Cook Rolls Dice, Ends Up Winning With Stanford : Football: After detour through Saddleback College, Fountain Valley graduate finds his dream as Cardinal receiver.

Stanford wide receiver Mike Cook never considered it much of a gamble. But then, he wasn’t thrilled about the bird in the hand.

Cook had scholarship offers to play football at smaller schools when he came out of Fountain Valley High School in 1988. He turned them down because he had a dream to play in the Pacific 10 Conference.

The trouble was, no one in the Pac-10 wanted him.

“There were some people who thought I was crazy to turn down scholarships,” Cook said. “I had grown up watching Pac-10 football. It was the level where I wanted to play. But the odds didn’t look too good.”

Yeah, but the payoff has been tremendous.

Cook chased his rainbow through Saddleback College. The pot of gold was a scholarship to Stanford.

Now the only crazy ones are the people who passed on him rather than to him.

Cook, a senior, is the Cardinal’s leading receiver with 48 catches for 616 yards and one touchdown. He is tied for second with C.J. Davis of Washington State in the conference, behind California’s Sean Dawkins.

Not bad for a guy who was too slow to play wide receiver and too small to be a tight end.

“I always felt I had the ability,” Cook said. “And I always do what needs to be done.”

He has proved that again and again this season.

Cook is not the fastest receiver on the team, or the most gifted. But he does have a knack for catching the ball.

Against Notre Dame, Cook made eight receptions for 78 yards to help the Cardinal rally from a 16-0 deficit. They ended up winning, 33-16.

In a 19-7 victory over UCLA, he caught three passes for 30 yards, including an eight-yard touchdown catch that gave the Cardinal a 17-7 lead.

Against Oregon State, Cook had seven receptions for 73 yards in a 27-21 Cardinal victory.

“I pride myself on making big catches,” Cook said. “I’ll go in traffic and put my body on the line. If you hold onto the ball, those shots they take at you don’t hurt that much.”

What did hurt was the lack of respect he had out of high school. Cook always knew he could catch passes. He just had to make others believe.

Never mind that he had caught 65 passes for 1,197 yards, both school records, and 12 touchdowns as a senior at Fountain Valley. Or that he helped the Barons to the Southern Section Division I title. Or that he was named all-Southern Section.

No, what most college coaches saw was a slow, gangly, 6-foot-5 receiver who would have trouble on the next level. Defensive backs would surely break him in two, they thought.

Only three schools offered him a scholarship. Pacific was the only Division I school that wanted him.

But Cook’s wants were different. He consulted with his father, Larry Cook, a scout for the New England Patriots, and decided to go to Saddleback College.

“I felt it would be a good place to get some recognition as a receiver,” Cook said. “It was my roll of the dice.”

Saddleback has proved a lucky move for other receivers. It produced Miami Dolphin receiver/kick returner Scott Miller, who was also considered unsuitable for a big-time college program. Former Kansas City Chief Stephone Paige had also caught passes for the Gauchos.

Cook excelled immediately at Saddleback; he had 45 receptions as a freshman and 50 as a sophomore.

“Mike was a security blanket for our quarterbacks,” Saddleback offensive coordinator Bill Cunerty said. “He catches anything within an arm’s reach.”

But Pac-10 schools still kept Cook at arm’s length.

It was Cunerty who got the ball rolling. He sent film to Stanford and also talked with Dennis Green, then the Cardinal coach.

“I told Dennis that I was sending him some film and I wanted him to tell me who Mike reminded him of,” Cunerty said. “Dennis called back and said, ‘This is Dwight Clark all over again.’ ”

Said Cook: “When I heard Stanford was interested, they shot to the top of my list.”

Cook spent last season as a reserve. The Cardinal already had established receivers in seniors Chris Walsh and Jon Pickney.

Cook played little, finishing with four receptions for 32 yards, but he learned a lot.

“I worked on running crisp routes and catching the ball,” Cook said. “I have to catch the ball.”

That trait suited Stanford’s new coach. When Green was hired by the Minnesota Vikings, Bill Walsh came out of retirement to return to Stanford.

Cook was thrilled.

“Who wouldn’t want Bill Walsh as their coach?” Cook said. “I walked around in disbelief for two weeks.”

Then he went to work. The Cardinal had two openings for wide receivers.

He made six catches in the spring game, helping his team to victory. Cook was rewarded with a starting job.

“I knew I had a legitimate shot at starting,” Cook said. “I worked all winter. I found anyone I could to throw balls to me. I wanted to be ready. This was my last shot.”

Cook hasn’t been disappointed, or disappointing. The season has left him with reminders of what can be accomplished.

“I can remember the Notre Dame game vividly,” Cook said. “There were 60,000 people against us. I made a few catches. I was able to contribute. It was like a dream.”

Another one that came true for Cook.