The Lions' Pride

After trimming roughly 10 schools from his list a few weeks ago, things are a little clearer for Hyattsville (Md.) Dematha defensive tackle Darian Cooper.

"I have a top eight right now, hopefully I'll have it down to a top five soon enough. From there, I'm keeping it on the down until I find that perfect school for me," he said. "I don't have any officials set up yet. I actually talked to Michigan State today, and we actually talked about when we would get an official set, or when me and Darien Harris were going to come up there to visit and watch a game, but as of right now I don't have anything set."

The 6-foot-1, 281-pound prospect's top eight consists of Georgia Tech, Iowa, Maryland, Michigan, Michigan State, North Carolina State, Penn State and UCLA. He said that each school is still in the mix.

"I'd like to say that all of the schools are pushing pretty hard," he said. "I'm still getting a lot of letters from Michigan State, Iowa, Penn State, Maryland, N.C. State, Michigan is still sending me a lot of stuff - I have a lot of schools still pushing for me. Me cutting down my list has kind of helped with that, but I still have some schools pushing for me."

Normally, Dematha players must wait until after their season is complete to check out schools on officials, but Cooper does not know if that will be the case again this year.

"I remember last year, [Dematha coach Bill McGregor] had a few guys that he didn't want taking official visits during the season, I remember him having me running around telling guys that they couldn't go on trips," he said. "I really can't say right now. If last year holds true to now, he's really not a big fan of us taking visits in the season. I'm not sure, maybe if I told him in advance and had it planned I may be able to make it out there, but if it were just a spur of the moment thing that I just kind of lay it on him, he may not be too happy about that."

Cooper has talked to three schools about those official visits thus far.

"I can't say definitely they're going to get officials yet, but I've talked to UCLA about an official, I've talked to Penn State about one and I've talked to Michigan State about an official," he said. "Those are the schools that I've just talked to about it, I haven't set a date for any, but I'm still trying to narrow down my list and make sure that everything goes the right way."

The senior prospect and Penn State assistant Larry Johnson, Sr., have been in contact since the winter, and have continued to converse throughout the summer. Penn State was the second school to offer Cooper.

"Me and Coach Johnson talk pretty regularly. Penn State keeps in contact through like letters and things like that. That's definitely been good," he said. "I understand that all coaches are in meeting and things like that at this time, and I'm in meetings and practice as well. As far as calls have been lately, it's been kind of slow, because I'll be lifting when they're at practice and likewise. But it's definitely a nice relationship."

He would like to make it up to see a game this fall, but has yet to coordinate his schedule with the Nittany Lions'.

"I actually have a schedule on my refrigerator right now, so I just have to match up my schedule and look at their schedule and see which games I can make it to," he said.

Dematha will open up on September 4 at Loyola Blakefield. Cooper said that his squad is still coming together right now.

"Things are good, it's still kind of early, as a team we're still trying to mesh and get personalities and all of that out of the way," he said. "That's the thing about football, you bang into each other day in and day out, and people's feelings run high and things like that. Right now we're just in that cooling down portion, we just got out of two-a-days, we have a lot of talent, a lot of seniors out there that are returning. We're just out there working.

"Right now I am playing both ways, I am playing guard and defensive tackle. In the '30' front I'm playing defensive end. I'm not out there trying to be a playmaker, I'm just out there trying to fill in the gaps where they need me and try to work through it like that."