Kirk Cousins

Kirk Daniel Cousins (born August 19, 1988) is an American football quarterback for the Washington Redskins of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Michigan State, where he was the Spartans' starter from 2009 to 2011. He was drafted by the Redskins in the fourth round of the 2012 NFL Draft.

Early life

Cousins is the son of Don Cousins, the senior pastor at Discovery Church in Orlando, Florida, and Maryann Cousins. He is the second of three children. Cousins attended Holland Christian High School in Holland, Michigan, where he starred in football, baseball (as a pitcher), and basketball. He broke his ankle in his junior year and was forced to attend camps in order to make an impression with recruiting colleges. Cousins finished his high school football career with 3,204 passing yards, 40 touchdowns, and 18 interceptions.

After high school, Cousins was sewt to sign with Toledo or Western Michigan, until Mark Dantonio became the head coach at Michigan State in 2007. After Dantonio failed to sign his top targets at quarterback, he offered a scholarship to Cousins, which he accepted. He also participated in Athletes in Action sports ministry. Cousins majored in kinesiology throughout his college career.

College career

In 2007, newly hired Michigan State head coach Mark Dantonio recruited Cousins to play for the Spartans. Cousins was redshirted for the 2007 season. In 2008, he spent the season as the back up quarterback to Brian Hoyer. He played in five games passing for a total of 310 yards and two touchdowns and one interception. In 2009, he competed for and won the starting quarterback job against teammate Keith Nichol. He led Michigan State to a 6–7 (4-4) season with 19 touchdowns, 9 interceptions and 2,680 passing yards in 12 games. In 2010, he led Michigan State to an 11–2 (7-1) record and a share of the Big Ten Championship. In 2011 his Michigan State Spartans went 11-3 (7-2) and played in the first ever Big Ten championship game. Cousins was named Second Team All-Big Ten by the coaches, and played his final game as a Michigan State Spartan on January 2, 2012 defeating the Georgia Bulldogs in the Outback Bowl. His teams posted an undefeated 4-0 record against the in-state rival Michigan Wolverines. Cousins won the 2011 Lowes's Senior CLASS Award.

Kirk Cousins drew praise for a speech he delivered at the Big Ten kickoff lunch on behalf of all Big Ten student-athletes

Professional career

2012 season

Cousins at Redskins training camp in 2012

In the 2012 NFL Draft, Cousins was selected by the Washington Redskins as the seventh choice in the fourth round, making him the 102nd draft pick overall. The pick surprised many analysts, as the Redskins had drafted 2011 Heisman Trophy winner Robert Griffin III with the second overall pick to be their franchise quarterback. The Redskins acquired the Griffin pick by giving the St. Louis Rams four high-value draft picks over three years. Cousins was viewed as an insurance policy in case Griffin was injured, with Redskins coach Mike Shanahan saying "You're one or two plays away from being the starter...And if I see that value out there on the third day of the draft, I'm going to take that." The Redskins drafting Griffin and Cousins in the same draft echoed the team's strategy in the 1994 NFL draft, when the team drafted Heath Shuler with the third overall pick and later drafted Gus Frerotte in the seventh round. Cousins officially signed a four-year contract with the Redskins on May 31, 2012.

In the second game of the preseason against the Chicago Bears, Cousins threw three touchdown passes in the fourth quarter, though the Bears would go on to win 33-31. In the fourth and final game of preseason against Tampa Bay Buccaneers, Cousins completed 15-of-27 passes for 222 yards, the Washington Redskins had a 30-3 win. He won the backup quarterback job over incumbent starter Rex Grossman.

Cousins made his regular season debut in the third quarter of a Week 5 loss to the Atlanta Falcons after Griffin suffered a concussion. Cousins threw his first career touchdown pass on a 77-yard pass to Santana Moss, but threw two interceptions in the last two series of the game while trying to tie the game.

His second NFL appearance came in Week 14 against the Baltimore Ravens. On the final drive of the game, with the Redskins down 8, Griffin suffered a knee injury. Cousins went 2-2 and finished the drive with an 11-yard touchdown pass to Pierre Garçon with 29 seconds remaining, to bring the Redskins within 2. On the two-point conversion, Shanahan called for a run/pass option, and Cousins scored on a quarterback draw to tie the game at 28. In overtime, rookie cornerback Richard Crawford gave the Redskins excellent field position after a 64-yard punt return, setting up a game-winning field goal.

The following week, on December 15, 2012, Cousins was announced as the Redskins starter for the Week 15 game against the Cleveland Browns, marking his first career start. After a slow first half, Cousins rallied the offense to a 28-point second act. Cousins finished the day 26-of-37 for 329 yards with 2 touchdown passes, bringing the Washington Redskins a 38-21 win. Later that week, Cousins was voted the Pepsi NFL Rookie of the Week, becoming the third Redskins rookie to receive the honor that season (after Griffin and Alfred Morris). Overall in 2012, Cousins appeared in 3 games with 466 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and 3 interceptions.

