Cooper makes an impression in fall camp
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BY BRIAN ROSENTHAL / Lincoln Journal Star
Nebraska football teammates describe Khiry Cooper as a soft-spoken, humble freshman.
The kid who had a chance to sign a lucrative Major League Baseball contract doesn’t talk much about baseball, it seems.
“Not a lot,” sophomore Niles Paul said, smiling. “We won’t let him.”
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Nate Swift said he never heard Cooper mention the Los Angeles Angels, who selected Cooper as their fifth-round pick — the 169th selection overall — in the June draft.
At least, not until Aug. 15. That was the deadline for major-league teams to sign their draft picks.
“The only thing I ever heard him say was, ‘This is the last day I have. They keep calling me every freaking minute,’” Swift said.
To no avail. Cooper, a talented wide receiver, had decided weeks earlier he wouldn’t sign. Now, he’s eyeing immediate playing time on the football field.
In the spring, he’ll join Mike Anderson’s baseball team as an outfielder.
“He told me he wanted to play football when he came here, especially since they were going to let him play baseball here, too,” Swift said. “It helped him out a lot, knowing he was going to be able to play baseball here.”
Cooper, like all true freshmen in Nebraska’s fall camp, is off-limits for media interviews. However, in an interview with Nebraska’s media relations department, Cooper said he was faced with a difficult decision.
“It was pretty hard. It was like a second recruiting process,” he said. “That’s always been a dream of mine (to get drafted), so it kind of caught me off-guard.”
He said Nebraska’s football coaching staff, his new teammates and the fan support were instrumental in his decision to come to Lincoln.
“I just felt it was the best thing,” he said.
Three football seasons will pass before Cooper is again eligible for the baseball draft, in June 2011. With no guarantee Cooper will be around for four seasons — let alone five — it’s likely he’s not a redshirt candidate.
Still, receivers coach Ted Gilmore said it’s too early to say the 6-foot-2, 180-pound Cooper is in the mix.
“Right now, I’m not putting that pressure on him,” Gilmore said. “To go out there and think he could do something the first ball game, it’d be ‘shame on us.’
“He’s really fluid. He really is. I’ll be interested to see how fast he really is, if anybody ever put a watch on him, because he’s really deceptive. He’s really smooth.”
But in terms of knowing the playbook, Cooper is behind, Gilmore said, noting he also has “a ways to go” with blocking — a staple of fall camp, given Nebraska’s renewed emphasis on establishing the running game.
“He’s got all the ability in the world,” quarterback Joe Ganz said. “It’s just knowing how to get open, what certain moves will get you open in certain coverages.”
Considering he’s fresh out of high school — he caught 60 passes for 1,038 yards last season at Calvary Baptist Academy in Shreveport, La. — Cooper is good with route running, Gilmore said.
It’s something Paul, who was in Cooper’s position last season as a newcomer, has immediately noticed.
“Just his route-running techniques,” Paul said. “Last year, I came here just knowing how to run a go-route. He knows how to break down and get open. And he’s made some incredible catches already.
“He’s a ball player.”
Swift said he expects Cooper to play — but not necessarily on an every-game basis.
But look out in 2009.
“He’ll definitely be a player next year,” said Swift, a senior. “He’s got all the moves and has good hands. I think he’ll be a really good player down the line.”
Reach Brian Rosenthal at 473-7436 or brosenthal@journalstar.com.
