Hocking College Football Player with Down Syndrome Makes History

PARKERSBURG, W.Va. (WTAP) -Caden Cox, a football player at Hocking College has already accomplished so much as a freshman student athlete.

Cox is the first individual with down syndrome to play in an NCAA or NJCAA college football game and the first to score a point. He scored during the Hawks first home game against Sussex Community College.

Ted Egger, Head Football Coach for Hocking College said, “It was a great moment, it was a really wonderful day for our program and for him and his family and he’s been practicing every day, he comes out every day and works really hard and he got the opportunity to go into a game and kick and it didn’t faze him and he went out and did what he does every day in practice and put it through the uprights and it was a really special moment.”

Cox is also the first junior college athlete to receive a name, image and likeness amateur contract with a brand. Cox has over 300,000 followers and 4.5 million likes.

Copyright 2021 WTAP. All rights reserved.