Every year highschool student-athletes look forward to National Signing Day. This is a day that brings lots of joy and excitement to many athletes and their respected families. On Feb. 3, CWU announced their 18 new signees that have fully committed to play football at CWU next fall. 

Defensive graduate assistant and cornerback coach AJ Cooper started coaching at CWU in 2019. Cooper played college football at Southern Oregon University in Ashland, Oregon, where he started for four years and generally assigned to the opposing teams top receivers.

When asked who the top five recruits were of the incoming class, Cooper said “I wouldn’t necessarily rank them, I think they are all great kids that will play a big role in our program.”

Getting recruited by a team is hard to do. It’s even harder for these kids to get recruited during the COVID-19 pandemic. Some of these recruits had shortened seasons or even no season at all making it hard to get the right exposure. 

The coaches put in a lot of work to find the right recruits they believe will make an impact and bring the team to the next level. They try to watch as much film as possible and go to as many camps as possible to see all the recruits they can in live action.

Following COVID-19 protocols, some of the recruits were actually able to come visit and meet the coaches and see the campus in person. 

“I think it was really good to build those relationships with them and I think we got a good group of guys,” Cooper said.

For the recruits that didn’t get to visit, the coaches and players had to focus on keeping in touch. The coaches would watch the senior film or even try to go watch them at camps.

The 2021 recruits consist of players from Washington, Oregon, Georgia and California. 

Cooper said “These are kids that are well known in the area and we just wanted to give the best opportunity to.”

Coach Cooper said, “We hit the jackpot.”