Whether at the University of Georgia or elsewhere, the walk-on football program for most major colleges is integral in the assembly and makeup of each individual team. Notably and often overlooked is the fact that essentially all these walk-ons were standout football players and/or exceptional athletes in high school—and, although perhaps not initially offered by a major college, many of them were extended scholarships from second-tier football programs.

Then there’s former Georgia walk-on Candler Cook.

Like many young boys in Georgia, Cook grew up a huge UGA fan, attended football games in Athens with his parents, and actually aspired to play for Georgia in time. However, there was a problem: As a 145-pound, fourth-string senior linebacker at the Westminster School in Atlanta, Cook seemingly had no shot whatsoever of eventually becoming part of the Bulldogs’ team.

“Still, I always had this goal in my mind, that I wanted to walk on the Georgia football team,” Cook recently informed UGASports.

Having little idea what was involved in Georgia’s walk-on process just before he started school in the summer of 2007, Cook just happened to run into an opposing player from high school. The acquaintance informed him not only of UGA’s walk-on tryout date, but who to speak to in regard to walking on as well. Accordingly, early in the morning the day before classes started, Cook showed up at Georgia’s football facility, only mindful that long-time assistant Joe Tereshinski was in charge of walk-on tryouts.

“I then got really lucky in finding ‘Coach T’ (Tereshinski),” Cook recalled. “I just happened to see him getting on an elevator as he headed downstairs to the meeting to talk about tryouts. He asked me if I was there for the walk-on tryout. I said, ‘yes.’ So, he took me downstairs to the meeting.”

At the time, the Bulldogs fielded a 125-man team consisting of 85 scholarship players and 40 walk-ons. Of the walk-ons, approximately 35 were preferred walk-ons—or those who just missed out on being offered a scholarship from Georgia—leaving only four or five roster spots for true walk-on players. In the spring of 2008, all but four of 55 true walk-ons were cut during the process, including Cook who had bulked up to weigh 185 pounds. Having gained 30 more pounds the following year, the 215-pound linebacker was again cut with roughly 40 others, making room for only five true walk-ons.

“After getting cut for consecutive tryouts, I decided to take a step back and reevaluate basically everything that I was doing,” Cook said. “I started working out even harder while adding more meals to my meal plan.”

At one point, Cook was eating 10 meals per day, including drinking two gallons of whole milk, increasing his weight to a staggering 265 pounds, or nearly twice as much as he weighed just a few years before. At the same time, Cook’s 40-yard time vastly improved, dropping from a 5.6 during his final year at Westminster—the slowest on the team—to a 5.0 40-speed entering Georgia’s 2010 season.

“When I tried out for a third time to become a walk-on, I was immediately selected for random steroid testing,” Cook added with a laugh. “I think they (UGA staff) just couldn’t believe the transformation I had made.”

Cook made another transformation by moving from linebacker to defensive end—a position he had never played before, yet a position where Georgia was especially thin at the time under new defensive coordinator Todd Grantham and his recently-installed 3-4 formation. After teaching himself how to play the defensive end position primarily via YouTube instructional videos, Cook proved that "third time’s a charm" by making the Bulldog team.

“It was such an amazing feeling to finally make it as a walk-on,” Cook said. “After three years, and three tryouts, it was incredible to finally get over the hump to be part of the team.”

Cook dressed out for two games in 2010. For his redshirt senior campaign the following season, he had dressed out for most of Georgia’s games through October before the Bulldogs’ ninth game of the year: New Mexico State on Homecoming.

“I knew `my last chance to actually play in a game was probably against New Mexico State,” Cook said. “So, I went to my position coach, Coach [Rodney] Garner, and told him that if we got a big lead, I’d really like to play. Coach Garner said that the team hadn’t had many big leads that season, but if they did get one that Saturday, he said he’d see what he could do.”

Against New Mexico State, Georgia held a dominating 49-3 advantage by halftime, aided by 42 points scored in the second quarter alone—what remains the school record for most points scored by the Bulldogs in a single quarter. Leading by 46 points midway through the fourth quarter, Garner sent a graduate assistant over to Cook along the sidelines to tell him to start stretching and warming up—he was going into the ballgame.

“I knew, on one hand, the significance of the moment—me actually seeing the field after the years of all the workouts, the meals, the times getting cut,” Cook said. “But on the other hand, I needed to focus and not let the moment be too big for me.”

With Georgia leading the Aggies 63-10 with just under six minutes remaining in the contest, Cook was sent in for two plays—what would be his only plays as a Bulldog. And although Sanford Stadium was somewhat empty considering Georgia’s huge lead at the time, it allowed Cook’s family and friends to move to the front row near the 50-yard line to witness what had seemingly been absolutely unattainable before.

Seven-and-half years later, Candler Cook resides in the Buckhead area of Atlanta, where he works for Atticus Franchise Group—a private equity firm. He remains involved with the Georgia football program, including attending nine to ten games per season. In addition, Cook recently authored a book, From Underdog to Bulldog. His story is an incredible yet true account of extraordinary efforts resulting in the impossible happening—appearing in a game as a member of the Bulldogs.

“Just to think that if the starters had gotten off to a slow start against New Mexico State, I would have never seen the field—and no matter how hard I'd tried with the workouts, meals, and all,” Cook said. “So, I'm forever grateful I actually got a chance to play for the Georgia Bulldogs.”

Candler Cook’s book, From Underdog to Bulldog, is not only for diehard college football fans who would appreciate the incredible, unique journey of a walk-on player—but also serves as a step-by-step guide to achieving a lofty goal for the “underdog” in nearly any walk of life.

From Underdog to Bulldog is available HERE in e-book form, softcover, and hardbound.

April 20: At the main bookstore leading up to the G-Day game, Candler will be on hand signing copies of his book.