Jonathan Cox returns to finish degree

Two years after leaving Tech to pursue a career in the NFL, Jonathan Cox makes his return to the Flats as a student. This time, Cox can be found at Tech Square as a Management major instead of Bobby Dodd Stadium.

A native of Chicago, Ill., he spent three years playing varsity football in high school where he excelled as a safety and wide receiver.

His career highlights featured an 18- tackle game while receiving MVP honors in his high school's conference. In addition, he lettered all four years in track and was a member of the National Honor Society.

During Cox's transition to college, he was recruited by several Big Ten schools. However, he wanted a change in scenery and found his calling when he came to visit his sister at Emory. He decided Atlanta would be a great place to live and play football, turning down opportunities in the Big Ten and other ACC schools.

Cox expected more when he arrived at Tech to start practicing. The game was not quite as fast on the collegiate level compared to the hype.

"It was a little challenging, I expected a lot more. I'm not saying it's overrated, I just expected it to be a lot faster. When I arrived at Tech, I was able to compete and was actually able to start," Cox said.

During his first year at Tech, he was thrown into action when Tech traveled to Tallahassee to take on the No. 2 Florida State. This was a tall challenge for the true freshman in his first start.

"My first game ever was against Florida State. I was very nervous lining up against Anquan Boldin and Marvin Minnis. They were the receivers then. I played 10 yards off of them. I was nervous and shaking. I made a couple plays, a pass break-up, a couple tackles and a fumble recovery."

Tech wound up losing the game after taking a slim lead into the fourth quarter. During that game, the Seminoles' William McCray fumbled inside the Tech 15 yard line. Cox recovered the fumble, securing his first turnover.

As a true freshman, Cox was a big part of the 2000 team. He played in every game as a sophomore and started every game as a junior and a senior.

During his junior year, he blocked the only field goal kick of his career, something that had not happened at Tech since 1996.

He was the only returning starter in the secondary during his senior season.

Off the field, Cox had his direction set as soon as he arrived on the Flats. Cox was recognized as possessing great technical skills. He started Tech enrolled in engineering with an interest in the sciences.

"The workload was extensive, but I could handle it. I went to a good high school and put in a lot of hard work. I was in engineering at first, so all my classes were directed towards that," Cox said of Tech's academics.

There was another important event that occurred while Cox was at Tech. Coach Georgia O'Leary resigned to pursue other opportunities and Gailey was hired as the head coach.

"As an athlete, I went through two different head coaches and four different position coaches. It was challenging trying to deal with everything and change my technique according to what each coach liked," Cox said.

Despite these huge changes, he found some stability with defensive coordinator Jon Tenuta.

"For the last two years, my technique was structured around what [Tenuta] did. He's a really good coach if you know anything about him. I learned a lot from him and honestly, I probably took more from him than any coach ever, including the NFL. As a coach you have to work with what you have He's good at doing that," Cox said.

After his eligibility expired, Cox entered the NFL draft. The Tennessee Titans called him saying they would draft him in any one of the later rounds. As the draft went by, he became very antsy about it. Unfortunately, the draft ended and he found himself without a team.

A week later, his agent arranged a tryout with the San Diego Chargers and "in a matter of days [the Chargers} went from them calling me '39' to them calling me 'hey Jonathan.'"

The Chargers sent Cox to NFL Europe to play for the Rhein Fire in Dusseldorf. When he returned, he had to try out for the Chargers again.

"When I went over to Europe, they kind of made adjustments and did other things without me being there. So they kind of put me on the backburner. It was very frustrating because you're dealing with a lot of politics as opposed to my pure talent. I was cut on the last cut day," Cox said.

Cox's football career struggled to take off after he was cut. He went through three different agents, but all of his attempts to get back into the game ended in disappointment.

"Everything was going against me. It was a lot of trouble dealing with everything, and I guess it just wasn't meant to be. I just moved on. I wanted to do other things with my life anyway, and I didn't want to waste time trying to do something that's 50/50," Cox said.

After handling the situation well, where others had failed, Cox decided it was time to pursue a different route: the academic one.

While he originally wanted to become an engineer, he changed his mind the second time around. He enrolled in the school of management this past fall.

He enjoys his return to Tech and his thirst for knowledge keeps him going. One of his former coaches described him as a very technically-oriented person.

Cox's future plans involve entrepreneurship and living in a big city. A few of his ideas involve opening up a restaurant or a gym.

"Being in the real world, you realize that you need a degree. And honestly, I wanted to learn more because I want to open my own business" Cox said.