No longer a secret, but still a weapon

Cole Magner is no longer Bowling Green State University's best kept secret.

As an underclassman with the Division I Falcons, the Colony High School graduate was not on the radar screen. Opponents saw the skinny kid from Alaska with shaggy blonde hair and didn't fret.

"There's not many people from Alaska going on and being successful (in football)," Magner said.

Flying through the defensive backfields of opponents, incognito, Magner began to make plays. He caught 13 balls and ran and threw for touchdowns as a freshman, doubled his catches as a sophomore and by the end of his junior campaign he owned a pair of Bowling Green State season records.

As a junior Magner caught a school-record 99 passes for a school-record 1,138 yards and 10 touchdowns. Once seen as a skinny receiver from way up north in Alaska, Magner has become a fat part of Bowling Green's pro-style offense and a central reason the school earned bowl invitation and a Motor City Bowl victory.

Magner said he has cashed in on being from Alaska, as his home state has garnered him as much attention as his play. His Alaska upbringing became a favorite of national newspaper writers and sportscasters. Every time Magner touched the ball in any one of the several BG games to be televised on ESPN, a graphic was displayed to show the distance from Magner's hometown of Palmer to his new home in Bowling Green, Ohio. Sportscasters spoke of Magner's father and high school coach, Randy, who enjoys fishing as much as football. During the Motor City Bowl, cameras panned to Magner's father and older brother, Seth, sitting in the stands after each of his two touchdowns in the 28-14 win over Northwestern.

Going into his senior year, Magner is on the radar screen and is recognized as a threat on the field. Though scouts see Magner as one of Bowling Green's top offensive products, and he is on the All-Middle American Conference teams in several preseason publications, Magner still likes to think he is the fourth-stringer fighting for playing time.

"I kind of like to pretend that I am not known," Magner said. "I don't think I am very good. That's kind of how I go about it."

In the first two games of the season -- a loss to top-ranked Oklahoma and win over Southeast Missouri State -- Magner's statistics are modest, seven catches for 30 yards, as he has been hobbled by a foot injury. The 2004 campaign started with a limp as he broke a toe prior to the first game of the season.

"Funny story actually," Magner said.

After moving back into his apartment -- the team stays on campus residence halls during the early weeks of practice -- and before unpacking most of his belongings, Magner woke in the middle of the night and in the dark and on the way to the bathroom, he ran his foot against a dumbbell on the floor and suffered the injury. Team doctors said the injury would take four to six weeks to heal and in the meantime, Magner has been playing through the injury.

"I am just tolerating it," Magner said.

But with each week the injury becomes less of a pain and Magner said he will become more of a focus in the offense. Tonight, as the Falcons face MAC rival Northern Illinois at 4 p.m. AST in a nationally televised game on ESPN2, Magner will move from his slot position to a flanker spot on the outside. He is also one of the team's top two kick returners, in a battle for the punt returner job and will even be punting this season.

"I was supposed to punt in the first two games, but couldn't because of the foot," Magner said.

As he concentrates on helping to fulfill teams goals, such as winning the MAC and a bowl game, and personal goals such as topping his statistics from a year ago, Magner said he is also working to not let this be his final season playing football at a major level. Magner said by doing the best he can, he can try to land a spot on one of the postseason senior bowls and catch the notice of the National Football League scouts.

"Since two-a-days a scout from every single NFL team has come out," Magner said. "I try not to have it distract me now, I don't want to be selfish, but after the season I will be talking to agents."

Magner said currently he is listed as a late-round draft pick or priority free agent by most scouting services.

"Football is better than any other job," Magner said.