'21 IN SDE Cooper Jones (Indiana Verbal)

[BobbyMac]

SDE / TE in HS - Could be a Tillery type stretch DT like his Dad was.
Valparaiso, IN
Valpo HS

Measurements:
Height: 6-6
Weight: 245

Rankings:
247 Comp: .. NR
247: ............ NR
Rivals: ......... NR
ESPN: .......... NR

Offers:
Michigan
Ohio St

Media Links:

Twitter = https://twitter.com/cooperjones1150

Hudl = http://www.hudl.com/profile/9679076/Cooper-Jones

Highlights:

<iframe src='//www.hudl.com/embed/video/3/9679076/5cbfc061d225750860cee63f' width='640' height='360' frameborder='0' allowfullscreen></iframe>

 

[BobbyMac]

So you're sad McGregor's slip sliding away?

Here's some good news.

Former ND player Eric Jones' kid. Plays at Valpo (Home of Shark). 4.0 GPA

Had 50 Tkl, 10 TFL and 7 sacks as a Soph on Northern Indiana's best team. Played varsity basketball as a fresh/soph too.

Destroyed Penn, played Carmel tough.

Offered by Michigan last night and Wiltfong put in a ND CB on Michigan's message board. Add one for me too.

Wants to play at ND.

Will camp at <strike>Irish Invasion</strike> The Lineman's Challenge.

 

[rtrn2glory]

I'll take em now

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

I speak on behalf of Brian Kelly, we'll accept his commitment immediately.

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

Is this Jones son who used to coach boys basketball at wheeler I know a while back he had a son coming up through the Valpo system

 

[BobbyMac]

Is this Jones son who used to coach boys basketball at wheeler I know a while back he had a son coming up through the Valpo system

No. This is Eric Jones' kid who played DT at ND. He's from Portage and played there but now lives in Valpo.

Mike Jones is who you are thinking of. His oldest was Curtis who played at VHS his freshmen year and then transferred to Andrean. His youngest is Colton who's currently a Soph at VHS with Cooper Jones. (They aren't related). Colton will be a P5 recruit and the star of the team next year when Brandon Newman moves on to Purdue.

Mike and I played together at VU.

 

[Wild Bill]

Kid played his ass off against carmel in the playoffs.

 

[BobbyMac]

Coming in this weekend for the Lineman's Challenge.

Offer watch and then instantly to commit watch. He may take some visits for the experience but he's gonna be Irish.

 

[Luckylucci]

You could fill our class with only DL that are at the Lineman Challenge and I think we'd all be pretty darn happy. Awesome group for Elston to work with.

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

How good is this kid?

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

How good is this kid?

 

[BobbyMac]

How good is this kid?

My Indiana info guy is a college buddy in Valpo who's an IHSAA offical, a former college lineman and he played against Cooper's Dad, Eric. He thinks Cooper's the best prospect going into their Junior year he's ever seen in the DAC.

 

[Veritate Duce Progredi]

My Indiana info guy is a college buddy in Valpo who's an IHSAA offical, a former college lineman and he played against Cooper's Dad, Eric. He thinks Cooper's the best prospect going into their Junior year he's ever seen in the DAC.

So help us translate that NDC: equals a top 100 player? Top 250?

 

[Luckylucci]

The Lineman challenge has some legit OL and DL attending, so we should get some good comps for those that attend. Several potential P5 starters on both sides of the ball.

 

[BobbyMac]

So help us translate that NDC: equals a top 100 player? Top 250?

Not sure just yet. He only turned it on for the 2nd half of the season last year. I'm gonna check out Braiden McG's Soph basketball highlights toninght to get a good comparison.

 

[Irish#1]

Careful Cruz. you're getting everyone all giddy!

 

[BobbyMac]

Careful Cruz. you're getting everyone all giddy!

Don't look at me, Wiltfong called him a MAN-CHILD!

 

[IrishFanJMercy]

Reason why I ask is you don't see a lot of kids from the DAC football teams playing high level D-1 football

 

[BobbyMac]

Reason why I ask is you don't see a lot of kids from the DAC football teams playing high level D-1 football

For sure. A kid from Michigan City, Chase Triplett goes to Purdue this fall. He's cousins with the last good college/pro football player the DAC produced, Mike Neal of the Packers & Purdue.

Big Dog's other kid Jalen was a monster at Lake Central and then had a nice career at Purdue a few years back.

Jones has a '21 teammate at Valpo, John Hofer who's a 6-6/310 OL w/ a few early MAC offers. He'll end up with B1G offers. He should be at ND Saturday with Jones.

