Taylor Cook got a second chance at a senior year, and he’s making the most of it.
When Cook was diagnosed with stress fractures in his lower back just before what was to be his senior year at Lincoln Pius X High School, he found a way to delay his final year of school and athletic eligibility.
He sat out the 2011-12 school year, taking online classes last spring to re-establish his eligibility. Now, he's back at Pius X and part of the senior class that will graduate in 2013.
“I already had a lot of good friends in the class below me,†Cook said this week. “The first couple of days of class were a little weird, but they made me feel welcome. I think being a football player made things a little less weird.
“I was real excited that I could be out there practicing. I took it all in and made sure I appreciated it.â€
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At 5-2, Pius X is in position to earn a playoff berth in its first season in several years playing Class A football. The Thunderbolts, who went 3-6 in Class B a year ago, finish the regular season with big home games Friday against sixth-ranked Lincoln Southwest and Oct. 19 against No. 2 Lincoln Southeast.
Cook's eligibility this season is rooted in Nebraska School Activities Association bylaws, which say the eight semesters of eligibility don’t have to be consecutive.
“He wasn’t given an additional year of eligibility. He simply wasn’t enrolled in school (last year) and had doctor’s orders that he was not allowed to participate,†said NSAA Executive Director Rhonda Blanford-Green.
She said Cook's situation is not unique within high school associations.
"If there’s a medical injury, the bylaws allow this to happen. His situation is no different than if a student was in a car wreck and in rehabilitation for a year or had a debilitating disease."
Cook began this season with a full year of eligibility remaining.
"The bylaws allowed him to be eligible in the fall, and he got the spring semester through a hardship ruling,†Blanford-Green said.
Cook plans to try out for the golf team next spring.
A tight end on the football team, he has seven catches for 112 yards and two touchdowns this season and is the Thunderbolts’ third-leading receiver. He also plays defensive end, is the long snapper andÌýthe backup punter and place-kicker.
His back injury stemmed from the spring of his junior year, when he was on the baseball team.
“My back started hurting and was getting worse and worse," he said.
"I quit baseball because it wasn’t good for my back. I took about six weeks off, not doing anything. The next fall, I was getting ready to play football, and I hurt my back again."
Cook said doctors found level-three stress fractures in the L3, L4 and L5 vertebrae of his lower back.
"They told me I needed to take six months and do nothing.â€
That meant no school.
"He felt sitting in school in a desk all day wouldn’t help,†Pius X football coach and athletic director Tim Aylward said. “Once it healed, he’d be able to come back and play. The doctors cleared him, and he was good to go.â€
So what does a guy do when he’s not in school and has to give his back a break?
“I got my pilot’s license. I did some online classes. I went to Europe with my dad,†said Cook, whose father is Nebraska volleyball coach John Cook.
“My dad is a pilot, and he got me into it. That’s what I want to do after college, be a pilot.â€
John Cook said his son made good use of his time as soon as he began to heal.
"He's always been interested in flying, so we figured this was a good time. From January to June, he got after it. He took a weather class and a history of Alaska and a leadership class.
"He really couldn't do anything for six months, and then he slowly got back in activities. He started out doing Pilates with my wife. It just takes a long time for a stress fracture to heal."
All that came after the Cooks knew this option would work for the youngest member of the family.
“Dad and I looked into the hardship ruling before the school year started, and I was pretty sure it would work out,†Taylor Cook said. “But I was depressed for a while. My back hurt, and it took a couple of weeks to get it all taken care of.
“I was in a brace for most of that time. It kept it stable and let it heal, and the brace also kept the pain away, for the most part.â€
In addition to giving his back time to heal, Cook’s yearlong sabbatical from school had another effect.
“I’m doing better in school than I did. I guess it has something to do with taking the year off and maturing,†he said.