The Shaping of Sterling Cossey
By Jack Danilewicz
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Being a leader on the playing field isn’t the same as being one in the locker room.
If Mililani High coach Darnell Arcenaux has his way, linebacker Sterling Cossey will be able to fill both of those roles by the beginning of fall camp in August.
“Before spring (practice) started, he took me and Hideki
(Aoki) aside and told us that he thinks of us as leaders and that he wanted us to be more vocal,” Cossey said. “I’m more of a goout-and-play type. It was hard at first, but we’ve both started to step up a little into that role.”
Cossey was one of the mainstays of Mililani’s 4-3 defense last season, although he was one of few underclassmen along with Zach Quines in the linebacker corps. At season’s end, he walked away as OIA Red West First Team All-Conference pick. That was considered no small feat after having arrived on campus as a freshman two years earlier with modest expectations.
“I thought I’d be just like every other freshman and ride the bench,” he recalled of his freshman year, when he became a starter at linebacker for the JV. “I couldn’t believe I was getting to play all the time.”
Fast forward to present day, and Cossey and the Trojans are in the midst of their summer football program, which includes weight training and conditioning and 7-on-7 pass leagues. Except for five days of spring practices, Cossey and his teammates have not been able to play “full contact” since last November, making for a lot of restlessness in the weight room.
“I’m ready to play a game already,” he mused. “We began in January and have been lifting four days a week, and we practice
five days a week. “Everybody’s been working hard and doing their part to make sure we get better. Everyone’s gotten stronger and faster.”
For Cossey, football has evolved into an all-consuming process, in part because of his exposure to the sport as a youth. Both his father and his uncle played at Leilehua during their own prep days, while cousin Justin Cossey played for Kapolei recently. When he was in second grade, Sterling first began playing Pop Warner football in Mililani.
“When I was young, I didn’t know what I wanted to play,” he recalled. “I was going to be a wide receiver, and then when we were lining up (to try different positions) at our first practice, I ended up on the defensive side, and then they switched me to linebacker.
“In the eighth grade, I started to take it more serious,” he added. “Before that, I had played to play. Later on, I watched the pros and wanted to see if I could be a pro, too. It’s more like a dream.”
Although he played several positions in the ensuing years of Pop Warner, at Mililani he has been mainly a linebacker playing inside as a sophomore and outside linebacker with the varsity as a junior. This spring, he switched back to middle linebacker.
On Sundays the image of Buffalo Bills safety London
Fletcher catches Cossey’s eye. Undersized by NFL standards, Cossey can relate, being 5-9, 205 pounds himself.
“He shuts down the stereotype,” Cossey said. “I look up to him. He’s small, but he’s still good enough to play in the NFL.”
Should Cossey receive a college scholarship, he would likely switch to safety. He’s received mail from several schools, but the recruiting process will pick up considerably in the fall for members of the class of 2009.
“My skills have gotten better, and that’s made me want to play harder,” said Cossey, who bench presses 315 pounds to go with a 3.7 time in the 40-yard dash. “Last year, I began to think I could get to college through football. Coach (Arceneaux) said he’d help me with my recruitment. I just like to play.”
That is all part of the future, of course. For the present, he’s headed back to the weight room.
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