Tennessee: Consistency next in Cooper progress

KNOXVILLE — By all accounts, including the one that matters most, Kevin Cooper’s college football career is on schedule.

The former Baylor School star is drawing typical praise for a player’s second preseason camp.

He cleared every players’ first major hurdle — giving maximum effort every play — last season. Now he’s battling the second obstacle: consistently completing assignments.

“Kevin is having a good camp, but the frustrating thing about him right now is his consistency,” Tennessee coach Phillip Fulmer said Tuesday. “He’ll have four or five really good plays and do some really good things, and then something will come out there that will bother you.

“It’s a little bit of youth, but it’s also him taking more accountability to be a guy that we know can go in a game and play 15 or 20 or 30 plays of a two-back offense.”

Cooper’s progression wouldn’t typically be so frustrating for coaches, but for the second season in a row, a major injury to would-be starter David Holbert has forced him up the depth chart — this time to the top spot.

First-year offensive coordinator Dave Clawson likes the traditional fullback role, and Cooper feels that he fits better in this offense than David Cutcliffe’s. But with uncertainties surrounding tight end Jeff Cottam (leg injury) and H-back Brandon Warren (NCAA transfer appeal), coaches need Cooper prepared for another versatile fall.

More than anything, though, Cooper needs to earn their trust. If Fulmer and Clawson don’t believe he can consistently cut it, they have enough formation options to limit Cooper’s role.

“Last year was real hectic and real fast,” Cooper said. “But now that I know what I’m doing and everything, I’m more acclimated to the system, and everything’s slowing down in my mind.

“I’m getting better and better every day.”

Cooper’s work ethic is coupled with the unselfish attitude coaches particularly appreciate from fullbacks. He seems to understand that he’ll never be the featured back he was for the Red Raiders, and he seems OK with that.

Asked about what role he expects to play this season, Cooper replied, “To just be a complete team player, not taking any type of recognition.

“Just doing my job, which is helping the team win every game,” he added. “That’s just what the fullback does. That’s the role he has to play.”

His teammates claim to notice the new-look Cooper.

“Coop has come on a whole lot,” junior tailback Montario Hardesty said. “Knowing since spring that he was going to the No. 1 fullback, he’s definitely put it on his shoulders to get better at blocking, and knowing his plays and everything. He hasn’t many busted assignments. He’s been really good at blocking linebackers.

“He can run the ball, he’s got good hands out of the backfield, and he can block. He can do all three things that you need a fullback to do.”

Junior defensive tackle Dan Williams worked out with Cooper this summer, and he said better on-field play started in the weight room.

“If you watch the film, you can tell he’s been coming downhill a little bit more,” Williams said. “He has made better blocks on linebackers. He has improved a whole lot.”

Cooper has added definition to his 6-foot, 240-pound body. As Williams said, “Coop looks like an SEC fullback, and he’s strong like an SEC fullback.”

“I’ve gotten a lot stronger in my legs ... and my core and everything else,” Cooper said. “I feel like I’m more conditioned than I was last year.”

At this early stage in his career, Cooper doesn’t possess the bulldozing power of a Will Bartholomew, the supreme speed and leaping ability of a Shawn Bryson or the sticky hands of a Chris Brown. He has time to grow into one or all of those former Volunteers’ roles, but at this point, coaches would prefer he focus on the immediate task at hand.

“He’s very physically capable of being a real good player, yes,” Fulmer said. “And he has turned the corner from being a guy that you didn’t know if you could trust 100 percent to give the great effort. He’s turned that corner.

“It’s just (needing) more consistency from a mental standpoint.”