San Diego State's 4,000-Yard Running Back Has Cal's Attention

Marquez Cooper has 18 career games of at least 100 rushing yards, including 223 in the Aztecs' season opener

Marquez Cooper / Photo by Derrick Tuskan, San Diego State

It’s been seven seasons since Cal faced a running back who arrived at game day with more than 4,000 career rushing yards.

The last one was Oregon’s Royce Freeman, who had 4,687 yards when the Bears visited Autzen Stadium on Sept. 30, 2017. Freeman went on to set a Pac-12 career record with 5,621 yards, although he had just 51 yards that day in a 45-24 Oregon victory.

Cal will see another 4,000-yard back on Saturday at Memorial Stadium when Marquez Cooper and San Diego State stop by for a 7:30 p.m. game that will be aired on ESPN.

Cooper is college football’s active rushing leader with 4,132 yards. He’s also No. 1 in all-purpose yards with 4,771. 

“Talk about a fun player to watch. He really looks like he kind of embodies the football mentality,” Cal defensive coordinator Peter Sirmon says in the video at the top of this story. “He’s got great balance, he is a vertical player, he runs behind his pads. He’s reckless in terms of how hard he plays. Takes care of the ball but he’s a physical runner and you can see why he’s been so productive. 

“He’s a fun player to watch, not a fun player to get ready for.”

San Diego State lists Cooper at 5-foot-8, 200 pounds; College Football Reference says he’s 5-6, 184 pounds. Cooper told Kirk Kenney of the San Diego Union Tribune he’s actually 5-foot-7.

First-year coach Sean Lewis, who coached Cooper at Kent State, said the Gaithersburg, Maryland native’s success stems from a range of sources.

"Obviously a big part of it is his confidence and the chip that he carries on his shoulder,” Lewis said, “and then his natural given skill set that he's worked on throughout his whole career in terms of his short-area quickness and his ability to make people miss, unbelievable contact balance.”

Cooper made a great first impression with SDSU fans in his debut two weeks ago, rushing for 223 yards and two touchdowns in a 45-15 win over Texas A&M Commerce. He managed just 53 yards on 13 rushes in a 21-0 loss to Oregon State last week.

Marquez Cooper during his Kent State days / Phil Masturzo/Akron Beacon Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

Cooper spent his first three college seasons at Kent State, where he developed a bond with Lewis. Cooper ran for 1,205 yards and 11 touchdowns as a sophomore in 2021, then 1,326 yards and 13 TDs a year later.

When Lewis left to become offensive coordinator at Colorado last season, Cooper transferred to Ball State, where he assembled his third straight 1,000-yard campaign with 1,043 yards and four TDs.

Kenney was named San Diego State’s head coach last November and it didn’t take long for Cooper to join him.

“The production that he has is undeniable,” Lewis told the San Diego Union Tribune. “And the shared experiences that we have, to know that he is about all the same things that we’re about, that just becomes another positive voice within the locker room as we continue to move the culture and identify who we’re going to be.”

Cooper has put together 18 games of at least 100 rushing yards, seven of them over 160 yards. But in nine outings against schools from Power 5 (now Power 4) conferences, he has never cracked the century mark.

Against the likes of Georgia (twice), Texas A&M, Oklahoma and Washington, Cooper averaged just 45 yards on 3.2 yards per carry. No doubt, those elite-level opponents significantly outmatched his Kent State and Ball State squads and running room to tough to find.

In his other 35 career games, Cooper has averaged more than 106 rushing yards at a 5.2 per-carry clip.

He certainly has the attention of Cal coach Justin Wilcox.

“The guy’s super productive,” Wilcox said. “He runs, he catches, he can break tackles, he can make people miss. He’s just a very, very good football player all-around. 

“You don’t get 4,000 yards by accident.”