Brian Cole, I-Back in the 1997 recruiting class.
Old school Husker recruiting veterans will likely recall him. Meridian High School in Mississippi. Broke several of Marcus Dupree's Mississippi high school rushing records. Came down to us and Florida State; he ended up not making his grades and went to a Texas JUCO that year.
He was drafted by the New York Mets the following year out of JUCO. I was fortunate enough to get to know him in 2000 when he was playing for the St. Lucie Mets. One of the best minor league baseball prospects I have ever seen in my life.
Was killed in a car accident coming out of Spring Training the following March. I've cried twice as an adult - when my father was killed, and when I got the phone call from Brian's brother that Sunday evening. I try to visit his grave once a year.
Sports Illustrated did a really nice posthumous story on him a few years ago:
The Best Player You Never Saw
The article sounds like hyperbole, but he really was that good.
Old school Husker recruiting veterans will likely recall him. Meridian High School in Mississippi. Broke several of Marcus Dupree's Mississippi high school rushing records. Came down to us and Florida State; he ended up not making his grades and went to a Texas JUCO that year.
He was drafted by the New York Mets the following year out of JUCO. I was fortunate enough to get to know him in 2000 when he was playing for the St. Lucie Mets. One of the best minor league baseball prospects I have ever seen in my life.
Was killed in a car accident coming out of Spring Training the following March. I've cried twice as an adult - when my father was killed, and when I got the phone call from Brian's brother that Sunday evening. I try to visit his grave once a year.
Sports Illustrated did a really nice posthumous story on him a few years ago:
The Best Player You Never Saw
The article sounds like hyperbole, but he really was that good.
