5-star RB Derrek Cooper Sets New Commitment Date

Trinton Breeze

Jul 10, 2025 2 min read

Chamiande Madonna-Prep five-star running back Derrek Cooper rescheduled his commitment date to this month after having originally scheduled on July 12th.

According to his recent Twitter post, he will now make his decision on July 20th at 7 p.m. Eastern time. Cooper also shared he is down to five schools. Among the remaining contenders are Ohio State, Florida State, Miami, Georgia, and Texas.

Cooper has been a long-term recruit for the Miami Hurricanes, as the Hurricanes were the first school to offer Cooper, which was back on March 5th, 2024.

Cooper has visited Miami’s campus nine times and has also taken official visits to Alabama, Georgia, Florida State, Penn State, Auburn, and Ohio State. According to 247Sports’ Gaby Urrutia, crystal ball predictions project Cooper to stay close to home and sign with Miami.

Ranked as the No. 30 overall player and the No. 2 running back nationally in the 247Sports Composite, the 6-foot-1, 205-pound prospect is also listed as the No. 2 player in the state of Florida.

As a running back for Chaminade-Madonna last fall, Cooper carried the ball 124 times for 905 yards and 13 touchdowns.

Can the Miami Hurricanes land the Sunshine State standout? We’ll find out on July 20.

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Comments (160)

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BS85

Oct 7, 2025

Brickell said:
Considering what I saw of the Texas OL, they might wanna spend their NIL money there - Florida mauled them.

Sad thing is they have been

S
skyman

Oct 7, 2025

jsy said:
Honestly if he comes he comes
We should be more focused on the dt we got to flip

BALLHAWKU said:
This is how I feel

Did ya feel the same way for Malachi last year? We need to fight for difference makers.. They win you games.

simplycanes

Oct 7, 2025

skyman said:
Did ya feel the same way for Malachi last year? We need to fight for difference makers.. They win you games.

Perhaps it's because I follow AH a lot more closely, but I viewed Malachi as significantly more critical than Cooper. Toney is a football savant, as one other poster put it; you can put him on the field and he elevates your entire offense because he does so much more than catch the ball and run routes. In HS, they put him at QB when Bell (overrated, BTW) was injured and the offense improved! I have been looking at Cooper a lot more recently I think you absolutely throw all you have at him until the bitter end, especially if/when Texas continues flailing. He is a big kid, he's fast and he would work well between the tackles which is where Mario/Mirabal emphasize the run game, to put it politely. It's a rare combo, but he isn't the only RB out there that can be a difference maker behind our OL.

S
skyman

Oct 7, 2025

simplycanes said:
Perhaps it's because I follow AH a lot more closely, but I viewed Malachi as significantly more critical than Cooper. Toney is a football savant, as one other poster put it; you can put him on the field and he elevates your entire offense because he does so much more than catch the ball and run routes. In HS, they put him at QB when Bell (overrated, BTW) was injured and the offense improved! I have been looking at Cooper a lot more recently I think you absolutely throw all you have at him until the bitter end, especially if/when Texas continues flailing. He is a big kid, he's fast and he would work well between the tackles which is where Mario/Mirabal emphasize the run game, to put it politely. It's a rare combo, but he isn't the only RB out there that can be a difference maker behind our OL.

I agree with everything overall but my thing is, I think Mario goes after guys like this because he is local 5 star talent. There are always other RB but can we get them here, are they local? I know many talk about the Lamar rb but he is from georgia and committed to UGA.. Who else we going after?

Confidence1000

Oct 7, 2025

jsy said:
Honestly if he comes he comes
We should be more focused on the dt we got to flip

If he comes he comes? BIG PAUSE!

Confidence1000

Oct 7, 2025

tane000 said:
This kid is still growing, he is around 6’2 or 6’3 now

GojiraCane

Oct 7, 2025

BS85 said:
Sad thing is they have been

They have, but they refused to use the portal this offseason on the o-line. They gambled that their highly recruited backups from 2024 were ready to step in this year.

C
Cane30

Oct 7, 2025

This whole time, I have viewed Cooper as a must get at LB. He definitely fits the mold at RB this staff is looking for, but he is not a must have at RB for me. It's more about optics and I truly believe he is making the wrong decision. In saying that, I don't know his exact NIL offer.

