Super 11: Bolles' Connor Cox aims to become football's latest multi-sport tight end star

Antonio Gates and Tony Gonzalez are just the beginning.

The roll call of standout tight ends is filled with athletes who played other team sports before deciding on football. Is Connor Cox the next one in line?

Making the move a couple of years ago from lacrosse to the gridiron full-time, the Bolles senior tight end continues the Bulldog tradition on Times-Union's Super 11 squad entering the 2022 high school football season in Northeast Florida.

When Cox was growing up in the Carolinas, he initially envisioned a future in lacrosse more than football. He played lacrosse in his freshman year at Cardinal Gibbons, scoring a goal and an assist before COVID-19 halted the season and knocked his athletic plans onto a different track.

Best of the Best: Top athletes in Northeast Florida ahead of the 2022 season

Best of the Best: Top wide receivers in Northeast Florida ahead of the 2022 season

"Lacrosse was my main sport until COVID hit, and then I decided to take up football for real," he said.

Just over a year following his transfer to the school, Cox is making waves on the First Coast for the 11-time state champions.

In an offbeat twist, Cox came to Jacksonville from Cardinal Gibbons High School in Raleigh, N.C. — a school with the same name as the Broward County program that defeated Bolles in the 2020 Florida High School Athletic Association championship game.

While he shares their multi-sport backgrounds, Gates and Gonzalez aren't the players who occupy the top spot on Cox's tight ends list.

Cox instead points to former great Rob Gronkowski as his model for the perfect tight end, no surprise for a lifelong New England Patriots fan with deep family ties to the Northeast.

"When they played the Falcons [in Super Bowl LI], I was watching that game and that was huge, watching Tom [Brady] come back from that," he said.

In his junior year at Bolles, Cox performed mostly in a blocking role in a run-first offense built around Kade Frew, who concluded his Bulldogs career with nearly 4,000 rushing yards.

On those occasions when Cox got the chance to get the football into his hands, though, he showed the danger he could create. He caught seven passes for 148 yards, including a key touchdown reception in the Class 4A semifinals against Cocoa. He also lined up on occasion at receiver, creating a nightmare size matchup for cornerbacks.

In 2022, on an offense that returns an athletic dual-threat quarterback in rising junior D.J. Moore and an offensive line that ranks with the best in the region, Cox could see his receiving numbers grow exponentially.

"Kade was definitely running for all those yards, just a workhorse. There's definitely big shoes to fill," he said. "But I think the offense is going to be great. We've definitely adjusted and reloaded."

Recruiters took one look at his 6-6, 225-pound frame and liked what they saw.

That's earned him a chance to play college football next season at South Carolina. Cox committed to the Gamecocks in June ahead of more than a dozen competitors, further strengthening what shapes up as an excellent recruiting class for South Carolina coach Shane Beamer around the First Coast.

And it's not as if South Carolina doesn't have its own history with multi-sport tight ends from Bolles. Five years ago, former Bolles baseball star Hayden Hurst won All-SEC honors while playing tight end at South Carolina on his way to the NFL.

"The vibe there was great," Cox said. "The people in general just made it feel like home."

Clayton Freeman covers high school sports and more for the Florida Times-Union. Follow him on Twitter at @CFreemanJAX.

This article originally appeared on Florida Times-Union: Times-Union Super 11: Connor Cox, Bolles tight end