On Monday morning, Miami Hurricanes star-studded wide receiver Cooper Barkate, who transferred over from the Duke Blue Devils with his quarterback, Darian Mensah, spoke with the media about his transition to Miami and the upcoming season. Check out everything he had to say about the first couple of fall practices down below:
On fall camp: The camp has been going great. It's getting a little hot down here though. But going great.
On the culture around the wide receivers: It definitely sets it apart because of the competitiveness that we have. We got a lot of depth. So every day we're kind of just feeding off each other, trying to make plays. But I'd say the culture's a great culture. I think everyone respects each other and loves each other, and Coach Beard does a great job of doing that.
On the value of competition during fall camp: It's everything. That's really why I came here, because I wanted to sharpen my game and not only having the DBs to go against, you got someone right behind you coming for your spot. So I love it here.
On one of the biggest things he wanted to work on and how it has progressed: I'd say my physicality downfield, but also in the run game, and this spot's the beater to work on that.
On handling the spotlight and increased attention at Miami: Honestly, I don't feel it. Coach Cristobal always tells us to be the attacker. So whatever they say, the media says about the target on our back, we don't really listen to it, and we're always trying to attack. So I take my personal game the same way.
On where the Spider-Man nickname came from: My friends in high school called me Spider-Man because they said I looked like Spider-Man. They said I looked like a mix between Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. And then I kind of just took it and ran with it and made it my Instagram name.
On Daylyn Upshaw and Joshua Moore: Two crazy talents, and they're both young kids. But everyone in the room, besides all their natural talent, what really stood out to me is how hard they take it off the field and how serious and really all these young kids are like professionals. They probably learned that a little bit from Malachi. He's got a great head on his shoulders. But I see the same for Joshua and Daylyn.
On Malachi Toney: He's a great kid. I can't give enough praise to him, to be honest. You see what he does on the field. But off the field, he's a very quiet kid. He's soft-spoken. But he's a tremendous leader, and he takes his work serious. He's a pro already.
On Kevin Beard: He's funny. He's loud. He's energetic. But he's a great coach. He not only teaches the schematics of our offense, but also the techniques. You can go into his office, 18 hours out of the day, and he'll be up there. And you can ask him, hey, I got some issues with this or this, and this type of coverage or whatever it may be, and he'll give you an answer.
On how working with premier athletes has helped his game: It's been great. I love the offseason just to work on things you're not good at. And yeah, get new perspectives from guys, and then being out there with some NFL guys and Jeremiah. It's been cool just to being out of Miami and see that scene and see some guys that are at a higher level than me, like NFL guys, and try to take stuff that they do well in their game and try to add it to mine.
On what he needs to do to level up this season: Play my best and win. That's really all it is. You see the teams that go to the playoffs usually do the well, the best in the draft boards. So that's really what I'm focused on.
On how he has improved as a blocker: It's a mindset really. So physicality and just wanting to do it.
On fall camp: The camp has been going great. It's getting a little hot down here though. But going great.
On the culture around the wide receivers: It definitely sets it apart because of the competitiveness that we have. We got a lot of depth. So every day we're kind of just feeding off each other, trying to make plays. But I'd say the culture's a great culture. I think everyone respects each other and loves each other, and Coach Beard does a great job of doing that.
On the value of competition during fall camp: It's everything. That's really why I came here, because I wanted to sharpen my game and not only having the DBs to go against, you got someone right behind you coming for your spot. So I love it here.
On one of the biggest things he wanted to work on and how it has progressed: I'd say my physicality downfield, but also in the run game, and this spot's the beater to work on that.
On handling the spotlight and increased attention at Miami: Honestly, I don't feel it. Coach Cristobal always tells us to be the attacker. So whatever they say, the media says about the target on our back, we don't really listen to it, and we're always trying to attack. So I take my personal game the same way.
On where the Spider-Man nickname came from: My friends in high school called me Spider-Man because they said I looked like Spider-Man. They said I looked like a mix between Andrew Garfield and Tom Holland. And then I kind of just took it and ran with it and made it my Instagram name.
On Daylyn Upshaw and Joshua Moore: Two crazy talents, and they're both young kids. But everyone in the room, besides all their natural talent, what really stood out to me is how hard they take it off the field and how serious and really all these young kids are like professionals. They probably learned that a little bit from Malachi. He's got a great head on his shoulders. But I see the same for Joshua and Daylyn.
On Malachi Toney: He's a great kid. I can't give enough praise to him, to be honest. You see what he does on the field. But off the field, he's a very quiet kid. He's soft-spoken. But he's a tremendous leader, and he takes his work serious. He's a pro already.
On Kevin Beard: He's funny. He's loud. He's energetic. But he's a great coach. He not only teaches the schematics of our offense, but also the techniques. You can go into his office, 18 hours out of the day, and he'll be up there. And you can ask him, hey, I got some issues with this or this, and this type of coverage or whatever it may be, and he'll give you an answer.
On how working with premier athletes has helped his game: It's been great. I love the offseason just to work on things you're not good at. And yeah, get new perspectives from guys, and then being out there with some NFL guys and Jeremiah. It's been cool just to being out of Miami and see that scene and see some guys that are at a higher level than me, like NFL guys, and try to take stuff that they do well in their game and try to add it to mine.
On what he needs to do to level up this season: Play my best and win. That's really all it is. You see the teams that go to the playoffs usually do the well, the best in the draft boards. So that's really what I'm focused on.
On how he has improved as a blocker: It's a mindset really. So physicality and just wanting to do it.
