Four-Star WSU Quarterback Commit Cammon Cooper Has Something Special
BEAVERTON (OR) – For the past five seasons Mike Leach has implemented his Air Raid system without having an Elite 11 quarterback at the controls.
Leach’s first two notable signings, four-star QB Tyler Bruggman in 2013 and three-star QB Peyton Bender, are no longer with the program and neither lasted more than two years at Washington State.
In between his first two signings and a pair of sub-part signees at QB in 2016, Leach landed four-star QB Tyler Hilinski out of Upland High School (Upland, California). Hilinski was ranked No.10 pro-style QB in the class of 2015 per Rivals’ rankings and committed to WSU over offers from Cal and Utah State.
The Cougars’ current starting quarterback, redshirt senior Luke Falk, walked-on to WSU in the fall of 2013 and earned a scholarship after starting the final three games in 2014 following an injury to then-starter Connor Halliday.
Now, entering his sixth season as head coach in Pullman, Leach has his first Elite 11 quarterback commit.
Enter Cammon Cooper.
At 6-foot-4, 205-pounds, the Lehi High School (Lehi, Utah) southpaw has the chance to be the best quarterback to enter the Air Raid offense under Leach. Cooper earned his invite to TheOpening and Elite 11 finals held at Nike World Headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon, in the beginning of June, and he’s proven his worth through the first two days this week.
Yogi Roth, who has worked as an assistant coach for the Elite 11 for nine years, in addition to serving as an analyst for the Pac-12 Network, agrees with the assertion of Cooper’s potential impact at WSU.
“I’m not a big rankings guy, star guy, until we see them,” Roth said. “But you look at the 12 quarterbacks here I believe they are the 12 best in the country, and he’s one of them. He’s never had an Elite 11 quarterback to my knowledge, so I think your point is fair. I think he’s going to be the best quarterback that has entered a Mike Leach system.”
This past class netted WSU four-star Wilsonville (Ore.) QB Connor Neville, who competed in several Elite 11 regional events and was the inaugural Rivals QB Challenge winner in Los Angeles back in 2015. Neville, Hilinski and Cooper are all expected to battle next spring for the starting quarterback job post-Falk.
As Roth pointed out, it's now in the hands of each QB to seize their opportunity and develop in Leach's offense.
"The beautiful part of a Mike Leach system is you have to deliver once you're there," Roth said. "I do think he is the most dynamic passer to walk into the first meeting of a Mike Leach system. Cammon Cooper is big time. I think he is a bonafide superstar in college football."
Much of the first two days at the Elite 11 finals have been spent going through drills similar to a pre-game walk-through. Saturday, the defensive backs arrive to bring a little more competition than the air defenders have thus far.
But that plays right into Cooper's strengths, as Roth says, with the four-star QB one of the more surgical passers in this years QB crop.
"I think he'll be able to go into that system and compete right off the bat," Roth said said of Cooper being able to come in and potentially enter the 2018 season as WSU's starting QB.
"Clearly there is other guys with more maturity that are there now, so you never want to say he's going to go play. But I wouldn't be surprised if we saw this young man on the field because specifically you'll see him in 7-on-7, when he gets into team environment he's precise."
"We like to call it butchers verses surgeons. He can be surgical as a passer, and when you can do that in his system with the amount of spacing that's there, with the talent of wide receivers consistently across the board, watch out."
While Cooper is similar to Falk and previous WSU quarterbacks on the field, an unofficial visit to Pullman earlier this spring revealed another similarity between the two Utah-born players.
During the trip Falk told Cooper a story to give him a little more sense of what Mike Leach led meetings can result in. It's moments like that for the four-star QB that has him looking forward to his future home.
"Luke told me a story how he [Leach] pulled them into a team meeting just to talk about grizzly bears," Cooper said earlier this month.
Cooper said he plans to take his official visit to WSU during the season, with the plan to enroll in January to begin his college career a little bit early.