EDMONTON, AB – The next generation of Canadian players is vital for the CFL, and Gavin Cobb is one who is starting to make an impact.
The 26-year-old receiver is fresh off his first season with the Edmonton Elks, after a devastating ankle injury in 2022 Elks training camp forced him to miss his entire rookie season. The Manitoba Bisons alumni had teased some electric playmaking ability in camp prior to the injury, and last season he began to show signs of the playmaker he can be.
Cobb finished his first pro season with 11 catches for 214 yards and a touchdown in only eight appearances — but also plied his speed and agility on special teams as a kick-off returner. More than a full year removed from the injury that cost him his rookie year, Cobb is ready to make a bigger impact with the Elks in 2024.
In the latest Elks in the Offseason, GoElks.com sat down with the Canadian speedster and discussed how his offseason was going so far.
Hey Gavin. I guess we’ll start with just how’s your offseason going so far?
Offseason has been really good. I got back home for about a month, back to Victoria, so that was really nice. And then, yeah, just back out here enjoying our spring like weather in the winter now, so no complaints.
Did you miss that -50 snap that we had?
I was here for that. Got back just in time. My first day back off the plane was -30, crazy.
So you’re making Edmonton your offseason home?
Edmonton kind of became my home base just because I met a lot of really good people out here and I have a pretty good support system around here and I coached a high school team last year. So I made some connections there and I feel at home here. So yeah, I made this home base for now.
Since you’ve kind of made it home here, where are your go to places to go in Edmonton?
Oh, man, I don’t do a lot of going out. My go to place, to be honest, is probably Cactus Club. I like rec room because I like playing games. I’m a really big of F-1 racing and I like when they have the race sim at rec room, so I like going there to play games.
What does a typical day look like for you right now?
Right now, man, I wake up, got to eat breakfast first and foremost, start the day with a meal. Then I go to the gym, work out, run. I try to get my workouts done before 12-1 p.m.m so then I have my afternoon and evenings to kind of do what I want.
You went from the west combine in Edmonton, to the CFL Combine, to being drafted by the Elks. What was that journey like?
So, yeah, I started at the West Regional Combine here in 2022. I think I had a great performance here, so they invited me to the National Combine in Toronto. I thought I performed pretty well over there and then yeah, coach Jones called me on draft day and they picked me up and man, it’s been great ever since. I mean, I had the injury my rookie year and bounced back. Here we are now.
That’s what I was going to touch on next is how you bounce back from that injury. It’s been over a full year now, are you feeling 100 per cent?
Oh yeah. I mean, the injury that I sustained, it taught me a lot about myself, a lot about perseverance, a lot about dedication, commitment and discipline. The recovery went well and I played all last year. I dressed in all 18 games, and so I have no complaints, man. I’m ready to get back to another great season.
You really came on there at the latter half of the season. How are you expecting to build off a year like that?
I ended the year, I thought, on a high note. I started the last several games, and I’m hoping to come in and pick up where I left off, make some more big plays, score more touchdowns, and ultimately help us win football games.
What was it like catching that first career touchdown? Because that was a wild one.
Yeah. The play itself, I didn’t even realize all that happened because I slipped and fell. Yeah, I slipped and fell in the end zone, and then I looked back and I said, oh, there’s no way Tre is going to throw this across the whole field, and he did. So I caught it. That was pretty awesome. Can’t lie.