Freshman Cooper Jones Ready to Make His Own Indiana Legacy

Cooper Jones was the best defensive lineman in the state at Valparaiso High School the past few years, and now the Indiana freshman is ready to make his mark at Indiana, where there's some family history in the athletic department.

Tom Brew | Jun 24, 2021

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Cooper Jones is an athletic 18-year-old freshman at Indiana, and the 6-foot-6, 270-pound defensive end has potential written all over him. He was the best high school defensive lineman in the state last year, and the Hoosiers are thrilled to have him.

Indiana, like most college programs, is always looking for quality pass rushers. They have found that in Jones, who's got a long list of skills. He credits playing high school basketball at a high level for helping with his athleticism, his agility and his competitiveness – and how well it all carries over to the football field for him.

"My dad and I used to say that basketball is probably the most fun way to improve your agility,'' Jones said Wednesday when he met the local media in Bloomington for the first time. "I have played basketball ever since I was little, so it is good to be able to compete, keep your agility up and also compete outside of football. It's a little bit of cross-training and I just love basketball. It's fun and it helps with the agility, speed, and explosiveness.''

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 @CoachAllenIU and the rest of the IU coaching staff for this great opportunity. pic.twitter.com/I9HAEWDNpW
— Cooper Jones (@cooperjones1150) April 3, 2020

At the college level, Jones has already noticed the big uptick in athleticism, but he's ready for it. Because he wanted to play out his basketball season, he didn't arrive in Bloomington until earlier this month.

"It's another level, another notch for sure,'' Jones said. "All those guys are men, and they are moving fast. It is definitely a process and it's going to take some time to get used to it, but I feel like I am already starting to adjust a little bit.

"The conditioning has been good. I feel like from where I started with the first workout until now, I have definitely improved. It is going to be a constant improvement. There is another level that some of those guys are at. As long as I keep working hard, I feel pretty confident that I will be able to hit that level.''

An athletic family

Playing sports at a high level is a Jones family tradition, and that athleticism is in his genes. His father, Eric, was a defensive lineman at Notre Dame and his mother, Kassey, played softball at Indiana from 1992 to 1996. His mom is a proud alum who always raves about her great experiences at Indiana, and Cooper said that he a lot to do with his decision to come to Bloomington

"She said it was a great time and a great campus, obviously. It influenced my decision a little bit because I knew she had a great time here and that it was a great experience for her inside and outside of athletics,'' Cooper said.

"It was nice to have a little inside information about what to expect. Obviously, a lot of stuff has changed, like facility-wise. It is a lot nicer than when she was here. She was like, 'it's a great place, and I am proud that you picked it.' ''

Jones was a dominant football player at Valparaiso, and they were Class 5A state finalists in 2019 and reached the state semifinals last year, and he was often unblockable on the edge. He was an Indiana Football Coaches Association Top 50 all-state selection as a junior and senior and he r made 190 tackles, 28 for loss, had 17.5 sacks, four fumble recoveries, three blocked kicks and two defensive touchdowns in his career.

He was the No. 5 prospect in Indiana last year, played four years of varsity football at Valpo and four years of varsity basketball as well. He also had a 4.0-plus grade point average. And he won't be 19 until late September.

A basketball standout as well

He also lettered four years in basketball, and was a key piece to Vikings teams that won three sectional titles.

"He was never a football player who just played basketball. He was a very good basketball player in his own right, very smart, very talented, and he was a great leader,'' Valparaiso basketball coach Barak Coolman said Wednesday. "And he was extremely competitive. We won a lot of games with him here, and we played in a lot of pressure-packed games against quality competition, and he loved all that.

"The bigger the stage, the better he played. In a good way – a very good way – he's one of the most competitive kids I've ever seen.''

Coolman loved coaching him all winter, but he also marveled at his skills on the football field on Friday nights during the fall.

"Every Friday night, it was amazing just watching him dominate,'' Coolman said. "He was double-teamed on every play, sometimes more, and he still posted crazy numbers and was the best player on the field.