Calinative

Oct 7, 2025

Cane30 said:
This whole time, I have viewed Cooper as a must get at LB. He definitely fits the mold at RB this staff is looking for, but he is not a must have at RB for me. It's more about optics and I truly believe he is making the wrong decision. In saying that, I don't know his exact NIL offer.

Recruiting purely based on optics is dumb as ****. It’d be different maybe if those “optics” were actual relationship like how Toney appears to be a guy that others strongly desire to play with… or like a Quincy Wilson…

But if the “optics” are just that he’s a local 5star…. Nah

CANEMC

Oct 7, 2025

Confidence1000 said:
If he comes he comes? BIG PAUSE!
View attachment 338708

G
Golsen82

Oct 7, 2025

Jassid82 said:
The decision shouldn’t be based on playing time or money because clearly Texas is the better deal in both regards..it’s what the **** is the identity of that offense and who out of Sark and Arch (or both) won’t be back next year? Because Texas **** sure isn’t running that tandem back in 2026. Mario has proven he’s willing to do whatever to make sure we have a big time QB in the program and will spend whatever. But these kids don’t think long term unfortunately. Let him go if you ask me. He will absolutely regret it and be in the portal by his Jr year.

Btw..what happened to Jerrick Gibson? The 5* IMG RB that went to Texas like 2 years ago?

Seen an article saying Sark going to byu his alma mater and texas wants to make a move for Lane Kiffin

G
Golsen82

Oct 7, 2025

Jassid82 said:
The decision shouldn’t be based on playing time or money because clearly Texas is the better deal in both regards..it’s what the **** is the identity of that offense and who out of Sark and Arch (or both) won’t be back next year? Because Texas **** sure isn’t running that tandem back in 2026. Mario has proven he’s willing to do whatever to make sure we have a big time QB in the program and will spend whatever. But these kids don’t think long term unfortunately. Let him go if you ask me. He will absolutely regret it and be in the portal by his Jr year.

Btw..what happened to Jerrick Gibson? The 5* IMG RB that went to Texas like 2 years ago?

TrumpyCane

Oct 7, 2025

Jassid82 said:
The decision shouldn’t be based on playing time or money because clearly Texas is the better deal in both regards..it’s what the **** is the identity of that offense and who out of Sark and Arch (or both) won’t be back next year? Because Texas **** sure isn’t running that tandem back in 2026. Mario has proven he’s willing to do whatever to make sure we have a big time QB in the program and will spend whatever. But these kids don’t think long term unfortunately. Let him go if you ask me. He will absolutely regret it and be in the portal by his Jr year.

Btw..what happened to Jerrick Gibson? The 5* IMG RB that went to Texas like 2 years ago?

TrumpyCane just won the Heisman with him in an NCAA 26 Online Dynasty at FAU

BALLHAWKU

Oct 7, 2025

skyman said:
Did ya feel the same way for Malachi last year? We need to fight for difference makers.. They win you games.

He has long speed not separation from the first steps . I don’t see but it

BALLHAWKU

Oct 7, 2025

skyman said:
I agree with everything overall but my thing is, I think Mario goes after guys like this because he is local 5 star talent. There are always other RB but can we get them here, are they local? I know many talk about the Lamar rb but he is from georgia and committed to UGA.. Who else we going after?

Lamar had separation speed , cook , Portis , mcgahee ,

gogeta4

Oct 7, 2025

skyman said:
I agree with everything overall but my thing is, I think Mario goes after guys like this because he is local 5 star talent. There are always other RB but can we get them here, are they local? I know many talk about the Lamar rb but he is from georgia and committed to UGA.. Who else we going after?

https://247sports.com/player/lekhy-thompkins-46146374/

Pearson704

Oct 7, 2025

skyman said:
I agree with everything overall but my thing is, I think Mario goes after guys like this because he is local 5 star talent. There are always other RB but can we get them here, are they local? I know many talk about the Lamar rb but he is from georgia and committed to UGA.. Who else we going after?

Using that same logic; why are Texas and UGA going after him?

Surely there are comparable backs to Cooper that call Texas and Georgia home.

ssvir

Oct 7, 2025

Cane30 said:
This whole time, I have viewed Cooper as a must get at LB. He definitely fits the mold at RB this staff is looking for, but he is not a must have at RB for me. It's more about optics and I truly believe he is making the wrong decision. In saying that, I don't know his exact NIL offer.

You don't pay the money he's likely to receive for a LB