Casey Cochran On His Retirement, Uncut
Casey’s opening remarks to the media:
Casey’s opening remarks cont’d:
Casey Cochran, one week after it was revealed he was retiring from the game he has worked so long and hard for, met with the media today following Bob Diaco’s weekly press conference.
Composed and calm, with the confident demeanor he has always possessed on display, Casey took question after question about any and all subjects relating to his playing career, his injury history and what his plans are for life after football.
It is clear above all things, that he is at peace with his decision.
“Deep down inside, it’s my health, it’s my livelihood and it has to be a no-brainer decision, just to be healthy and happy for the rest of my life,” Cochran said. “It will be tough for awhile, but it makes it a lot easier that I played the way I did. I left everything on the field, played for my teammates and I played that way so I wouldn’t have any regrets.”
The hit that ended his career, occurred in the 4th quarter of opening night against BYU. Casey went to the medical staff on his own four days later because he had concussion symptoms, something he has experienced a number of times and they weren’t getting any better.
“It was enough [the number of concussions over the course of his playing career] to have people concerned and for me to be concerned,” he said. “It was enough for me to finally be like, ‘okay, this needs to stop. I need to get to a point in my health and my mental status to get back to normal for an extended period of time.’ With the last one, it was kind of a wake-up call for me to say, ‘I need to take a step back, see where I am mentally and get back to a normal state and go and do other things.’
“I poured everything I had into football for basically 20 years,” Cochran continued. “I grew up around football, I had a football in my crib, I’m sure, when I was born, but if I can take the lessons I’ve learned through football and the lessons I’ve learned throughout my whole life and put that into anything, I know, personally, I can be successful at whatever is thrown at me.”
The symptoms have subsided for Cochran over the last couple of weeks, but he knows he may not have seen the last of it.
“I feel great now,” he said. “They vary from different ones that I’ve had and usually they get worse as they go on and after awhile it gets frustrating. It’s mentally taxing on you and one after another gets a little old.”
The support he has gotten since the news broke has been reassuring and was one of the main reasons he stayed in his home state, to play at this level.
“My parents, my family and friends and people I haven’t talked to in years have reached out to me,” Cochran said. “I’ve had an unbelievable amount of support from not just coaches, but teachers and parents and friends and this whole state has shown so much love and support for me. That’s why I wanted to come to UConn, is to have that love and support and to give back as much as I could.”
He will miss playing the game, but it’s not like the redshirt sophomore is walking away completely.
“A few things that stand out to me are just the pouring of sweat and tears and everything that goes into it, not even just on the field, but in the off-season and how much you work and the memories you make with your teammates,” he said. “I’ll always have those memories from the past and I’m going to make more memories with them now. I’ve made bonds with guys on this team that have been stronger than any I’ve ever made in my life. I made great friends and connections and I’ve had unbelievable coaches, not just here at UConn, but growing up as well.”
Casey’s first season of football was at the age of 7, in New Britain. He then went on to play in West Hartford and New London, before leading both New London High (2008) and Masuk (2010), to Connecticut state championships. His father, Jack, a legendary high school coach here in the state, helped train his son, who eventually went on to break numerous state quarterback records.
“My parents, obviously it was a tough decision, but at the end of the day, they don’t want to see their son suffer and I don’t know if it was a hard decision for them to make sure I’m healthy,” Cochran said. “My mom really couldn’t watch the games, seeing me get hit so much, so she’s going to be happy I’m not getting hit anymore. It was a tough decision, but I’m going in a different direction with different things and I’m excited and they’re excited to see whatever I end up doing.”
Saturday at Rentschler Field was the first time Casey was on the field without pads, instead, replacing a helmet, with a headset.
“It was different, but it was still fun,” he said. “There were parts of that game, little things like when we got that fumble back, I was jumping up and down, probably as excited as the other guys. There’s just something about game day when you walk out on the field, it doesn’t matter if your’re wearing pads or not, there’s just something about it. I’ve had it my whole life, just being around games and it’s fun, there’s an air to it. I’m going to miss being in pads, but I’m still going to be there [on the sidelines].”
The former quarterback had a message for younger players and also for those who believe football is asking for injury.
“I don’t have any problems with how violent the game is,” he said. “I think the thing if I needed to tell kids or people growing up around football, is to just be smart about it and not to have a mentality that you need to go on to the next level and you need to hide your injuries, doesn’t matter if it’s a head injury or ankle or anything like that. You being able to be healthy and having a happy life is way more important than winning games or being a Division 1 athlete.
“I’ve had coaches over the years who have harped on health and safety,” he continued, “but I think there’s an air to the game that says you need to be tough, you need to hide your injuries and you need to keep going. That’s not from this program, it’s not from the coaches that I’ve grown up around, there’s just that part of the game that people will always take away from the past. I think people need to start realizing how much health means and not just playing sports because it’s just a game at the end of the day. As much as I love it and as many memories as I have from it, at the end of the day, health is more important and I think people need to understand that.”
The reigning AAC-All Academic selection, came to the media session, straight from class, something that should come as no surprise for someone who is on track to graduate in three years.
“Right now I’m scheduled to graduate in the summer and hopefully move on to grad school next fall,” Cochran said. “I’m still trying to figure out what to do exactly in grad school, either business or communications. I’ve wanted to get into broadcasting for a little while, but still trying to figure that out.”
Casey won’t have any issue accomplishing anything he wants to pursue. If broadcasting doesn’t work out, coaching will always be there. After all, it runs in the family.
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