CHAMPAIGN, Ill. _ No matter where Nagash Cockburn went in Jamaica, little brother Kofi was his shadow.
When he played cards or video games with friends, when he ran an errand, when he watched "Pokemon" in his room _ there was Kofi, 12 years younger but nearly as tall, hanging out with his brother.
Kofi wasn't just a tagalong. Nagash invited him.
"He loved me so much," Kofi recalled. "He would rather me be around him than go outside and be with the wrong crowd. Whenever I was around, he'd be so happy. He'd say, 'OK, come along.' "
It seemed inevitable that Kofi Cockburn (pronounced CO-burn) would eventually follow Nagash onto Kingston's basketball courts. By 14, he was already eye to eye with his 6-foot-7 big brother.
Kofi watched Nagash from the sideline, but he was more taken with soccer and track, both popular in Jamaica. Nagash was exasperated. Enough. Get on the court, Kofi.
"I'm like, 'Yo, how many tall soccer players do you know? And you're not Usain Bolt,' " Nagash said. "I wasn't trying to discourage him, but I had to be real. I saw a future he could create for himself."
Nagash didn't begin playing basketball until age 20, having devoted his youth to cadet training. He was skilled enough to compete on Jamaica's national team, but he imagined what might have been if he had taken up hoops as a youngster.
He wanted that for his brother.
"I'd be damned if none of us made it and did something with our life," Nagash said.
Kofi quickly grew to share Nagash's passion for basketball. And unlike Nagash, he had time to truly pursue the sport.
"I realized right away, this is really a beautiful sport," Kofi said. "If you give your best, good things can happen."
Five years after arriving in the U.S. and seven games into his college career, Kofi Cockburn's basketball karma seems to be flowing back to him.
The 7-foot Illinois center broke a school record for rebounds by a freshman with 17 on Nov. 20 against The Citadel, surpassing Deon Thomas' 28-year-old mark. Averaging 15.3 points and 12 rebounds, he's on pace to blast the Illinois freshman record of 6.9 rebounds per game that Efrem Winters set in 1982-83.
Cockburn has five double-doubles in seven games for the Illini (6-1) entering Monday night's Big Ten-ACC Challenge meeting with Miami at the State Farm Center. At a muscular 290 pounds, there's no plodding in this big man's game; he's surprisingly agile. He and 6-9 sophomore forward Giorgi Bezhanishvili have shown flashes of how they can blend on the court.
"There are very few guys who truly impact the game," said Illinois coach Brad Underwood, who considers Cockburn's ears his greatest asset. "It's very rare where young guys come in and actually listen and put it into play immediately. He wants to be coached and know when he's wrong. He doesn't want to hear just the positives."
