Five-star Texas Longhorns commit steals the show in season opener – showing why teams are still after him
Chaminade-Madonna (Fla.) running back Derrek Cooper wasted little time showing why he’s one of the top prospects in the 2026 class last weekend. Despite not having the eye-popping stats in the box score, he flashed in a few big-time runs versus West Boca Raton.Cooper, ranked as the No. 2 overall running back prospect in the […]
Chaminade-Madonna (Fla.) running back Derrek Cooper wasted little time showing why he’s one of the top prospects in the 2026 class last weekend. Despite not having the eye-popping stats in the box score, he flashed in a few big-time runs versus West Boca Raton.
Cooper, ranked as the No. 2 overall running back prospect in the country, looked more like the top-ranked recruit at his position Friday. He flashed toughness between the tackles, natural elusiveness, short space quickness, and home run speed at 210 pounds.
The Under Armour All-American ran the ball 124 times for 905 yards (9.3 YPC) and 13 touchdowns last season. He also hauled in nine passes for 156 yards and another score. Defensively, he made 46 tackles, 10 tackles for loss, four pass breakups, four sacks, three fumble recoveries and two forced fumbles – earning him MaxPreps Junior All-American second-team honors.
Texas holds Derrek Cooper’s commitment, but others are in still in pursuit.
He spoke with 247Sports’ Gabe Urrutia about his interest in nearby Miami.
“I’m approaching it like I always have–staying in contact with coaches,” Cooper said. “I’m probably going to go to a few games just to experience it. I’m probably going to go to two Texas games.
“Everything is great about Miami. It was coming down to a hard choice,” Cooper said. “That was probably the hardest choice I’ve had to make in my life to this point.”
Cooper tells 247Sports he will be in Austin for the Longhorns game versus Sam Houston State. Then, he will travel to Coral Gables to see the Hurricanes and also wants to see Georgia play at some point. The in-state Canes will be lingering until national signing day. And the Bulldogs were the heavy favorite for a long time before Texas ultimately landed the five-star talent.
247Sports’ director of scouting Andrew Ivins is based in Florida and has seen Derrek Cooper a good bit.
“He’s a running back but I could get on board with him as a nickelback or weak side backer,” Ivins said. “He’s played it his whole career so it’s nothing new to him.”
Ivins went on to say Cooper reminds him of a familiar face for Texas Longhorns fans.
“Kind of a north-south guy to me. Reminds me of CJ Baxter.”
247Sports’ Jordan Scruggs came up with some fun facts about the Texas commit.
“If we’re going off 100M times, Cooper (10.77 PR) is the second fastest running back prospect the Longhorns have landed in the Sarkisian era,” Scruggs said. “The first is Jaydon Blue, who clocked a 10.7 PR while at Klein Cain.
“Though he didn’t flip directly from the Bulldogs like James Johnson did, Cooper is the second former Georgia commit in the Longhorns’ 2026 recruiting class,” Scruggs said. “Though Johnson’s Georgia pledge was short and only lasted from June 28th to July 15th, Cooper’s pledge to the Bulldogs was even shorter and only lasted from June 6, 2024 to June 10, 2024.”
