Title: Magner hopes Arena success leads to NFL
Iowahorse - August 2, 2007 01:53 PM (GMT)
Magner hopes Arena success leads to NFL
Staff Report
Published August 2, 2007
It’s fitting that Cole Magner played Sunday for the championship of the Arena Football League.
It was a reward for the patience of the Colony High School graduate and former standout wide receiver for Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Sure, the Arena League isn’t the National Football League. A 50-yard Arena field is half the length of an NFL surface, but the objective of the game is the same — score more points than the other team.
And ask any athlete who earns a paycheck playing a game he loves, regardless of the league, and he’ll tell you in a heartbeat that he yearns to play for a title.
“It was great,” Magner, while riding Tuesday afternoon with family members in a van on Highway 101 in California, said of playing Sunday for the Columbus (Ohio) Destroyers against the San Jose Sabercats in ArenaBowl XXI in New Orleans.
The Magners were coming Tuesday from Santa Barbara, where Cole’s sister, Leah, a former guard for the Colony girls and the University of Iowa women’s basketball teams, got married. They were heading to Monterey, where his other sister, Amber, a former guard for Palmer High and the University of New Orleans, is entering her seventh season as the head coach for the NCAA Division II women’s program at California State Monterey Bay.
“You hope to play for a championship at every level,” said Cole Magner. “I’ve lost in all three I’ve played in and that kind of sucks, but it’s good to compete at the highest level everywhere.”
Magner was a senior quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back when Colony lost to Dimond in the 2000 large schools state championship game at the Anchorage Football Stadium. He was a junior for Bowling Green when the host Falcons fell in the 2003 Mid American Conference title game to a Miami (Ohio) RedHawks squad that was quarterbacked by Ben Roethlisberger, who in 2006 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, captured the Holy Grail of the NFL — the Super Bowl’s Vince Lombardi Trophy.
On Sunday in the New Orleans Arena, Magner and the Destroyers lost 55-33 to the Sabercats. The 22-point defeat, though, wasn’t really a setback for the 6-foot-2, 195-pound wide receiver.
The Arena League’s marquee event culminated his first regular season of professional football.
No more auditions, no more assistant coaches telling him to turn in his playbook because he’s been cut — as it was for him in training camps in 2005 and 2006 with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
For Columbus, Magner got to wear a uniform (No. 91) and play mental chess against defensive backs. The Destroyers, who are co-owned by veteran NFL wide receiver Joey Galloway of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, signed Magner to a one-year contract earlier this season, first placing him on their practice squad before promoting him to the active roster.
“I’m not the type of player, who at tryouts and (scouting) combines, is going to wow you with my stats and my (40-yard dash) times or how big I am or how fast I am,” Magner said. “I am going to be out there and show you that I am a football player. It was huge for people to see me do that.”
A national television audience — ArenaBowl XXI was broadcast on ABC — and 17,056 people in the New Orleans Arena got to see the 24-year-old Magner catch seven passes for 68 yards, the second-best effort by a Destroyers receiver. One of his catches was a 3-yard touchdown on a fade route with 8:44 left in the third quarter to trim San Jose’s lead to 27-21.
He dedicated the touchdown to Alaska.
“I just feel through the ups and downs in my career, even in high school, I had a lot of support from the state,” he said. “It was great to get back out there and play pro football in a big-time environment. I needed to give something back to a lot of people who have given me a lot of support through my career.”
Magner even overcame recent adversity in the Arena League.
He debuted for Columbus in a 56-53 loss at the Philadelphia Soul on June 16, hauling in four passes for 44 yards, including touchdowns of 9 and 29 yards in the third quarter. A week later, he suffered a staph infection in a leg and missed three games — the Destroyers’ regular-season finale and their first two playoff games.
“I was thinking ‘What the heck? Why can’t I catch a break?,” Magner recalled.
He made his own breaks when he returned for the National Conference championship game against the Georgia Force in Atlanta on July 14. He scored the game’s first touchdown, a 7-yard catch, and finished with five receptions for 39 yards to help the Destroyers to a 66-56 victory and their first appearance in an ArenaBowl.
He hopes scouts from the NFL took notice of his brief but effective Arena season because he hopes to get invited back to a NFL training camp. Magner is a free agent in the Arena League and Columbus officials have asked him to re-sign with the Destroyers, but he hasn’t yet decided if he’ll return to the indoor game.
He does, though, want another opportunity at the NFL.
Before Columbus placed him on its active roster, he was invited to the Oakland Raiders veterans minicamp for four days earlier this summer.
The invitation showed that it pays to be respectful of coaches in NFL training camps because Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, who held the same position with Atlanta when Magner tried out for the Falcons, asked him to come to the Oakland camp.
“I developed a good repertoire with the Atlanta coaches,” Magner said.
If given the opportunity, he can do likewise with the coaches at any NFL camp, and as three games — particularly Arena Bowl XXI — in the Arena League showed, he can play, too.
“I hope it helps me a lot,” Magner said. “It was only three games but I think the big thing they showed to NFL people was that I can stay in there and take hits, and play for a whole season.”
Staff Report
Published August 2, 2007
It’s fitting that Cole Magner played Sunday for the championship of the Arena Football League.
It was a reward for the patience of the Colony High School graduate and former standout wide receiver for Bowling Green State University in Ohio.
Sure, the Arena League isn’t the National Football League. A 50-yard Arena field is half the length of an NFL surface, but the objective of the game is the same — score more points than the other team.
