Background and career
Randall Ladonald Cobb II (born August 22, 1990) is an American former professional football wide receiver who played 13 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Kentucky Wildcats, earning All-American honors in 2010. Cobb was selected by the Green Bay Packers in the second round of the 2011 NFL draft. He also played one season each for the Dallas Cowboys, Houston Texans, and New York Jets.
Cobb was born to Randall Cobb Sr. and Tina Cobb. Randall Sr. worked at the Denso car parts factory in Maryville, Tennessee and also worked side jobs in the evenings, ranging from installing ceramic tile floors to mowing lawns and plowing snow, with young Randall II helping. Tina, who was a track star in high school, later worked at Denso, where she met Randall Sr. Cobb attended Alcoa High School in Alcoa, Tennessee, where he was a letterman in football, basketball, and track. His football team was a four-time State Champion in Class AA and Cobb received a "Mr. Football" trophy from the Tennessee Secondary School Athletic Association. At that time, Cobb played both offense and defense as well as special teams, but made his biggest impact as quarterback for the Tornadoes. Cobb was an All-District basketball player as a junior, playing for Micah Marsh. Cobb was also a track star at Alcoa. He was a four-year member of the track team, competing in sprints along with the 4 × 100 m and 4 × 200 m squads. Cobb finished third in the state meet in the 100-meter dash as a senior, recording a career-best time of 10.75 seconds. He was clocked at 21.89 seconds in the 200-meter dash at age 16. Cobb also helped lead the Alcoa 4 × 100 m relay squad to a second-place finish in the state meet as a junior.
Cobb played college football for the University of Kentucky. During his first year, under head coach Rich Brooks, Cobb was named to the SEC All-Freshmen team at quarterback, playing in 11 games and starting four at quarterback. He accounted for 11 touchdowns as a freshman – two passing, two receiving, and seven rushing. As a sophomore, Cobb played mainly wide receiver as well as a significant role in the offense/special teams returning kicks, place kick holding, receiving, and also quarterback in the "Wildcat" formation. He scored 15 touchdowns – four receiving, one returning, and 10 rushing during the 2009 season. During the season, Cobb had an eight-game streak of scoring a touchdown. As a junior, Cobb had a new head coach in Joker Phillips, who said: "He's one of the best leaders I've ever been around." Cobb scored a touchdown on a punt return against Western Kentucky. On October 9, 2010, he scored four touchdowns against undefeated and eventual national champions Auburn, tying the Kentucky school record for career touchdowns at 32. Cobb was also the first player to score a rushing, passing, and receiving touchdown in the same game for Kentucky since Shane Boyd in 2003. Overall, in his junior season, Cobb finished with 84 receptions for 1,017 yards and seven touchdowns to go along with 55 carries for 424 yards and five touchdowns. He also threw for 58 yards and three touchdowns. After his junior season, Cobb declared for the NFL Draft. While at Kentucky, Cobb majored in community communications and leadership development.
The Green Bay Packers selected Cobb in the second round (64th overall) of the 2011 NFL draft. Cobb was the seventh wide receiver drafted in 2011. On July 29, 2011, the Packers signed Cobb to a four-year, $3.20 million contract that included $1 million guaranteed and a signing bonus of $834,124. On September 8, 2011, in the Packers' opening game of the season against the New Orleans Saints, Cobb became the first person born in the 1990s to play in the NFL. He recorded his first NFL touchdown on a 32-yard reception in the first quarter, and followed up with a 108-yard kickoff return in the third quarter that tied the record set by Ellis Hobbs of the New England Patriots in 2007 for longest kickoff return in NFL history. The return was later named Play of the Year at the season-ending NFL Honors banquet. In a Monday Night Football game against the Minnesota Vikings on November 14, Cobb scored his second special teams touchdown of the year on an 80-yard punt return in the first quarter. With that, Cobb became the first rookie in Packers history to return both a kick and a punt for a touchdown in the same season. For the season, he caught 25 passes for 375 yards (a 15.0 average) and one touchdown. His most impressive statistics were on special teams, as he returned 34 kicks for 941 yards (a 27.7 average) and one touchdown and 26 punt returns for 295 yards (an 11.3 average) and one touchdown. Cobb made his playoff debut in the Divisional Round against the New York Giants. He had three receptions for 38 yards in the 37–20 loss.
In Week 6, against the Houston Texans, Cobb had seven receptions for 102 yards for his first career 100-yard game in the 42–24 victory. In the 2012 season, he played in 15 games including eight starts. Cobb led the team in receptions with 80 and receiving yards with 954 and was second on the team with eight touchdowns. He set a single-season franchise record with 2,342 combined net yards—954 receiving, 132 rushing, 964 on kickoff returns (a 25.4 average), and 292 on punt returns (a 9.4 average) including one touchdown. Cobb led the NFL in that category. He was named a Pro Bowl first alternate as a kick returner.
In 2013, Cobb was limited to six games (including four starts) due to a broken fibula injury suffered in Week 6 against the Baltimore Ravens. He returned to play in the regular season finale against the Chicago Bears at Soldier Field. He caught a memorable 48-yard game-winning touchdown pass from Aaron Rodgers late in the fourth quarter to win the NFC North title for the Packers. He finished with 31 receptions for 433 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns.
