Former OSU star Cooper finds reprieve at Deer Creek
EDMOND — Josh Cooper spends nearly every day working in the heat.
The former Oklahoma State and Cleveland Browns receiver is now a construction laborer for his father’s company. That means it is early morning to afternoon in the elements with power tools or whatever else is needed.
“I get out there and do the hard stuff,” Cooper said.
That only makes going to Deer Creek High School’s football practice every day that much easier.
Cooper was named the Antlers’ offensive coordinator in the spring, where he gets a reprieve from wearing out his body with the sport that’s been good to him since his days in Mustang.
But now, instead of being a sure-handed receiver, he’s tasked with bringing a high-flying offense to life in Class 6A-II.
“It’ll come,” Cooper said. “It’s a tough process right now trying to get this playbook in.”
Deer Creek has a new look going into Class 6A-II for the first time.
Jay Wilkinson is now the head coach. A plethora of seniors from a talented team graduated. Only two coaches return from last season’s staff.
That makes the addition of Cooper even more important.
“He brings the experience to the table with some of the things he learned throughout the process of college and pro football,” Wilkinson said. “Those types of things as lessons are just hard to find. You find a guy that played that position at that high level in the same type of system as what you’re teaching the kids it really helps out.”
And Wilkinson lucked out on landing Cooper, who was a volunteer coach at Mustang the past few seasons while also offering lessons to players from other schools.
Cooper remained friends with former OSU quarterback Brayden Stringer through the years. Stringer was Deer Creek’s receivers coach last season, and he immediately started pushing for Wilkinson to bring in Cooper.
Stringer eventually left coaching, but not before his persistence pushed Wilkinson to call Cooper.
“It worked out really well because he was already familiar with some of the kids over here, and a lot of what we do is similar to what he played in at OSU,” Wilkinson said. “Terminology-wise it was like he didn’t miss a beat Day 1.”
Cooper is already a hit with the players.
Wilkinson said they have found images on Google of Cooper’s hairstyles throughout his career — short hair, long hair and a mullet all stand out.
But more importantly, he’s helping the team prepare for life in a new, tougher classification.
“He brings a lot of knowledge to our team, he knows his stuff and he’s really preparing us for 6A,” senior receiver Zach Kerstetter said