Jake Coker
{{Short description|American football player (born 1992)}}
{{Use American English|date=March 2025}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Infobox NFL biography
| name = Jake Coker
| image = Jake Coker 2013.png
| image_size =
| alt =
| caption = Coker in 2013
| current_team =
| number = 6
| position = Quarterback
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1992|08|04}}
| birth_place = Mobile, Alabama, U.S.
| death_date =
| death_place =
| height_ft = 6
| height_in = 5
| weight_lbs = 235
| high_school = St. Paul's Episcopal School
(Mobile, Alabama)
| college = {{ubl| Florida State (2011–2013)|Alabama (2014–2015)}}
| undraftedyear = 2016
| pastteams =
- Arizona Cardinals ({{NFL Year|2016}})*
| highlights =
| pfr = CokeJa00
}}
Bryant Jacob "Jake" Coker (born August 4, 1992) is an American former football player who was a quarterback. He played college football for the Florida State Seminoles and Alabama Crimson Tide. He won the national championship as the starting quarterback of the Alabama Crimson Tide in 2015.
Early years
Coker attended St. Paul's Episcopal School in Mobile, Alabama. He played both football and basketball. He was ranked by Rivals.com as the 18th best pro-style quarterback recruit in his class.{{Cite web |title=Jacob Coker |url=https://sports.yahoo.com/floridastate/football/recruiting/player-Jacob-Coker-89655}} He committed to Florida State University in June 2010.{{Cite web |last=Herndon |first=Mike |date=2010-06-23 |title=St. Paul's QB Jacob Coker commits to Florida State |url=https://www.al.com/press-register-sports/2010/06/st_pauls_qb_jacob_coker_commit.html |access-date=2024-07-20 |website=AL.com |language=en}}
College career
Coker was redshirted as a freshman in 2011. As a backup to EJ Manuel in 2012, he appeared in three games, completing three-of-five passes for 45 yards and one touchdown. As a redshirt sophomore, Coker competed with Jameis Winston for the starting quarterback job in 2013.{{Cite web |title=Jacksonville sports news on the Jaguars, Suns and the University of Florida - jacksonville.com |url=http://jacksonville.com/sports/college/florida-state-seminoles/2012-08-17/story/fsus-jimbo-fisher-jameis-winston-jacob-coker}}{{cite web | last=Hale | first=David | title=Without hype or experience, Coker presses on | website=ESPN.com | date=2013-04-09 | url=https://www.espn.com/colleges/fsu/football/story/_/id/9152940/jacob-coker-takes-humble-approach-florida-state-qb-battle | access-date=2024-10-23}} Winston won the job and Coker was his backup until a knee injury in November caused him to miss the rest of the season.{{cite web | last=Hale | first=David | title=FSU backup QB Coker having knee surgery | website=ESPN.com | date=2013-11-11 | url=https://www.espn.com/college-football/story/_/id/9960919/florida-state-seminoles-backup-qb-jacob-coker-surgery | access-date=2024-10-23}} He had appeared in six games, going 18 of 36 for 250 yards and one interception.
In January 2014, Coker transferred to the University of Alabama.{{Cite web |date=January 26, 2014 |title=Ex-Florida State QB Jacob Coker transfers to Alabama |url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/sports/ncaaf/2014/01/26/jacob-coker-florida-state-qb-transfer-to-alabama/4914029/ |access-date=2025-03-09 |website=USA TODAY|agency=Associated Press |language=en-US}} He had suffered some injuries and, as he later said, "things didn't work out at Florida State". Alabama had shown interest but he had already committed and stuck to his commitment, but his dream had always been to play for Alabama under coach Nick Saban.{{cite web |url=https://247sports.com/college/alabama/longformarticle/where-are-they-now-former-alabama-football-qb-jake-coker-147327730/#1421929 |title=Where Are They Now: Jake Coker |first=Charlie |last=Potter |date=May 20, 2020 |website=247Sports |accessdate=January 11, 2024}}
He was eligible to play immediately and did not have to sit out a year after graduating from Florida State in April.{{cite web | last=Gribble | first=Andrew | title=Jacob Coker graduates, arrives in Tuscaloosa to take next step in Alabama QB competition | website=AL.com| date=2014-05-06 | url=https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2014/05/now_what_alabama_qb_jacob_coke.html | access-date=2024-10-23}} In his first year at Alabama he competed for the Crimson Tide's starting job.{{cite web | last=Herndon | first=Mike | title=Jacob Coker working his way toward competing for Alabama's starting quarterback job | website=AL.com| date=2014-04-21 | url=https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2014/04/jacob_coker_working_his_way_to.html | access-date=2024-10-23}}{{cite web | last=Westcott | first=Wayne L. | title=Keeping Fit: Body composition outweighs BMI in importance | website=Tuscaloosa News | date=2014-05-28 | url=https://www.tuscaloosanews.com/story/lifestyle/health-fitness/2014/05/28/keeping-fit-body-composition-outweighs/37238966007/ | access-date=2024-10-23}}{{cite web | last=Scarbinsky | first=Kevin | title=If you've decided Jacob Coker is Alabama's next QB, you're way ahead of Nick Saban | website=AL.com| date=2014-05-28 | url=https://www.al.com/alabamafootball/2014/05/if_youve_decided_jacob_coker_i.html | access-date=2024-10-23}} Blake Sims won the competition with Coker as the backup. Coker again competed for the starting job in 2015, and this time won the competition.
