TRANsITIoNINg fRom bEINg AN uNdER-ThE- RAdAR sTANdouT AT
CAl Poly To ThE PRos oN ThE NfC PowERhousE
EAglEs wAs lIkE bEINg shoT fRom A CANNoN foR goCoNg.
season, preparing for games is a full- time job.
“It’s amazing how much of a chess match it is,” Gocong says of the intri- cacy of the professional game. And in the pros, the skills of the athletes also jump a few notches. “(In the NFL) everybody is fast,” Gocong says. “You’re not the fastest guy on the field, so you can’t afford to make any mistakes.”
The first game that Gocong played in the NFL was at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, the heart and soul of American football. A guy named Brett Farve was still a Packer then, and Gocong, suited up as an Eagle, said he soaked it up for a second—the crowd, the cameras, the whole spec- tacle—but then it was football time, and in an intense game predicated on high-speed collisions, he quickly came back to earth to tackle the task at hand.
Being a pro athlete is nothing like it’s portrayed in movies, Gocong says. Sure, if out to a restaurant with a big name guy like Jeremiah Trotter, a Pro-Bowler many times over, it’s hard
led the country in tackles for losses and won the Buck Buchanan trophy while becoming a legitimate NFL prospect.
“You always want to be an NFL player, but never really think out a plan to get there,” Gocong says. “It just kind of happened.” He was drafted in the third round by the Philadelphia Eagles.
Transitioning from being an under-the-radar stand- out at Cal Poly to the pros on the NFC powerhouse Eagles was like being shot from a cannon for Gocong. NFL football is a whole different animal. During the
to ignore all of the eyes gawking at the football stars, but teammates are “just regular guys,” Gocong says. There’s still a lot of football left in Gocong’s tank. He said the Browns have appreciated his mental abili- ties and made him the play-caller on defense. Other than having a sharp football mind on the field, Go- cong said the thing that keeps teams interested in his services is his workmanship. On every play he gives 100 percent until the whistle, the type of blue-collar approach that the Dawg Pound of Cleveland and War- rior football fans can appreciate. ¢
WINTER2012 15
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