A year ago, he caught four passes for 56 yards in Clemson's 35-10 victory over Penn State in the Florida Citrus Bowl.
Now, he is back for more.
The Oklahoma Sooners are concerned about how to cover Cooper, who is a double threat as a pass receiver and a runner on a reverse play.
Cooper touched the ball 20 times this season for the 9-2 Tigers, gaining 538 yards, an average of 26 yards a play. He scored five touchdowns, three on pass receptions and two on reverses. He had a 41-yard run against North Carolina. He ran twice for TDs against Maryland.
After Cooper led the Tigers with 34 pass receptions for 618 yards in his sophomore season, teams began to devote double coveage to him. ''They used what is called a bracket defense,'' Cooper said. ''They would have one guy run on top of me, another underneath.''
Basically a running team, averaging 277 rushing yards a game, Clemson often used Cooper as a decoy to throw to other receivers or to tie up defenders who did not read the run.
Instead of matching his 34 catches, Cooper had only 13, which doesn't bother the Tigers or Cooper. ''What the team does is more important than piling up good looking statistics,'' Cooper said Monday while eating lunch at the Stouffer Orlando Resort.
''We moved the ball well this year -- mostly on the ground and we won 9 of 11 games,'' Cooper said. ''I feel I made my contributions, and I believe football people know that -- the teams we play, the pro scouts.''
Cooper said he hopes to play in the National Football League. ''The pros know I can catch the ball and that I can do something with it,'' he said. ''I'm not worried about being overlooked.''
His famous name -- Gary Cooper -- came from his dad, Gary Cooper, Sr. Cooper said he really doesn't know too much about the late actor, Gary Cooper. ''I saw the movie High Noon,'' he said, ''and that's what a lot of the guys on the team call me -- High Noon. I want to see Pride of the Yankees but haven't yet. I know Cooper played Lou Gehrig in that one. I guess I'm a little young for Gary Cooper movies.''
Cooper was born in Sewickley, Pa., and went to Ambridge High School, in a small town north of Pittsburgh. He said he played football as a ninth grader but not again until he was a senior.
''I liked basketball more and I played pretty well,'' he said. ''But when I began thinking about college, I was concerned where I could go. It seems you have to be 6-10 or bigger to be considered nowadays. I was 6-3. Our football coach at Ambridge, Frank Antonini, told me I had potential to be a college football player. I went along with him.''
Cooper said his best position in high school was free safety, and that he came to Clemson as a free safety. ''I came here that way but I only lasted one day. It was kind of rough that day. Clemson had some very big running backs that I did not enjoy meeting so soon. I just wasn't used to anything like them. By the end of the day I was a wide receiver, and happy about it.''
A sociology major, interested in criminal justice, Cooper is articulate and enjoys a conversation that goes beyond the series of ''yups,'' the late Gary Cooper was known for in his wild, wild western movies.
He said Monday that he looks forward not only to Monday's Citrus Bowl game with Oklahoma but to his senior season with the Tigers. ''Rodney Williams graduates and we'll be breaking in a new quarterback next spring,'' Cooper said. ''Could be we will throw more next year. I'd like that. But I'm satisfied just to do what they want me to do.''
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