Cooper Ragan '21 Recruiting Profile

I feel I’ve been lucky with the family support I’ve had since a young boy. My mom always was there for me to push me and make sure my academics were where they needed to be and my father was always a constant presence when it came to my athletic life.  He always approaches me from things he learned being an athlete and teenager in high school not just from his successes but a lot from his failures.   He always told me the things I was doing right at the same time would let me know what I needed to do to improve in areas that I needed to.                        

My parents put me in every sport as a young kid.  I believe at age 4 I was playing soccer for a couple years along with TBall. Then in 2nd grade I dropped soccer and started playing football along with basketball and baseball. I played all three sports until 8th grade.  At that point I went down to basketball for fun recreational and football was still my main sport.  In second grade football just clicked with me it became my passion.  The contact and  the team unity.  There’s nothing else like the game of football.  

I’ve learned in football that no one can put in the time and work but yourself.  If you want it bad enough you have to put in more work then the other kid wanting the same thing. It’s a constant process. No days off. I learned that from listening to professional athletes. If they think it is important to constantly improve how can a high school player feel they are good enough to think they don’t have to put in any extra work. 

One thing I know I appreciate about always being in sports my whole life is that it certainly makes you focus on your grades and school work.  With all the time practice takes out of the day I’ve  always gotten my work done right after school before getting ready for practice.  My goal has to always have good grades for the next level. 

I’m looking for a coaching staff that we have good chemistry together. Ideally I’d like to stay on as a  GA after I’m done playing. My career goal is to be a defensive coordinator at the highest level one day. As a player on the field  one characteristic  I feel I have is, I like to find clues in the offense early to better put myself  in position to make plays. I will put in the work and do what the coaches need of me to make the team better.