How Jonathon Cooper bet on himself, sent pro stock soaring
The decision was clearly a win-win in hindsight, and Jonathon Cooper suspected all along that would be the case.
That still didn’t make it easy to pull the plug on his first senior season, stay on the sidelines for a College Football Playoff game or watch his close friends head off to the NFL without him last year.
But Cooper needed a chance to prove what he could at defensive end when not bothered by a nagging high-ankle sprain. And he also always wanted to do what’s best for the Buckeyes, which in turn made a decision on their end to establish a tradition for the first selfless recipient of the
Block O jersey a no-brainer with Cooper. Both sides wound up getting just about everything they could have possibly hoped for during Cooper’s bonus year at Ohio State, although obviously they would have preferred to get one more win before he
finally took off the scarlet and gray for the final time.
“I would say in some way, yeah, [the decision was validated],” Cooper said after the Sugar Bowl. “You know, I honestly came back for my teammates and I wanted to show the world the type of football player that I am. I feel like I played pretty well against Clemson. I definitely went back and watched the film, there’s definitely some things I could get better at.
“But for the most part we got the job done and we won the game, and that’s the whole entire goal.”
Entire article:
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