Navy Football Player Profile: Mychal Cooper, WR
Mychal Cooper, Navy WR (image: www.NavySports.com)
Mychal Cooper
Position: WR
Height: 6’5″
Weight: 220
Year: Freshman
Hometown: San Antonio, TX
High School
Mychal Cooper graduated from Taft High School in San Antonio, Texas in 2017. A two sport athlete, Cooper earned three letters in football and two in track & field. Selected twice for the All-County and All-District teams in football, he served as the Raiders’ captain his senior year.
Boasting a 34-inch vertical leap and 4.5 second 40-yard dash, Cooper saw offers from Navy, Army, Air Force, Nevada and New Mexico. Ultimately, it was Navy’s offer he chose, attending NAPS (Naval Academy Prep School) during the 2017/18 academic year.
Freshman Year (2018)
Navy lost a lot of talent with its 2017 graduating class. Particularly hard hit was the Midshipmen’s wide receiving corps. Mick Yokitis, in his eighth year as Navy’s wide receivers coach, spoke Monday as to the role Mychal Cooper will play in 2018.
Calling Cooper the “most versatile” of his freshman wideouts, Yokitis praised the Texan’s ability to block, a key for every wide receiver in Navy’s triple-option offense. “(Cooper) can do our down blocking and is also able to run routes. I’m really excited about Mychal.”
There are three freshmen wide receivers (Marcell Gleaton, Collins Woods III and Cooper) vying for playing time in Navy’s season opener at Hawaii on Sept. 1. Yokitis believes Cooper will indeed see action that first game. Besides being the largest of the three plebes, Cooper has demonstrated in fall camp his ability to get free and catch passes.
Cooper credits his time at NAPS for giving him an early introduction into the triple-option, an offense notoriously hard to learn for many wideouts. He also believes the competition between the three freshmen wide receivers has helped him up his game.
Mychal Cooper expects the Navy-Hawaii game will prove Coach Yokitis’ faith in him sound.
