Daily Pilot Football Player of the Week: Matt Cooper

Barry Faulkner

Operating in the eye of a football storm, a linebacker’s ability to

make plays can hinge on milliseconds. Somewhere between the snap of the

ball and the visual realization of the offense’s designed play, comes the

instant the best linebackers make their decision and react.

In this mystical process, even the best coaching, the most prudent

videotape study of opponents and the most conscientious practice

preparation, can sometimes pale in importance to an unconscious surrender

to instinct.

Somewhere in the compilation of thousands of plays, built up over

several years of competition, Corona del Mar High junior inside

linebacker Matt Cooper’s instincts have been honed to this rarefied

degree.

Guided by impulse, intuition, intelligence and utilizing his speed,

strength, athleticism and determination, Cooper managed to stay one step

ahead of the Saddleback Roadrunners assigned to block him Sept. 27. The

result was 20 tackles, 11 primary stops and nine assists, in the Sea

Kings’ 45-21 nonleague win.

“He was everywhere,” recalled CdM Coach Dick Freeman, who is also the

team’s defensive coordinator. “I don’t remember seeing a 20-tackle game.”

(John Katovsich is listed as the school’s single-game tackle champion,

having collected 27 in a 1988 contest.)

For his efforts, the 6-foot-1, 215-pounder, who also starts at

fullback, is the Daily Pilot Player of the Week.

“I’ve always played linebacker,” said Cooper, who began his football

career with the Newport-Mesa Junior All-American program at age 9.

He played some linebacker as a sophomore, but his primary role was in

the backfield, where he started 10 games at fullback.

He opened the season starting both ways this fall and admitted

encountering some rust on defense the first three games.

“I think I was reading a little better (against Saddleback) than I had

in weeks past,” Cooper said.

“Linebacker is such an instinctive position,” Freeman said. “A coach

can show you where to line up, how to set your feet, and what keys to

look for. But, you basically have to learn how to get to the football by

yourself. Matt has been doing that better and better.”

Cooper’s improvement, Freeman believes, has been accelerated by his

insatiable work ethic.

“He’s one of the hardest workers we have and everything he does,

whether its lifting or running in the offseason or practicing during the

week, he does full speed,” Freeman said. “He is a quiet kid, but he’s a

leader on our team. He leads by working so hard, other kids feel guilty

they aren’t working as hard as he is.”

Cooper’s hard work in the offseason resulted in about 20 extra pounds

of muscle. He also shaved about a tenth of a second off his time in the

40-yard dash (he said he now runs in the low 4.8- or high 4.7-second

range). These enhanced physical attributes have made a big difference.

“I feel much bigger and stronger and it helps a lot,” he said.

Freeman said his improved speed has made him a more dangerous threat

at fullback.

“People have a tendency to think of him as a lead blocker, but he has

made some great runs,” Freeman said of Cooper, who has 78 rushing yards

and two TDs on seven carries this season.

Cooper’s 5-yard touchdown run opened the scoring against Saddleback,

but it was his work on the other side of the ball that contributed most

to his team’s second victory this fall.

“I don’t have a favorite, between offense and defense,” Cooper said.

“I just like being out there.”

Cooper, whose older brothers Adam and Ryan (a senior starter at

Georgetown) were both standout receivers and defensive backs at CdM, is

not the only Cooper extending the family legacy. His twin brother, Kris,

lines up beside him on defense at outside ‘backer and also starts at

tight end.

Matt Cooper said he and his brother feed off one another and he

offered a specific example to prove the point.

“I got a 15-yard penalty for a personal foul (leveling the Saddleback

quarterback near the sideline) and the next play, Kris intercepted and

returned it 64 yards for a touchdown,” Matt said.

Matt’s dual roles place him on a collision course with an opponent on

virtually every snap, but he said his conditioning has helped him stay

away from any ill effects.

“The amount of contact he gets every (game) night is amazing,” Freeman

said.