Transfer receiver Brian Cobbs making quite the impression for Utah State football

LOGAN — Leading Virginia Tech 14-3 in the second quarter of the New Era Pinstripe Bowl last year, the Maryland Terrapins found themselves driving down the field and threatening to blow the game wide open.

From the Hokies' 32-yard line, quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa shuffled to his left off the play action and launched the ball toward the sidelines to his fourth-leading receiver Brian Cobbs.

Cobbs darted past a Virginia Tech linebacker and found an opening in the zone coverage. With the ball approaching, he extended out his left arm and reeled in a one-handed grab in stride before the safety crashed into him. The play, which put Maryland at the 4-yard line to set up a touchdown run, also put Cobbs at No. 10 on ESPN's top 10 plays of the day.

Fast forward three months and Cobbs is once again making impressive plays.

This time, however, they aren't being made inside the confines of Yankee Stadium surrounded by its famous white roofline trim. Nor are they occurring beneath the towering three-deck sideline of Maryland Stadium. Instead, Cobbs' head-turning catches are playing out at Merlin Olsen Field inside Maverik Stadium, with a backdrop of the Bear River Mountain Range.

Cobbs, a graduate student out of Alexandria, Virginia, that finished with 25 receptions for 341 yards last season, transferred out west for his final year of eligibility to join Utah State football's dynamic passing attack for the 2022 season.

"I'm here to play football," Cobbs said after a recent spring practice.

On paper, Cobbs appears to have a strong frame — he's 6-foot-2 and 205 pounds — but out on the practice field, his frame is complemented by his speed and agility. As he takes first-team reps in passing drills and scrimmages, he operates like a seasoned veteran; and he doesn't seem to drop passes, either.

"We kind of knew that in the recruiting process," wide receivers and passing coordinator coach Kyle Cefalo said.

In one of the early sessions of spring practice, Cobbs gave the public an early taste of what he could do. In one-on-one drills against the defensive backs, Cobbs got a step on his defender and grabbed a 50-yard throw from quarterback Cooper Legas. Moments later, in 11-on-11 drills, Legas hit him on a crossing route for an easy first down.

The play looked similar to something former receivers Brandon Bowling or Deven Thompkins would have made out of the slot last season.

"He's gotten people's attention just because of how productive he's been just in a short week. Great kid, hard worker, just very excited he's with us," Cefalo said. "Phenomenal ball skills. And you can tell, even though he's new here, he's played a lot of football. He played four years at Maryland, played in the Big Ten; he's used to playing competitive football and he's very comfortable when the ball gets to him."

The arrival of Cobbs — and his hands — is well timed. Utah State had to replace the majority of its production from arguably the greatest wide receiving group the program has ever seen after last season. The group averaged 303.43 reception yards per game, which was 15th nationally, and three players had 10-plus touchdowns — Derek Wright, Bowling and Thompkins.

Thompkins finished the season second in receiving yards with 1,704 en route to becoming a third team Associated Press All-American.

Utah State returns Justin Mcgriff and Kyle Van Leeuwen, who finished fourth and seventh, respectively, in receiving yards last season. And to bolster the group, the Aggies signed junior Xaiver Williams out of Alabama, junior Terrell Vaughn from Ventura Community College and Cobbs over the winter.

Cobbs, who is the most experienced of the newcomers, has a chance to make the biggest impact this fall, which is what he came to Cache Valley to do.

After announcing he was transferring on Jan. 1, Cobbs received plenty of calls and was offered scholarships from Coastal Carolina and Old Dominion, as well as FCS powerhouse James Madison. But a call he received on Jan. 3 stood out.

Utah State offensive coordinator Anthony Tucker, who was the running back coach at Maryland for the 2016 and 2017 seasons, reached out. Cobbs, a member of the 2018 signing class, was familiar with Tucker from his recruiting process and the two chatted on the phone for a while. Later that week, both Cefalo and head coach Blake Anderson reached out as well.

"They began to kind of press harder and harder, and I felt like they were kind of showing me the most love," Cobbs said.

What impressed Cobbs was the production from the Aggies offense last season. He saw three receivers finished with 10-plus touchdowns — something no other team in the country had done. While the Maryland offense he played in operated fast, it paled in comparison to the speed of the Aggies offense under Anderson.

The team's 11 wins last season, a conference championship and an AP Top 25 finish only added to the appeal of Logan.

"I knew it was a strong program. I knew they had some good things going and I knew I wanted to be a part of it," Cobbs said. "I kind of took that week to decide and then coach Anderson, he was blowing up my phone all week. I decided on a Thursday or Friday, and then I was in from there."

Similar to his play on the field, it's been a smooth process for Cobbs to assimilate himself into the program and the culture. When he announced his commitment, quarterback Logan Bonner sent him a direct message on social media saying, "We're going to go for 50 touchdowns now." The locker room has welcomed Cobbs, and he's been impressed with the leadership inside the receiver room — mentioning Mcgriff and Van Leeuwen, specifically, as guys he looks up to.

Cobbs said he's also embraced the "chill" vibe of Logan. His time away from football has been spent driving through the canyon, eating at local restaurants, hanging out with Vaughn and keeping up with his online classes.

"The game of football is a game of football, no matter where you're playing at. Nothing's ever gonna change."

On the field, Cobbs looks to emulate what the recently graduated receivers accomplished last year. Thompkins and Wright, who he got to meet briefly at Utah State's Pro Day, are two guys he admires.

Cobbs has spent time watching film on both of them, studying their tendencies, and seeing different moves they used to beat defenders. The goal is to master the new offense. So far, he's on the right track.

"(Cobbs) really has studied, he's fit in, blended in," Anderson said.

"I definitely feel like I need to clean up some structural stuff due to a new offense and everything," Cobbs said. "But in terms of getting the playbook down, getting the chemistry with the quarterbacks and all that and just kind of knowing where I got to fit in in the lineup, I feel like I'm understanding all that really well."

Now 2,000 away from his former university, Cobbs has found a new home out west — beneath the looming Rocky Mountains — and he's focused on the task at hand.

"We're here for one goal and that's just to work," Cobbs said. "We have a goal we're trying to accomplish and we're trying to get on that same page."

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