2013 season

On December 11, 2013, Cousins was named starting quarterback for the rest of the 2013 season after Shanahan deactivated Robert Griffin III for the remainder of the season in order to protect him for the following year, with Rex Grossman as Cousins's backup. Cousins appeared in 5 games with 854 passing yards, 4 touchdowns, and 7 interceptions.

2014 season

On February 2, 2014, it was reported that Cousins had stated that he was open to a trade from the Redskins.

In March, Cousins announced that he would be giving number 12 to new teammate Andre Roberts, for the price of a $12,000 donation to the Kirk Cousins Football Camp. Cousins then switched over to number 8, a number he wore throughout his high school and college career.

During Week 2 against the Jacksonville Jaguars, Cousins came in relief of Griffin who left the game with a dislocated ankle. Cousins finished the game with 250 passing yards and two touchdowns in a 41–10 victory. In Week 3 against the Philadelphia Eagles, Cousins started the game and threw for 427 yards, the first game he had over 400 passing yards. Washington still lost an ensuing slugfest to the Eagles 34–37. In Week 4 against the New York Giants, Cousins had a poor showing, throwing for one touchdown with four interceptions and a lost fumble. The Redskins were blown out 45–14 with a total of 6 turnovers.

In Week 5, against the defending Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, Cousins showed progress from the embarrassing loss to the Giants by throwing for two touchdowns without an interception, including a 68-yard touchdown pass to DeSean Jackson. Despite the solid performance from Cousins, the Redskins lost the game 27–17. Following a poor performance in the first half in the Week 7 game against the Tennessee Titans, he was benched at halftime in favor of backup quarterback Colt McCoy, and did not play in any more games for the remainder of the season.

2015 season

Cousins after the game against Tampa Bay in 2015

On August 31, 2015, Cousins was named the starter for the season over Robert Griffin III. On October 4, Cousins led a 90-yard game winning drive against the Philadelphia Eagles, his first since 2012, when he threw a touchdown pass to Pierre Garçon with under a minute left in the fourth quarter, winning the game 23–20.

On October 25, Cousins helped lead the Redskins to their largest comeback win in franchise history, after being down 24–0 against the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, to a 31–30 victory. In the game, Cousins had another game winning drive for the season, eventually finishing with 317 yards and four total touchdowns, three passing and one rushing. Cousins also tied a franchise record for completions in a game with 33, tying Jason Campbell, who did the same in 2007. Before heading into the locker room, Cousins was caught on camera shouting "You like that!?" at CSN Mid-Atlantic's Tarik El-Bashir, which later become a catchphrase used by him, Redskin teammates, and fans throughout the rest of the season. Cousins and his brother Kyle applied to trademark the catchphrase later in the season, and began to sell t-shirts with the phrase to raise money for the International Justice Mission charitable organization.

Against the New Orleans Saints on November 15, Cousins threw for a career-high four touchdowns, as well as posting a perfect passer rating of 158.3, making him the first Redskins quarterback since 1950 to do that with at least 20 attempts.Vorlage:Efn Against the Buffalo Bills on December 20, Cousins passed for four touchdowns, and ran for another in a Redskins victory, marking his second four touchdown passing game of the season.

The following week against the Philadelphia Eagles, Cousins took an ill-advised quarterback kneel inside the Eagles' redzone with six seconds left before halftime, running out the clock and forgoing any chance of adding upon the Redskins' lead. Despite that, Cousins eventually passed for four touchdowns in the game, his second consecutive four touchdown performance and third overall on the season. The performance lead the Redskins victory over the Eagles to a score of 38–24, which allowed the team to win the NFC East division title for the first time since Griffin III did it in 2012.

Cousins finished the 2015 season posting the highest completion percentage (74.7) in home games in NFL history, with a minimum of 100 attempts, leading the Redskins to a 6–2 record at home. He also became the first Redskins quarterback since Sonny Jurgensen in 1970 to have at least four passing touchdowns in three or more games in one season.

Professional statistics

Regular season

				Passing								Rushing				Sacked		Fumbles		Team Record
Year	Team	G	GS	Comp	Att	Pct	Yds	Y/A	TD	Int	Passer Rating	Rush Att	Yds	Avg	TD	Sack	Yds	Fum	Lost	W/L (as starter)
2012	WSH	3	1	33	48	68.8	466	9.7	4	3	101.6	3	22	7.3	0	3	27	1	0	1-0
2013	WSH	5	3	81	155	52.3	854	5.5	4	7	58.4	4	14	3.5	0	5	32	3	2	0-3
2014	WSH	6	5	126	204	61.8	1,710	8.4	10	9	86.4	7	20	2.9	0	8	70	2	2	1-4
2015	WSH	16	16	379	543	69.8	4,166	7.7	29	11	101.6	26	48	1.8	5	26	186	8	3	9-7

Personal life

Cousins married Julie Hampton on June 28, 2014, in Atlanta, Georgia. He dated Hampton for roughly two years prior to marrying her. Cousins is a Christian. During his time with the Redskins, Cousins earned the nickname "Captain Kirk" from the media for his presence as a leader. The name is a reference to the Star Trek character, Captain Kirk.

External links

• Washington Redskins profile
• Michigan State profile