By Ed McGranahan.
If Zerrick Cooper lands in Clemson for the 2016 season, the Tigers will be getting a talented, intelligent quarterback with a big arm and a young man who understands the value of work.
At least that was the snap impression last week after spending nearly an hour with him and his parents in a classroom off the gym at Jonesboro (Ga.) High School.
Excuse the triteness, but parents want the best for their children, to protect them from harm. And they hope the seeds of wisdom begin to take root before the kids walk out the door.
College football recruiting can become a predatory, indiscriminate beast that feeds on the naïve and vulnerable. The volume of attention can be heady and confusing so the process requires a plan and the discipline to stick with it.
Zerrick’s father drives huge trucks. His mother works in the health care industry. Zerrick began playing football at age 6 and like all parents they thought he their baby special from the start.
Now, at nearly 6-foot-5 and a few ticks over 200 pounds, Zerrick has the build of a young Peyton Manning, one of several prominent quarterbacks he studies. A torn ACL playing safety during a summer 7-on-7 event ended his junior season before it began so he has plenty of time to study throwing motions, footwork, set ups and defensive schemes. After the injury, after the tears dried, his coaches insisted he remain engaged with his teammates.
Anticipating Zerrick’s towering presence, Jonesboro reshuffled its schedule and added some muscle to the front in hope it would prepare him for a playoff run. Instead the Panthers have struggled to a (1-5) start. At best, his coaches say, the perspective Zerrick gains from time on the sidelines mentoring his replacement and encouraging the team should be valuable when he returns next season.
His parents aren’t pushing him. Zerrick visits a therapist a couple times a week and only recently he dumped the crutches. His dad said Zerrick may miss basketball, too, if it interferes with rehabilitation. That would be a difficult sacrifice considering he was a valuable piece of Jonesboro’s state championship team earlier this year. But it’s always been about football and quarterback, except that first season when he was a running back who served as the team’s designated passer.
Coaches said Zerrick has a charisma that draws people to him, that his teachers like to have him in their classes. His parents can’t think of a time when he’s been even slightly mischievous.
His mother brought him to Clemson for the spring game after the first couple waves of letters. Some days there were so many they wouldn’t fit in the mailbox. The Coopers have kept every card and letter, cramming them into a suitcase now too full to shut. Clemson sent get well cards after Zerrick’s surgery and birthday cards to his mother. She met Tajh Boyd and Deshaun Watson. The Boyd smile was beguiling. Mostly she liked the notion of her son mentoring under Watson.
Zerrick returned for a day at camp with a coach and some of his teammates. When they got back to Jonesboro he insisted his dad needed to see the campus and meet the coaches. They were back three days later.
Because the commitment isn’t binding all those schools that have kept the Jonesboro Post Office working overtime aren’t about to back off. Clemson makes sure each young man realizes a commitment is a matter of principle. The Coopers said that they understand and aren’t deterred even though at times the process has been overwhelming.
They only want what’s best for their son, and they believe he has been prepared to make a wise choice. One scouting service lists him as a four-star despite the fact he won’t take a snap this season.
On Saturday he told Dabo Swinney he chose Clemson. Zerrick’s mom patted her purse after the game and announced she had here “All In” chip and wasn’t letting it go for anybody.