Interest mounting for Cook

Junior running back Chapelle Cook of Lakewood, N.J. may not be a well-known name in the recruiting world to this point, but he is looking to change that this fall. At 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds, and already holding one offer, Cook is ready to throw himself on the recruiting radar.

"I currently have an offer from Temple," said Cook. "I have schools from across the country contacting me and sending me mail."

Cook believes that a few of these schools are close to adding to his offer total, while a number of others are showing steady interest.

"I'm very close to receiving offers from Rutgers, UConn, Old Dominion and Nebraska," he said. "I've generated interest from Stanford, Nebraska, Vanderbilt, Penn State, Maryland, Virginia, Indiana, Pittsburgh, Syracuse and UMass. Recruiting is going great and they all are expecting a monster year from me."

While some recruits hit the road hard during the summer months, Cook took a different approach.

"My mother and I have decided to wait until after my junior year to make visits," he said. "I have attended Temple's camp and I was invited to numerous schools' camps. After my junior year I plan on attending as many as I'm invited to."

With Temple being his first offer, Cook was asked to share his thoughts on the Owls.

"It feels great knowing that they saw the talent in me at an early stage," he said. "They'll be a team that I look to stay faithful to in the future."

When Cook does have the opportunity to visit a few schools, he knows where he will head out to.

"Penn State, Indiana, Maryland, Pittsburgh and Rutgers are on my list to visit," said Cook, who was asked if he had any early favorites. "I look at all schools as an equal right now."

After finishing his sophomore season with 963 yards rushing and five touchdowns, Cook has worked hard this off-season to improve his game even further.

"I do a lot of training," he said. "I ran a 4.56 40 and 4.25 shuttle, also a 10'4" broad jump, so I'm continuing to excel. I've been working on improving my accelerating and decelerating, cutting and route running."