The Daily O’Collegian

Cornerback Perrish Cox has more on his mind than football, or even school. His thoughts stray to Dora the Explorer dolls, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and his children at home in Texas.

With a series of quick moves and a burst of breakaway speed, Perrish Cox announced his arrival at Oklahoma State.

The first time he touched the ball as a freshman, Cox returned the opening kickoff of the 2006 season 96 yards for a touchdown.

Now a junior and a starter cornerback, Cox is the all-time leader in kickoff return yards at OSU, and Cowboy football fans have gotten used to seeing him break big plays. However, they might be surprised to see him buying Dora the Explorer toys.

Cox, 21, is the father of three children.

His daughter Minaya, soon to turn 4 years old, is obsessed with Dora. For his 5-year-old son, Adarius, it’s Spider-Man and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. The baby of the group, 2-year-old daughter Madison, will take anything.

Cox said he is prone to spoiling the three.

“Whenever I see something I think they might like, I grab it,” Cox said. “I give anything for them.”

Buying toys for kids is normal enough for any dad, but Cox’s situation is hardly typical.

Cox had two kids while still in high school and another shortly after. He is no longer with the mother.

The kids split time between their mom, who lives and works in Houston, Texas, and Cox’s parents in Waco, Texas.

Cox has to make do with phone calls.

“I try to keep it from being too rough, but it can be,” he said. “I talk to them almost every day. I call them before every game; they wish me good luck.”

But no matter how often they talk, being separated by hours is often difficult for father and children alike.

“When I talk to them on the phone, they’ll say, ‘Daddy, can you come get me?,’” Cox said. “And I have to say, ‘No, I gotta stay and play football. But I love you.’ They don’t really understand what’s going on, and it breaks my heart sometimes.

“I know they don’t get what’s going on, but someday they’ll understand better.”

Coming out of high school, Cox was one of the most highly recruited defensive backs in the nation. He initially committed to Louisiana State University, but said he decided the distance from his family would be too hard.

“To me, [LSU] was kinda far away from the kids; Oklahoma State is right here,” he said. “So I basically based my choice off of that. There was other things, too, but nothing major like that, like getting to see my family.”

Cox said he goes home to see his family whenever he can, and his parents bring the kids to Stillwater for two or three games a year.

Cox’s teammates said although the cornerback is all business on the field, it’s clear that he keeps his kids in mind as he works to make it to the NFL.

“I think that’s gotta be a driving force and motivation for him because he has to support his family,” said junior linebacker Andre Sexton. “That just makes you want to work extra hard on the football field to make those plays and come up big when you need to.”

Yet when the games are over and the adrenaline wears down, Cox goes back to being a father, said junior running back Keith Toston.

“You wouldn’t even think he’s who he is on the field,” Toston said. “He’s just a normal dad when he’s outside of here with his kids.”

Senior cornerback Jacob Lacey hosted Cox when he came to Stillwater for his official recruiting visit in high school. The two roomed together during road trips, he said.

Lacey said focusing on football as a way to help his family has helped Cox mature.

“I’ve seen him grow a lot,” Lacey said. “Just from the regular aspect of being a freshman — not knowing where to go, being on time, going to class and stuff. He’s doing real good in class.

“He’s a guy who’s coming around, and we’ve talked about his family a lot. He loves his kids a lot.”

Toston said Cox is one of the most competitive players on the team, but knows when to set that drive aside to focus on family.

When the rest of the team was preparing to host Troy two weeks ago, Cox was saying goodbye to several of his possessions.

His kids were coming up for the game, and Cox said he was going to tell them to take anything they wanted home with them.

“They want my TV, it’s theirs,” Cox said. “They see some game I have, they can take it. Whatever they want. If you’re doing good in school, not being bad, I’m happy to give you. Because I don’t get to see them that often, whenever I do see them, I just want to keep a smile on their faces.”

Cox said his kids are slowly beginning to understand football.

“They see me on TV and get happy,” Cox said. “My little girls, they’re still young, so whenever they see any football game, they’re automatically like, ‘Oh, it’s my daddy!’

“My son, he actually knows. When he sees orange, he looks for 16.”

Adarius is starting kindergarten this year, and Cox said his son already dreams of following in his father’s footsteps.

“All he want to do is play football,” Cox said. “Don’t take the football away from him, he gonna get mad.”

Although Cox said he hopes to play football professionally, he’s also making other plans.

As an education major, Cox said he wants to teach physical education some day. Whether it’s after he graduates or after he retires from football, he said he wants the opportunity to coach and influence kids.

“I want to do something that I know best, and that’s sports,” Cox said. “And I want to teach because I don’t want to see the young kids grow up and do the same things that I did.”

Until he can teach other kids, Cox will keep calling his own almost every day, doing everything he can to stay close to them.

And he’ll know that every time there’s a football player in orange wearing No. 16, three of his biggest fans will be cheering him on.