Aside from having Wheaton for 2 seasons and Cooks for three, name the NFL caliber offensive players he had around him. As it was, Riles asked Mannion to pal around with Cooks as Cooks was being a real punk his freshman year. Cooks turned it around the following season.............................I agree with one thing. Cooks was nothing like Tavon. He was a route runner. How do you think he became a good route runner? According to Coach Riley - that was in big part due to his relationship with Mannion. In 2014, Mannion had virtually nothing for offensive talent on the team.