Know Your Wildcat: Mister Cobble

During the slow and insipid summer of 2008, former KSR wordsmith Evan Hilbert profiled each and every member of the University of Kentucky football team. Though his knowledge was sparse and his research was far from thorough, Evan’s short and insufficient player profiles were an integral part of Kentucky’s success that season. UK finished with seven wins, including the opener at Louisville and a 25-19 victory in the Liberty Bowl. Kentucky hasn’t won a bowl game since. Let’s bring back that magic…   #97 MISTER COBBLE Vitals -- Height: 6’0” -- Weight: 340 lbs. -- Class: Senior -- Experience: 2L -- Position: Defensive Tackle -- Hometown: Louisville, KY -- High School: Central Class of 2009 High School Ranking -- Rivals.com: NR,  -- Scout.com: #62 DT,  -- 247Sports.com: NR -- ESPN Recruiting: #133 DT Behind The Name Mister's mother, a lifelong Kentucky fan, named him Mister Percy Charles Cobble when he was born. She chose 'Mister' so he would be respected as a man and as a gentleman when he grew up. His friends call him 'PC.' How He Got Here Cobble committed to Kentucky on June 24, 2008 and signed his Letter of Intent at a Signing Day ceremony with his Central H.S. teammate, former UK linebacker Ridge Wilson. The hometown Louisville Cardinals showed interest late in the process but Kentucky was the first and only school to offer a scholarship. It helped that his mother always wanted to see him play football in blue. Freshman Season, 2009 The UK coaching staff named Cobble the team's Most Valuable Scout Team Defensive Player in 2009, his redshirt season. There was discussion about playing him as a true freshman but they elected to keep him out. Redshirt Freshman Season, 2010 After being named a starter on the defensive line following the 2010 spring game, Cobble was declared academically ineligible prior to the season opener. He told Larry Vaught at the time, "I am in college and it was my first year away and, it was college. I felt like I had everything done when I didn't and I started to get caught up in other things such as females and off-campus activities and not working on my grades." He did buckle down in the classroom and make one game appearance that season, though, in Kentucky's BBVA Compass Bowl game against Pittsburgh. He recorded one tackle, the first of his career. Sophomore Season, 2011 It took only three games for Cobble to earn a starting role with the Wildcats' defense in 2001 and he held that spot for the final nine games of the season. He led the defensive line with 33 tackles on the year with one sack on the road at Georgia. He recorded a career-high five tackles against his hometown Louisville Cardinals and reached that total again at LSU. Junior Season, 2012 A mysterious illness dropped Cobble to No. 3 at one defensive tackle spot on the depth chart three games into his junior year. He recorded 13 total tackles and one sack to start the season before missing games at Florida and at home against South Carolina. He returned to start one more game, at home against Vanderbilt, and saw action in four others. He finished the year with 25 tackles and two sacks. What He Needs To Work On His high-five with fellow defensive tackle Donte Rumph: Something You Didn't Know About Him Mister Cobble was an all-state wrestler at Central High School. Back then he looked like this: Something We Made Up About Him His favorite sports moment to date is when he recorded a hole-in-one on the par-6 18th hole at Freddy's Mini-Golf & Fun in Destin, Florida. He told Curtis, the go-kart supervisor at Freddy's, that he was heartbroken to find that the ball had disappeared into the pro shop's ball retrieval system when he reached into the hole to grab it. Unfair NFL Comparison B.J. Raji, Green Bay Packers Outlook for 2013 With the Kentucky defense reverting back to a 4-3 system this season, and new instruction from Coach Stoops and Coach Eliot, Cobble is expected to be a force inside the trenches on the defensive line. The d-line play will be critical for UK this fall and Cobble should make an impact in the middle.