And ask any athlete who earns a paycheck playing a game he loves, regardless of the league, and he’ll tell you in a heartbeat that he yearns to play for a title.
“It was great,” Magner, while riding Tuesday afternoon with family members in a van on Highway 101 in California, said of playing Sunday for the Columbus (Ohio) Destroyers against the San Jose Sabercats in ArenaBowl XXI in New Orleans.
The Magners were coming Tuesday from Santa Barbara, where Cole’s sister, Leah, a former guard for the Colony girls and the University of Iowa women’s basketball teams, got married. They were heading to Monterey, where his other sister, Amber, a former guard for Palmer High and the University of New Orleans, is entering her seventh season as the head coach for the NCAA Division II women’s program at California State Monterey Bay.
“You hope to play for a championship at every level,” said Cole Magner. “I’ve lost in all three I’ve played in and that kind of sucks, but it’s good to compete at the highest level everywhere.”
Magner was a senior quarterback, wide receiver and defensive back when Colony lost to Dimond in the 2000 large schools state championship game at the Anchorage Football Stadium. He was a junior for Bowling Green when the host Falcons fell in the 2003 Mid American Conference title game to a Miami (Ohio) RedHawks squad that was quarterbacked by Ben Roethlisberger, who in 2006 with the Pittsburgh Steelers, captured the Holy Grail of the NFL — the Super Bowl’s Vince Lombardi Trophy.
On Sunday in the New Orleans Arena, Magner and the Destroyers lost 55-33 to the Sabercats. The 22-point defeat, though, wasn’t really a setback for the 6-foot-2, 195-pound wide receiver.
The Arena League’s marquee event culminated his first regular season of professional football.
No more auditions, no more assistant coaches telling him to turn in his playbook because he’s been cut — as it was for him in training camps in 2005 and 2006 with the NFL’s Atlanta Falcons.
For Columbus, Magner got to wear a uniform (No. 91) and play mental chess against defensive backs. The Destroyers, who are co-owned by veteran NFL wide receiver Joey Galloway of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, signed Magner to a one-year contract earlier this season, first placing him on their practice squad before promoting him to the active roster.
“I’m not the type of player, who at tryouts and (scouting) combines, is going to wow you with my stats and my (40-yard dash) times or how big I am or how fast I am,” Magner said. “I am going to be out there and show you that I am a football player. It was huge for people to see me do that.”
A national television audience — ArenaBowl XXI was broadcast on ABC — and 17,056 people in the New Orleans Arena got to see the 24-year-old Magner catch seven passes for 68 yards, the second-best effort by a Destroyers receiver. One of his catches was a 3-yard touchdown on a fade route with 8:44 left in the third quarter to trim San Jose’s lead to 27-21.
He dedicated the touchdown to Alaska.
“I just feel through the ups and downs in my career, even in high school, I had a lot of support from the state,” he said. “It was great to get back out there and play pro football in a big-time environment. I needed to give something back to a lot of people who have given me a lot of support through my career.”
Magner even overcame recent adversity in the Arena League.
He debuted for Columbus in a 56-53 loss at the Philadelphia Soul on June 16, hauling in four passes for 44 yards, including touchdowns of 9 and 29 yards in the third quarter. A week later, he suffered a staph infection in a leg and missed three games — the Destroyers’ regular-season finale and their first two playoff games.
“I was thinking ‘What the heck? Why can’t I catch a break?,” Magner recalled.
He made his own breaks when he returned for the National Conference championship game against the Georgia Force in Atlanta on July 14. He scored the game’s first touchdown, a 7-yard catch, and finished with five receptions for 39 yards to help the Destroyers to a 66-56 victory and their first appearance in an ArenaBowl.
He hopes scouts from the NFL took notice of his brief but effective Arena season because he hopes to get invited back to a NFL training camp. Magner is a free agent in the Arena League and Columbus officials have asked him to re-sign with the Destroyers, but he hasn’t yet decided if he’ll return to the indoor game.
He does, though, want another opportunity at the NFL.
Before Columbus placed him on its active roster, he was invited to the Oakland Raiders veterans minicamp for four days earlier this summer.
The invitation showed that it pays to be respectful of coaches in NFL training camps because Raiders offensive coordinator Greg Knapp, who held the same position with Atlanta when Magner tried out for the Falcons, asked him to come to the Oakland camp.
“I developed a good repertoire with the Atlanta coaches,” Magner said.
If given the opportunity, he can do likewise with the coaches at any NFL camp, and as three games — particularly Arena Bowl XXI — in the Arena League showed, he can play, too.
“I hope it helps me a lot,” Magner said. “It was only three games but I think the big thing they showed to NFL people was that I can stay in there and take hits, and play for a whole season.”
Ton80kid - August 3, 2007 02:35 AM (GMT)
I hope he makes it back to the NFL...he's got skills... :)
Iowahorse - August 3, 2007 03:28 AM (GMT)
He damn sure does. I'd take Sunshine over Roddy White any day of the week.
Doc_2957 - August 3, 2007 12:58 PM (GMT)
I took this at the Championship game.
Ton80kid - August 3, 2007 02:43 PM (GMT)
| QUOTE (Iowahorse @ Aug 2 2007, 10:28 PM) |
| He damn sure does. I'd take Sunshine over Roddy White any day of the week. |
I wouldn't go so far as to say that...but I'd take him as our No 5 guy over virtually anyone else that's going to be in that slot this season... :P