Analyzing WVU's Chances to Land 2022 WR Omar Cooper Jr.
West Virginia is hoping to keep the momentum going on Wednesday as they are in line to potentially pick up their third commitment of the week. Class of 2022 wide receiver Omar Cooper Jr. (Indianapolis, IN) will be announcing his college destination at 1 p.m. today and will be choosing between West Virginia and Indiana.
What are the odds that the Mountaineers come away with Cooper and steal him away out of Indiana's backyard? I dropped my thoughts below along with getting some insight from my colleague, Tom Brew, who covers the Hoosiers for Sports Illustrated.
My take:
WVU has just one receiver committed in the 2022 class (Jarel Williams) but has been in hot pursuit of Omar Cooper Jr. since he took his official visit to Morgantown last month. Prior to his visit, Indiana had a pretty sizeable lead in his recruitment but WVU closed the gap. "It was amazing. It's an amazing environment and great people, especially the coaching staff," Cooper said of the OV to WVU. "I hung out with Coach [Gerad] Parker the most. We have a really good relationship and I'm getting closer and closer with him and the rest of the staff." It's hard to really gauge which way Cooper is leaning but I have a hunch that the Indiana native will want to remain in his home state. That said, WVU has been on fire on the recruiting trail and it would not shock me to see WVU be the pick. It's a bit of a coin flip guess for me.
Tom Brew's analysis:
Indiana's coaches, especially head coach Tom Allen and wide receivers coach Grant Heard, have developed a great rapport with the Indianapolis native, but those relationships that might matter more have been established at Lawrence North for years. Cooper's quarterback at Lawrence North has been Donaven McCulley, and he's already at Indiana. He was a four-star recruit and the No. 4-ranked dual-threat QB in the country on one recruiting service. They played basketball together, too, and made it all the way to the Class 4A state championship game last year. Cooper's friend C.J. Gunn was on that team as well, and he's already committed to play basketball at Indiana, too. That's a lot of family-like ties, which should give Indiana the edge in keeping Cooper at home.
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