JONESBORO, Ga. – Eric and Jennifer Cooper might need to invest in some more luggage. In the mean time, it would probably they should probably just reassure the mail lady who stops by their suburban Atlanta home that it won’t last forever, at least not at their address.

Day after day, she shows up with stacks of college recruiting letters addressed to their son Zerrick. It’s what comes with the territory when your kid is a big-time quarterback prospect.

“My wife and I,” Eric told TheClemsonInsider on Thursday afternoon at Jonesboro High School, “This our first time ever experiencing it, as far as division one colleges.

“We have other (children), but as far as him, I guess, I want to say it’s fun…”

Jennifer finished the sentence, “It’s exciting.”

“It’s very exciting,” Eric said.

Overwhelming also works.

“I want to say it’s kind of to that point now. Because, like I said, everyday — I actually thought it would stop — I’m like, OK, maybe we’ll come home and it’s stopped, but it seems like, especially him having his (injury),” Eric said, while pointing to the knee that Zerrick tore up in July, “It seems like they’ve started sending more and more, twice a week, three times a week.

“It doesn’t stop.”

The snail mail pours in from everywhere: Florida, Miami, N.C. State, Ole Miss, Mississippi State, Florida State, West Virginia, Alabama, Tennessee, Kentucky, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Cincinnati, Oklahoma State, UCLA and Oregon. Several, of course, have offered scholarships.

To keep track, the Coopers stash the mail in a suitcase. Not even halfway through his junior year the suitcase is so full it won’t shut. Mom and Dad hope Saturday’s pledge to Clemson will slow things down.

But Zerrick, who’s the youngest of four children, is a four-star prospect and this is still major college football. That’s not happening, at least not anytime soon.

FROM THE START
Zerrick first strapped on the helmet and pads as a 6-year-old. Eric, one of his first football coaches, immediately “saw something special.” The Coopers watched it unfold in real-time. And, because every game was recorded on video, they’ve been able to relive those moments plenty of times over the years.

Each year, Jennifer said, “He’s gotten better and better.”

She would know.

“When he was in the shotgun and he had to run out, I would run with him down the sidelines. I was that mother losing shoes,” Jennifer said. “They knew, when he ran, I ran with him. That was at every park. That’s how it was.”

The wheels didn’t catch the eye of Jonesboro High School head coach De’Timothy Floyd. It was the howitzer of a right arm that Floyd first noticed during a varsity scrimmage when Zerrick was a freshman.

“He was on the sideline tossing the ball. Somebody threw him the ball, he just stuck it and caught it with one hand, fired it with ease,” Floyd remembered. “At that point, we said, ‘OK, this kid’s got a cannon.'”

Transfer rules took varsity football out of the equation that year, so Zerrick settled in with Jonesboro junior varsity and led them to an undefeated season.

“You could just see the growth that he was making. You just didn’t see that type of stuff…throughout that freshman year, you saw he had it in him,” Floyd said.

THE SETBACK
As a sophomore, Zerrick had to wait his turn, so he served as the backup quarterback and started on defense at safety. This was supposed to be his season, but it ended before it even began. Zerrick tore his ACL in July while playing safety in one of Jonesboro’s last 7-on-7 games of the summer.

“Nobody (was) around him or near him, just him making a cut in the turf,” Floyd said.

Six games into their schedule, Jonesboro is 1-5.

“It’s been tough, mentally. Seeing them fight every Friday, knowing I can’t do anything but sit there and cheer them on, it’s very hard,” Zerrick said. “I think about it every night.”

According to Floyd, Zerrick’s embraced his role on Friday nights.

“We had a talk,” Floyd said. “Even though you’re not playing, you’ve still got a responsibility towards the team; that’s mentoring the other quarterbacks — that type of stuff, telling them what you know, to help them out.”

Zerrick enjoys his job as a player-coach, even though it’s all coaching and no playing.

“It’s a great feeling,” he said. “Since I’ve been out, I’ve been trying to teach him everything that I know and trying to help him control the offense. I’m not there, but I’m on the sideline helping him. I just tell him the small things, how to use your legs and how to rotate your arm, to throw the ball.”

WHY CLEMSON?
Dabo Swinney is a good recruiter because he knows who to recruit: Mom, mamma Cooper loves her some Clemson.

“I loved the school,” she said, when asked about her first impression of Clemson. “I liked the hospitality that I received, and the coaches, the students — I just fell in love with it. Before then, we’d been to two other schools: North Carolina and we went to Georgia.

“There was just something about Clemson that I just loved, so that’s (why), but it’s his choice.”

Dad was impressed, too.

“Of course, they make you feel welcome, very welcome,” Eric said. “That family atmosphere and one of the things that impressed me, we had a chance to speak with the academic director and I was very impressed.

“My wife and I, our expectations, as far as his education, it’s very important. To us, it’s very important. I was very pleased with the academic part of their program, as well as the athletic part of the program.

“The whole thing, the coaches, the students, the hospitality is nice. They made us feel very welcome. It’s kind of like a family-oriented atmosphere. That stood out a lot about Clemson.”

All of those things were also attractive to Zerrick.

“The atmosphere, the way the hospitality is,” he said. “They say it’s one of a kind. I’d never seen that before.”

Clemson’s hurry-up, no-huddle offense certainly played a big part.

“They’re very explosive…I just feel like I can come in behind (Deshaun Watson) and take over,” Zerrick said.