FEATURED: Cole Hunt
10/26/2017 12:00:00 AM | Football
by Ryan Myers, TCU Athletics Communications Intern
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Senior tight end Cole Hunt grew up in El Campo, Texas, where he played tight end and defensive end under the Friday night football lights. But coming out of high school, Hunt was lightly recruited.
"I didn't have any of the big boy offers from TCU, Texas Tech or Baylor," Hunt said.
He ended up at Rice, where he graduated in three years with a degree in sports management.
"One thing I liked about sports management is that you do work in the classroom, but it's a lot about what you do outside of the classroom," he said. "They really wanted you to get involved with the Texans, the Rockets and the Astros."
After graduating with two years of eligibility left, Hunt decided to transfer to TCU.
His older brother Joey was the longtime Horned Frogs center, who now plays for the Seattle Seahawks. Hunt said Joey stressed the relationships TCU student-athletes forged with their coaches and TCU's family atmosphere. When it came time to make a decision, Cole said it was really quite easy.
"One morning I was like I don't know what I'm waiting for. No other school is going to come in, so I just went ahead and committed," he said. "So far it's been the best decision of my life."
Now that he has been at TCU for a year, Hunt said he sees what Joey was talking about.
"When you come in here, these coaches are going to play the best player and not sugarcoat anything," he said. "They're going to get you to your peak as a player."
Even though they are brothers, one thing that sticks out about them now is their hair. Joey is famous for his luscious locks, even being featured on Jimmy Fallon's NFL Superlatives because of them. Cole is clean cut now, but he used to sport the same flow during his playing days at Rice.
"The only reason I had long hair was because I wore it that way for football," he said. "It took a lot of maintenance to keep it that way so I decided to clean it up."
Hunt also sees the passion Fort Worth and the student body has for their Frogs. He loves seeing how the city embraces the team and bleeds purple.
"The student body loves TCU football and that makes it more exciting when we win," he said. "It makes it that much more worth it when we are working out during the offseason, because we're working out not only for the team but for everyone else around here, too."
The love of the game of football runs deep in Hunt. He loves the brotherhood the game offers and cherishes the relationships formed between teammates.
"I would play football even if nobody was watching," he said. "Football has brought so many different guys from different backgrounds together in one locker room. You would never have run into those guys if not for football."
This became evident after Hurricane Harvey brought devastation to Houston and Hunt's old teammates at Rice.
TCU hosted the Rice football team while they were waiting to return to Houston, and Hunt got to hear of the devastation brought by the hurricane once they returned.
He said the house he lived in while at Rice was gutted out because it had 3 feet of water in it. Most of the team's cars were underwater as well because they were all parked in the same parking lot while they were in Australia.
"It really broke my heart that one of my best friends from high school had to find rides and find a new house to live in. He even lived on a couch for a few weeks," Hunt said. "It really makes you look at life in a different way. It's not all about winning games."
Hunt will graduate in May with a master's degree in liberal arts.
