Chaminade’s Cooper is the Broward 4A-1A Football Offensive Player of the Year
Chaminade-Madonna has featured some elite talent in recent years over its past decade of football dominance.
Few have been as special as Derrek Cooper.
The 5-star, 6-2, 210-pound running back etched his name as one of the best to come out of Broward County over the past four seasons as he prepares to take the next step and become a force on the college level for the University of Texas.
Cooper’s remarkable senior season earned him the distinction of being the Miami Herald’s Broward County Football Offensive Player of the Year for Classes 4A-1A.
Cooper ran for 1,597 yards and 19 touchdowns on 160 attempts to lead the Lions to their state-record 10th consecutive state finals appearance.
Although Chaminade fell short of winning its eighth state title over that span, Cooper showed off the upside which has many thinking he will be playing in the NFL in a few years. He scored two touchdowns in the 17-14 loss to West Palm Beach Cardinal Newman in the Class 1A state championship game. Cooper also eclipsed the 100-yard mark six times this season, including a 257-yard effort in the regional finals against True North.
Cooper followed in the footsteps of former Chaminade receiver Jeremiah Smith, a star at Ohio State University, who is also projected by many as a future NFL star.
Cooper, like Smith, went on to win the Nat Moore Trophy - awarded to the top player in South Florida.
Cooper, who began his career at Cardinal Gibbons and totaled over 3,300 career yards rushing, was among a group of four finalists that also included St. Thomas Aquinas defensive back Justice Fitzpatrick, a Georgia commit, Central receiver Brandon Kinsey, a Purdue commit, and Northwestern receiver Calvin Russell Jr., a Syracuse commit.
“I love playing football and I can’t wait to get to Texas and just get in that fire,” Cooper said at the Nat Moore Trophy ceremony in December.
