Athlete of the Week: Kyle Cox

NORTH PLATTE, Neb. (KNOP) - KNOP’s Athlete of the Week is junior Sandhills-Thedford football players Kyle Cox. He plays quarterback and safety for the Knights. He’s already been a part of many long playoff runs with the team and says that the experience they’ve gained over the past few years has helped them to reach this point of the season.

“Its definitely helped, we understood what it took coming into the season, the work its going to take, when we get into those games, like its still nerve-wracking, but its a little more, we’ve been here done that, we know what to do,” said Kyle Cox.

The Knights are preparing for the Class D2 state football title game against the Wynot Blue Devils on Monday in Lincoln.

Sandhills-Thedford head coach Tyson Cox knows Kyle is an impressive player on both sides of the ball, making clutch plays and all the right decisions for his team.

“Kyle is a very athletic kid, a great leader, the boys look to him you know in clutch time and that’s what’s been big, if we need a big play, kyle always comes out and gets it for us,” said Tyson Cox.

Kyle’s season stats speak for themselves; 80 passing yards per game, 200 rushing yards per game, 11 passing touchdowns, 49 rushing touchdowns.

However, it’s not just on the stat sheet where Kyle stands out.

“You know on offense and defense, we’re running some plays that are reading players on the field that usually high school kids can’t do and he knows the game so well, he knows our playbook, he knows what we’re trying to do,” said Tyson Cox.

Despite only being a junior his positional roles and expertise of the system lends him to an unanointed leadership position on the team that he says boils down to one word. Trust.

“I think we all just trust each other, they trust me to call some plays, l have a pretty good understanding of what’s going on and I listen to those guys and they know what’s going on too and i think everybody just knows their roles and we all work together, we’re just a team,” said Kyle Cox.

The Knights are one win away from the state title, they face the Wynot Blue Devils on Monday at Memorial Stadium in Lincoln at 2:45 p.m.

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