MC’s Cocio making most of unexpected opportunity

Frank Cocio can’t help but look back and laugh about the strange twists and turns his life has taken in the last half-year.

The Atwater High School graduate was prepared to walk away from football at the end of his senior campaign. A solid showing in the 31st annual North/South Rotary All-Star Football Classic at the end of June helped change his mind. A number of Merced College football players were in attendance that evening and personally recruited Cocio to play for the Blue Devils.

The move seems to have worked out. Set to redshirt to start the season, the freshman has moved from third string to backup to starter in the span of five weeks. He made a heck of an impression in his first collegiate start last weekend, passing for 335 yards and three touchdowns, and rushing for a fourth in a 41-10 road rout of Hartnell.

With backup Randy Jones dismissed from the team and starter Andrew Trahan out indefinitely with a back injury, the job is Cocio’s the rest of the way. He’ll try to build on last week’s success and help get the Blue Devils back over .500. as they host Reedley tonight. Kickoff is set for 6 p.m. at Stadium ’76.

“I had kind of planned on the All-Star game being my last game,” Cocio said. “Then a couple of guys, like Kamilo (Tongamoa) were out there. He talked to me about playing and convinced me to do it. I’m kind of glad I did now.

“I was fully prepared to redshirt. I took practice seriously to get better and ready for 2017 and 2018, but it’s crazy. I never expected to be a starter this year.”

It’d be even crazier if he was the one to lead Merced College (3-3, 1-2 Golden Coast Conference) to its first winning season since 1998.

The schedule is certainly in Cocio’s favor, with the Blue Devils’ last four opponents entering the week with just five combined wins. And the freshman has always appeared to have the skill set to be successful.

Cocio possessed a good throwing arm and solid mobility at Atwater. He rarely got to show the full range of his abilities, however. The Falcons were a 2-to-1 run-to-pass ratio team in his time there and seldom had the protection or skill players around Cocio for him to thrive.

The Blue Devils have both, with a trio of receivers averaging over 13 yards per catch and an offensive line that has yielded just five sacks. Cocio has completed 56 percent of his 39 pass attempts and, most importantly, has yet to turn the ball over.

“That was important in my first start,” Cocio said. “I really wanted to make sure I took care of the ball. I never imagined I’d pass for 300 yards, but I just followed the coaches’ game plan and took what the defense was giving me.”

He’ll try for a follow-up performance against a Reedley (0-6, 0-3 GCC) squad that’s ranked 43rd in the state defensively, yielding 33 points and 382 yards per game.

“It’s definitely the classic trap game,” MC coach Bob Casey said. “We’re coming off of a good road win and now returning home against a winless team. Reedley has athletes all over the field. They just haven’t been able to put it all together as a team yet.

“They do all kinds of crazy things defensively. Schematically, they haven’t shown the same thing from week to week on the entire season, so you have no idea what to expect,” he said. “We just need to try and repeat the things we did well against Hartnell. We were way more physical on both sides of the ball. We hit the big plays when they were there, and once we got in front, we never allowed them to get back into it.”

This story was originally published October 21, 2016 at 3:06 PM with the headline "MC’s Cocio making most of unexpected opportunity."