"I remember one game, a tackle and running back were blocking him and he basically just ran right through both of them, carried them right into the quarterback and sacked him while he was basically taking down all three guys at the same time. He's a very impressive athlete.''

Coolman said Jones, a 4.0-plus student, took basketball just as seriously.

"He's obviously an amazing physical talent, but his best traits for me were mentally and emotionally,'' Coolman said. "He was a tremendous vocal leader, even when he was young, and he studied film and worked hard on his skills to get better all the time. He had great footwork, and he was a real student of the game. He was rarely ever out of position, and he helped us in a lot of ways.''

Valparaiso went 78-26 during Jones' four years on the basketball team. He was teammates with Purdue's Brandon Newman for two years.

"He always knew his role, and he was always willing to do whatever that role needed to be,'' Coolman said. "Some years, he was more of a defensive coordinator for us, to put it in football terms, but when we needed him to score and rebound, he could do that too.

"I have no problem saying he's been one of my all-time favorite kids to coach, and I can't wait to see what he does down there at Indiana at the next level.''

Cooper Jones (left) has played football and basketball with his younger brother Mason at Valparaiso High School.

It's a family affair, for sure

Those family genes have meant a lot to Cooper, too. They've helped him get to this point, too.

"His parents are great,'' Coolman said. "They were both Division I athletes, so they get it. They never expected to be catered to, and they balanced out each other well, too. She was always positive and he was good at pushing him, and they were perfect together.

"They made it easy for me, too. Sometimes D-1 parents can be a little overbearing, but they weren't that way at all. They're very supportive of their sons, of course, but they've always supported me, too, when it comes to coaching them.''

Cooper's younger brother Mason will be a junior at Valpo this year, and basketball is his first sport. He's 6-foot-7, but long and lanky unlike his thicker big brother. He just got his first college offer this week (Purdue Fort Wayne), and there are more to come.

"Those two are so competitive, and I had to remind them sometimes, 'you're teammates, not brothers,' '' Coolman said. "They'd go at, and they've made each other better. Much like I'm looking forward to Cooper down there, I'm looking forward to Mason growing on his own now here, too.''

As for IU alum Kassey, mom can't wait to see her son play for Indiana. She said their large family "travels in packs'' and there will be at least 15 family members at every game.

"We're an IU family. Me, my dad, my sister, my cousins, we all went to IU,'' Kassey Jones said. "I just love the idea of having a second go-round in Bloomington because I haven't spent much time there at all while we're raising the boys. They both play sports, so we were always somewhere else every weekend.''

Jones picked IU without being able to take an official visit because of COVID-19 restrictions. But she told him a lot about Bloomington, and it was an easy sell.

So is wanting to play for Tom Allen and the Hoosiers.

"Because of COVID, he didn't really have any exposure to the campus, but once he saw the campus and met with Coach Allen, it was over,'' Kassey said. "He fell in love with the campus like I did, but it's a lot more about Coach Allen and the culture he's building there. We all feel like it's just a perfect fit for him.''

Kassey said when they dropped Cooper off in early June, ''we walked all over campus, all the way out to the mall,'' just to see everything and how much Bloomington has changed.

"A lot of it is different, but a lot is exactly the same, too,'' she said. "I'm really happy he's there.''

She's also glad that COVID is in our rearview mirror. She's thrilled that Cooper will get the full college experience this year.

"They all kind of got shortchanged during their senior years last year, and I'm really happy he can be down there and be in the classrooms again, and just enjoy being out and doing things with his teammates and classmates,'' she said.

Kassey said everyone is still trying to get used to not having him at home.

"His absence is noticed, that's for sure,'' she said. "I miss him, and I miss us all being together. He and Mason, they're really good with each other. We'll see him a lot, though, and we'll love every minute in Bloomington.

"I made them go to Village Deli last time we were there, like I used to. It was still great. Just the thought of being in Bloomington again, it really does make me smile. And to see my son playing football there at Indiana, well, it just makes me feel so proud. I can't imagine anything better.''

An athletic family

A basketball standout as well

It's a family affair, for sure

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