 

[BobbyMac]

Got offered by Ohio St yesterday.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Congratulations to <a href="https://twitter.com/VHSFootball_19?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@VHSFootball_19</a> 2021 DL <a href="https://twitter.com/cooperjones1150?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@cooperjones1150</a> on receiving an offer from <a href="https://twitter.com/OhioStateFB?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@OhioStateFB</a> Thank you <a href="https://twitter.com/R2X_Rushmen1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@R2X_Rushmen1</a> and Coach Mattison!</p>— Valpo High School Football (@VHSFootball_19) <a href="https://twitter.com/VHSFootball_19/status/1138872204454768642?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">June 12, 2019</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[Luckylucci]

There are a few guys that should be on offer watch. Cooper Jones, Aaron Armitage, and Cade Denhoff. While Rodney McGraw, Bryon Turner and Jeff Bowie all seem like potential offer guys. I doubt they all do, post camp, but it's a competitive bunch.

 

[Wild Bill]

https://www.nwitimes.com/sports/high-school/football/top-prospect-jones-never-stops-working-for-no-valparaiso/article_1e8c9cfe-1b99-5dee-9392-19d0c3f6763d.html

His brother is a 6'6" freshman too. Got some varsity garbage time against Penn last night. Maybe a two for one deal.

 

[BobbyMac]

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">First off I know this is small news during these chaotic times. I would like to announce that I have committed to Indiana University to further my academic and athletic career. I want to thank <a href="https://twitter.com/CoachAllenIU?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CoachAllenIU</a> and the rest of the IU coaching staff for this great opportunity. <a href="https://t.co/I9HAEWDNpW">pic.twitter.com/I9HAEWDNpW</a></p>— Cooper Jones (@cooperjones1150) <a href="https://twitter.com/cooperjones1150/status/1245878127915565056?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">April 3, 2020</a></blockquote> <script async src="https://platform.twitter.com/widgets.js" charset="utf-8"></script>

 

[stpeteirish]

He camped at ND and wasn't offered so I guess we shouldn't be too bummed but I am. Eric Jones was a fantastic player until he broke his leg vs Air Force.

Those more tuned in can weigh in but it would appear that Onye and Armitage were ahead of Jones in the pecking order so we held off.

 

[notredomer23]

This is the type of kid you just take. We know scholarship numbers won’t end up being an issue. Disappointing.

 

[NDMIA]

This is the type of kid you just take. We know scholarship numbers won’t end up being an issue. Disappointing.

OL and DL are the two spot where ND shouldn’t scramble their way down the board like they’ve done in the past. Jones seems like a good prospect but clearly ND’s got Bennett, Onye, Abiara, Armitage and some others higher on their board than Jones. No need to scramble down to him with 8 months until signing day. I remember ND grabbing in the summer of 2014 a pair of DT commits to fill numbers with 8 months before signing day (February signing) and Tiassum and Dew-Treadway were not ND caliber football players at any point in their tenure. I’m not saying Jones is either one, and I think he’s way better but there’s no need to go down your board especially at those two positions so fast. Elston’s got some really good prospects in his eye right now

 

[Luckylucci]

This is the type of kid you just take. We know scholarship numbers won’t end up being an issue. Disappointing.

Not even a little. We just got a DE commit that had LSU and Bama offers. There is very little to be disappointed with regards to Elston. The man is crushing it.

 

[fightingirish26]

It's more disappointing because you realize he's a guy who would love to be at ND. Just like all of us. Imagine being a player of his caliber, you think you have a very real chance of getting that ND offer, but it just eludes your grasp. I would give anything for that offer but instead I see it go to guys like Onye and Armitage who are comparable prospects, just without the whole growing up ND fans aspect.

 

[BobbyMac]

It's more disappointing because you realize he's a guy who would love to be at ND. Just like all of us. Imagine being a player of his caliber, you think you have a very real chance of getting that ND offer, but it just eludes your grasp. I would give anything for that offer but instead I see it go to guys like Onye and Armitage who are comparable prospects, just without the whole growing up ND fans aspect.

That's an assumption. I never read anything about him dying to go to ND. He's not big on social media period. Maybe this was always like Lorenzo Styles? Local guy, Dad played at the local powerhouse... goes someplace else?

Regardless of why, this doesn't sound like it was ever remotely a thing. There are those who thought after his Soph year that he was going to be as good of a prospect as ever for the Region but my Valpo/VHS guys said Jr year was disappointing (as compared to Soph and where they thought he'd be as a Jr) even though Valpo had a great year.

As far as being a fan, Supposedly Armitage come's from an ND fan background too albeit his Dad din't play DL for Lou.

 

[fightingirish26]

Wants to play at ND.

Sorry for the assumption