USM Football Player Named MVP at Combine

Chris Cooper, a junior football player and track competitor at University School of Milwaukee, was named as the Most Valuable Player overall and as the Most Valuable Player at wide receiver at the Brookfield House of Speed Combine held Saturday at the Brookfield Indoor Soccer Complex.  The event, sponsored by Wissports.net, was a showcase for individual athletes to demonstrate talents useful in playing football at the college level.

Cooper was elated after his performance.  He said, “It felt amazing.  At first I was unsure, but then I said, ‘Alright, I now know I can ramp it up.’ So I did.”

USM’s head football coach Brian Sommers said, “I’m very happy for him.  It was an opportunity for Chris to take it and run, and he did a top job. It reflects on the talent and skill Chris has. It also shows the abilities of players in Division 4 or Division 5 high schools in Wisconsin.  Chris’s efforts in track really helped him at the showcase.  His performance Saturday will certainly help him go on to play at college, even on a Division 1 program. Now colleges will be looking at him. Whoever gets Chris will get an intelligent athlete.  He is a fine young man.”

At the showcase Cooper took part in drills that the National Football League uses at its combines. The specific drills are the 40-yard dash, a Pro Agility drill (a demonstration of quickness, balance, and change of direction ability), an L-Drill, a Bench Press, a Vertical Jump, and a Broad Jump.

Cooper used his track skills to impress the crowd, which included nearly twenty college coaches, at the Vertical Jump station and at the Broad Jump station, where he turned in the best performances of all the athletes in attendance. In the vertical jump Cooper leaped 39.5" and in the broad jump he went 10’7”. 

Cooper’s track coach at University School, Joe Eason commented, “Chris has quickly emerged as one of the top triple jumpers in the area, and most recently has shown great potential in the 400, an event that coaches and scouts will certainly note requires all-around athleticism and mental toughness. In short, Chris has discovered that his effort and success on the track is going to make him a better athlete on the turf, and provides him even more opportunities to showcase his growth and potential to colleges.”

According to Sommers, Cooper will work this summer to improve his strength, speed and agility to prepare for his senior season in football.  Cooper is a captain of the USM team and hopes to lead the team to victories in the fall of 2013. In 2012, his first year playing high school football, Cooper was ranked in the top ten of all receivers in the state of Wisconsin.  He finished his sophomore season with 743 yard on 37 receptions in eight games.