CORVALLIS — A week before fall camp began last year, Tim Cook prepared to bench press 410 pounds.
The Oregon State running back heard a crack as he bent his arms, and the bar landed on his chest. An MRI would later reveal a torn pectoral muscle in Cook's right shoulder, eliminating his first season as a Beaver before it even started.
It was tough, Cook acknowledged more than a year later. But certainly not his first bout with adversity.
Cook grew up in a rough part of Arkansas and did not qualify academically for a four-year university out of high school.