Coker helped lead the Crimson Tide to win the 2016 College Football Playoff National Championship Game against the Clemson Tigers, with a final score of 45–40. The team's only loss was against Ole Miss, a game Coker later said changed his approach to the game.
On January 30, 2016, Coker was the starting quarterback for the South in the Senior Bowl in Mobile, Alabama. In one quarter, he was 3-of-8 passing for 23 yards and led his team to the first touchdown of the game.
=Statistics=
| class="wikitable" style="text-align:center;" | |||||||||||||||
| rowspan="2"| Season
! colspan="3"| Games ! colspan="8"| Passing ! colspan="5"| Rushing | |||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | GS | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | |
| colspan="16" style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Florida State Seminoles}}"| Florida State Seminoles | |||||||||||||||
| 2011
| colspan="15"| Redshirt File:Redshirt.svg | |||||||||||||||
| 2012
| 4 || 0 || 0−0 || 3 || 5 || 60.0 || 45 || 9.0 || 1 || 0 || 201.6 || 0 || 0 || 0.0 || 0 | |||||||||||||||
| 2013
| 6 || 0 || 0−0 || 18 || 36 || 50.0 || 250 || 6.9 || 0 || 1 || 102.8 || 10 || 15 || 1.5 || 1 | |||||||||||||||
| colspan="16" style="{{CollegePrimaryStyle|Alabama Crimson Tide}}"| Alabama Crimson Tide | |||||||||||||||
| 2014
| 6 || 0 || 0−0 || 38 || 59 || 64.4 || 403 || 6.8 || 4 || 0 || 144.2 || 7 || 13 || 1.9 || 0 | |||||||||||||||
| 2015
| 15 || 14 || 14−0 || 263 || 393 || 66.9 || 3,110 || 7.9 || 21 || 8 || 147.0 || 74 || 68 || 0.9 || 2 | |||||||||||||||
| Career{{Cite web |title=Jake Coker College Stats |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/cfb/players/jake-coker-1.html |access-date=December 26, 2024 |website=Sports-Reference.com}} | 31 | 14 | 14−0 | 322 | 493 | 65.3 | 3,808 | 7.7 | 26 | 9 | 143.9 | 91 | 96 | 1.1 | 3 |
Professional career
On April 30, 2016, Coker signed a free agent deal with the Arizona Cardinals after going undrafted in the 2016 NFL draft. He was released by the team on August 29, 2016, as part of a roster cut to 75 players.{{Cite web |last=Burnett |first=Marq |date=April 30, 2016 |title=NFL Draft: Alabama's Jake Coker signs free agent deal |url=http://footballdrafting.com/jacob-coker-signs-with-arizona-cardinals-as-undrafted-free-agent-64993/ |access-date=May 1, 2016 |website=Footballdrafting.com}}
On April 21, 2017, after being unable to fully recover from knee surgery, Coker announced his retirement from football. “I’m just going to move on,” Coker said. “I had another surgery when I was with the (Arizona) Cardinals, and that was kind of the last thing. I didn’t want another surgery. I’m just kind of ready to move on. I’m excited about what’s ahead.”{{Cite news |date=April 21, 2017 |title=Former Alabama QB makes decision to walk away from football |language=en-US |work=SEC Country |url=https://www.seccountry.com/alabama/alabama-jake-coker-retiring-football |access-date=December 18, 2017}}
After football
References
{{Reflist|30em}}
External links
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20140907083213/http://www.rolltide.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/jake_coker_913387.html Alabama Crimson Tide bio]
- [https://web.archive.org/web/20131110021339/http://www.seminoles.com/sports/m-footbl/mtt/jacob_coker_763567.html Florida State Seminoles bio]
{{Alabama Crimson Tide quarterback navbox}}
{{2013 Florida State Seminoles football navbox}}
{{2015 Alabama Crimson Tide football navbox}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Coker, Jake}}
Category:Players of American football from Mobile, Alabama
Category:American football quarterbacks
Category:Florida State Seminoles football players