleep and waited for his future to take shape as the NFL draft concluded with rounds 4-7.
“And then we’re sitting there watching the TV, I’m talking with my agent trying to figure out how it’s going to play out, and we started to get word, kind of, from the Jaguars of what they were thinking, and it ended up working out, and we got to the end, and here we are,” Cottrell said. “I wish (Saturday) felt as short as that sentence did. It’s been a long one, that’s for sure.”
Cottrell said that Jacksonville made a heavy push Saturday for him to sign as a free agent, making calls as early as the sixth round. Cottrell said that Turner was also fielding strong interest from Houston, but, when the Texans didn’t choose him with their seventh-round pick (Houston traded it away to New Orleans), Cottrell decided to sign with Jacksonville.
Not long after the draft, Cottrell had already spoken with Jaguars special-teams coordinator Joe DeCamillis, who coached special teams for the Falcons 1997-2006, an indication of the team’s
Cottrell will join former Tech tight end Tyler Davis, who was drafted by the Jaguars in the sixth round.
“I can’t wait,” Cottrell said. “As soon as I saw that, I got super excited. I was like, holy cow, I get to continue to be teammates with one of the best in the game. I’m ecstatic. It’s going to be awesome.”
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