Cooper Making His Big-Play Receiving Mark
Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - The big play is out there if you care enough, strive enough, execute enough. Coaches talk about wanting it. Players talk about providing it.
Indiana’s Omar Cooper Jr. delivers again and again.
Entering Saturday’s game at Michigan State, no other Big Ten receiver does it better.
Cooper averages 22.8 yards for each of his 20 catches this season. The next closest is teammate Elijah Sarratt, who averages 17.9 yards on his 33 catches. Ohio State’s Jeremiah Smith is right behind at 17.8 with his 35 receptions.
Cooper’s longest catch went for 69 yards. His four receiving touchdowns tie teammate Ke’Shawn Williams for the team lead.
Head coach Curt Cignetti praises the 6-foot, 201-pound Cooper’s ability to win one-on-one battles. Quarterback Kurtis Rourke says Cooper and Sarratt are “great weapons to have.”
“I love the odds every time I throw a ball in their area,” Rourke says. “I just have to make sure they can get their hands on it.”
Cooper says he works to ensure IU quarterbacks “always trust me,” and that they are all in sync. He talks about his improved confidence, his willingness to practice and play hard, his belief in a system that makes IU one of the best offenses in America, averaging 46.5 points and 487.6 yards. Both averages lead the Big Ten.
Cooper waited his turn for this opportunity, still does given IU’s share-the-wealth receiver rotation -- 16 Hoosiers have caught at least one pass this season -- that gives everyone who earns a chance an opportunity if he understands team comes first and patience.
Cooper showed signs of this last season in limited action with his seven-catch, 101-yard effort against Indiana State, a 35-yard touchdown reception against Rutgers and a 26-yard TD catch against Penn State. He finished with 18 catches, two touchdowns, and a 14.8-yard-per-catch average.
The previous season, as a true freshman, Cooper didn’t have any catches, but did return four kickoffs for 63 total yards.
This season’s 8-0 start and No. 13 national ranking has caught the nation by surprise.
Director of athletics Scott Dolson hired Cignetti away from James Madison following the 2023 season. Every new coach ever hired arrives with a plan. They don’t always work.
This one did.
Cignetti’s instant program turnaround comes from his belief in his system, his coaches, and his players. He says it’s all about people and processes, about following a blueprint, a plan, a philosophy that works only by proving it every day, every play, no exception.
The Hoosiers are all in.
“If he didn’t have a message coming in, we wouldn’t know what to expect,” Cooper says. “We knew we had a standard to get to and if we didn’t get there, he would have to do what he had to do. That’s his job and we knew that. We try to make the best of it.”
They have. IU is 5-0 in the Big Ten, which ties No. 1 Oregon for first in the conference standings. The Hoosiers will face a Michigan State team that is 4-4 overall, 2-3 in the conference.
Saturday’s stakes include the Old Brass Spittoon, which began in 1950, although the teams have met since 1922. They’ve split the last four meetings. IU is 18-50-2 in East Lansing.
No Hoosier football squad has ever won nine games in a row. A Saturday win would do that and keep them in the hunt for their first Big Ten title since 1967, and their first-ever appearance in the college football playoffs, which start Dec. 20.
They have become one of the best stories in college football. ESPN’s College GameDay and FOX Sports Big Noon Kickoff shows have broadcast from the campus over the past two weeks to deliver national publicity on an unprecedented scale.
Cignetti is the first IU head football coach to debut to this kind of success.
“I didn’t know what to expect,” Cooper says upon Cignetti's arrival last November. “I just knew about his past (never having a losing record), and that he was expecting us to win. We all had a job to do.
“This wasn’t what I expected, but with a great staff and a great team, we are all committed to the buy in, it’s been showing.”
When did Cooper sense something special was happening?
“Playing at UCLA. It was our first big game. The fact we were able to go out there, deal with the travel and time change, and play how we did (a 42-13 win), I knew we had something special.”
That amplified with the FOX and ESPN opportunities. IU blew out Nebraska 56-7 with FOX and beat Washington 31-17 with ESPN.
“It’s showing everybody that we are real this year, no matter who we play,” Cooper says.
“At the end of the day, it’s football, so I try not to worry too much about it. I have to stay focused, knowing I have a job to do.
“Coach Cig always says, we can’t get complacent. That makes us realize that no matter how well we’re doing, the next opponent is the most important game. We have to focus on that.”
Cignetti keeps it simple. No let up. Focus, prepare, win; focus, prepare, win some more.
“This isn’t the end for us,” he says.