Seizing the Moment
August 20, 2003 10:04 PM | General
August 21, 2003
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Coming into the fall Coach Rich Rodriguez was concerned about West Virginia’s kicking game. He thought he might have to use senior Todd James to do both the punting and kicking like he did two years ago in 2001.
That would have meant a tired leg for James and the possibility of diminished production from him in both areas.
Now three weeks into fall camp, Rodriguez can rest easy knowing he’s got two big-league legs at his disposal. While James will handle the punting chores, the place kicking duties have been seized by transfer Brad Cooper.
“That’s probably the area of concern we had coming in that has been solved, at least from a practice standpoint,” said Rodriguez. “Brad Cooper has kicked the ball as well in preseason camp as we could ever imagine. Both his kickoffs and field goals … he’s just booming the ball and has done an outstanding job.”
The athletic, 6-foot-3, 185-pound junior has come on like gangbusters this fall after receiving the good news in late July that he had been awarded a scholarship.
“My dad said there was a message on the answering machine from Coach Rodriguez and he said I had a scholarship,” said Cooper. “It was a blessing.”
Cooper’s journey to big-time college football started at Middle Tennessee State, located in Murfeesboro, Tenn.
Cooper was an all-district kicker at Greenwood High School in Bowling Green, Ky., who once kicked the fourth-longest field goal in Kentucky high school history (53 yards). Yet Cooper wasn’t offered a scholarship to play for the Blue Raiders and soon found himself in a battle with established kicker Brian Kelly.
Kelly wound up winning the regular kicking job and Cooper was relegated to just kickoffs. Unsatisfied with simply kicking off, and realizing the Kelly wasn’t going to lose his job, Cooper decided to transfer after the 2001 season.
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| Middle Tennessee State transfer Brad Cooper has seized the West Virginia place kicking duties this fall. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
“I sent tape out to the schools where I thought I could get an opportunity to play,” he said.
One of those schools wound up being West Virginia University. After close examination of the depth chart, Cooper wound up walking on at West Virginia with the hope of earning a scholarship if he could win the place kicking job.
“It was kind of iffy at first,” he said. “I didn’t now if I’d play because they had a scholarship kicker. But the coaching staff has said the best player will play and they kept their word. I have faith in that.”
After sitting out last year, Cooper’s first introduction to Mountaineer fans came last spring during the Gold-Blue game when he converted field goals of 29 and 42 yards.
His pin-point accuracy has continued this fall. Cooper made field goal attempts of 23 and 42 yards during the team’s second scrimmage last Saturday. His 42-yarder could have easily been good from more than 55 yards out.
Having a strong leg is just one of Cooper’s kicking assets. He can also place his kickoffs exactly where he is supposed to, making it easier for the coverage team to pin in kick returners.
But perhaps his most important asset is his ability to loft field goal attempts high above the oncoming rush. His kicks regularly sail above the goal post making it virtually impossible to block.
Cooper says most of his kicking knowledge comes from working at former all-pro punter Ray Guy’s kicking camp each year. Cooper has been there so often he is now a camp counselor.
“I’ve learned from the best,” he said.
Because there isn’t a coach on the Mountaineer staff that specializes in place kicking, most of Cooper’s adjustments are done on his own. He knows by the way he hits the ball if he’s off or not.
He also monitors his own workload to make sure he doesn’t over kick during the preseason to the point of having dead leg.
“My first year at Middle Tennessee State I kicked way too much,” he laughed. “By the end of fall practice my leg was so tired that I could barely kick the ball 30 yards.”
When he’s out on the field Cooper says his pre-kick routine is simple, “I take one look at the goal post, center myself with the ball and the uprights, take my steps and then I kick it,” he said. “I don’t take another look up after the first one.”
Cooper’s simple approach also enables him to kick freely from either hash mark. “It’s really the same motion from both sides,” he says.
According to Cooper, when he’s off he usually hooks the ball. Rarely does he ever shank a kick. “Only when my leg is not loose,” he said.
Cooper has certainly mastered kicking in practice. However, the question remains: can he kick in front of 60,000 fans in Mountaineer Field when West Virginia takes on Wisconsin in the season opener?
“I kicked in front of 90,000 at LSU,” he said. “I don’t think it will be a problem.”
With Brad Cooper handling the place kicking and Todd James concentrating solely on punting, Rodriguez believes he can stack up his two kickers against anybody.
“With those two guys we’ve got two big-time legs and I think two big-time talents at both kicker and punter. Hopefully they can do that in a ballgame,” he said.
Briefly ...
Rodriguez was referring to freshmen and redshirt freshmen.
