Ty Cooper finding a home at the Jack position
Ty Cooper has been a man of many talents since he arrived in Starkville
A standout defensive end at Louisville High School, Cooper has played on the line at Mississippi State and at linebacker. He also had a stint working with the tight ends last season as the Bulldogs were short on numbers.
This season, Cooper might have found his spot in Coleman Hutzler’s linebacker group at the Jack spot. It’s brought him the most playing time of his career to this point and he’s finding comfortability with teammate Branden Jennings.
“I’m really taking it week-by-week, trying to make the best out of it and showing them I can play ball,” Cooper said. “I feel pretty comfortable. It’s made me play faster and think better so it’s been good.”
Cooper enjoying best season yet
Through five games, Cooper has already tied his career high with 13 tackles this season and he matched the production that he had all of last season and 12 contests. It hasn’t been without struggles from the entire group.
The Bulldogs have been among the SEC’s worst defensive units since the start of the season with a first-year defensive coordinator and several new faces at the helm. Even so, it hasn’t stopped them from working to improve and fans were able to see that at No. 1 Texas last ball game.
While the Bulldogs did give up over 500 yards and 35 points, there were some big steps forward in the game like some key defensive stops and several forced turnovers. It was something to build upon for Cooper.
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“We communicated better, played with more energy and playing together better,” Cooper said of the defense vs. Texas. “We’ve built a bond week-by-week and day-by-day so we’ve just really become closer. We just go out there and play ball and if we’re up, we’re up. We feed off of each other.”
The challenges don’t get any easier this week.
Cooper and his teammates got a much-needed break last week with the bye week and the junior LB said he used it to get his body healed to 100% and grab some rest. Now, they load up on Saturday and take on the No. 5 Georgia Bulldogs, a hungry team looking to get closer to securing the playoffs.
“They’re pretty good up front,” Cooper said. “They’ve got some good backs and receivers and are a hard-nosed football team.”
State meets up with UGA at 3:15 on Saturday on the SEC Network. MSU is hoping to join the ranks of massive upsets in SEC play, but MSU will need Cooper and the defense to put forth a herculean effort.
