A second chance for Cook

It really is a numbers game.

So says cornerback Chris Cook.

Back for a second chance at Virginia, the senior has ditched No. 26 for the chance to don No. 2.

Cook, with luggage in tow, walked to the team bus prior to the departure for the Gator Bowl following the 2007 season, only to be told that he could not travel with the group.

It was the walk of shame. He turned and departed, suddenly without a football home.

Cook was later informed that he was suspended for a pair of semesters from UVa, the same penalty that was ultimately given to quarterback Jameel Sewell and linebacker Darnell Carter.

Without a chip on his shoulders, Cook is hungry, looking for a new chance.

“This is like my second chance,” Cook said. “It is my high school number and it just feels right.”

Having had it taken away, Cook said it took weeks before he realized the ramifications of his return.

“Honestly, it didn’t really hit me until I was back in the spring,” said Cook, who earned time on the field as a true freshman in 2005. “When I first got enrolled in classes again, that was when it hit.”

Whether they were prepared for it or not, his friends have noticed his excitement.

“A couple of weeks ago I was at home thinking about playing and I just screamed,” he joked. “My roommates came running in and said, ‘What’s wrong with you?’ They get that I am just happy to be playing ball again.”

Cook said it was near impossible to watch the Cavaliers play last season, when they that finished 5-7 and missed the postseason.

“I think I watched two games,” said Cook, who has three career interceptions and 102 tackles. “It made me sick to my stomach to watch them play. I knew that I should have been playing and that was the hardest part.

“I am back now, so that feeling is really gone.”