ROANOKE, Va. – "He's just an energetic guy."
“Man, he’s aggressive.”
“Mr. Energy.”
He’s 6-foot-1 and lots of fun. Jalen Cook is dynamic and embodies the word “athlete.”
“Jalen is a great athlete. He can run the ball, catch the ball out of the backfield, we can split him out, he’ll make great plays on defense,” said Patrick Henry football coach Alan Fiddler.
“He’s very coachable. He wants to do what you want him to do. That alone separates him from a lot of athletes,” said Patrick Henry basketball coach Jack Esworthy.
If you ask anyone at Patrick Henry they’ll tell you that Cook is an outstanding two-sport athlete first on the court, but even more so on the football field. But Cook’s success can’t be measured by any stat, but rather the amount of heart he plays with.
“You’re going to deal with adversity but you always have to step above that, keep on pushing and work harder,” Cook said.
The senior has done just so. He lost his close cousin Cameron to sickle cell in 2007 — a loss that still hurts to this day — which is why he played in custom cleats during football season, with a picture the two posed for years ago.
“I wanted to get something in honor of him for my senior year because he always told me just to be great and always told me that I’d be something in football or basketball, either one,” said Cook.
The fearless, tenacious spirit he plays with has been around since the age of 5.
“Once I got my equipment my dad took me outside, drew a dummy on the Roanoke City trash can, told me to run into. I ran into it. After that, football came.”
And now he’ll continue his playing career at the University of Charleston in West Virginia, while giving his all and inspiring others.
“I bring it all together, use that, and it just drives me. I keep that in my head, on my heart and keep playing until I have nothing else to give,” said Cook.
“He just brings that joy and happiness everywhere he goes. You’ll never see him down, he’s just a positive person,” said Patriots guard Dre Palmer.
“It just makes me go harder seeing him do it and I feel like I can do it too,” said Patriots guard Jamontae Smith, who has known Cook since preschool.