Former NFL wide receiver Josh Cooper takes over Oklahoma high school football team

Josh Cooper, a former Cleveland Browns wide receiver, will return to his Oklahoma high school football roots. This time, he will take over as the Hinton Comets’ head football coach. He will replace Grant Potter, who had a 28-33 record in six seasons.

Cooper will take over an Oklahoma high school football program that went 5-7 last season. While they started by winning four of their first seven games, they went 1-3 since, with their only victory coming against Sayre. Despite the losing record, Hinton competed in the Oklahoma Class A-I state tournament but suffered a shutout loss to Christian Heritage.

Josh Cooper was a three-way player for Mustang High School. During his senior season, his 81 catches for 1,328 yards and 15 touchdowns helped the Broncos finish with a 10-2 record. Likewise, he had 84 tackles and six interceptions, while making eight field goals as a placekicker.

After finishing his Oklahoma high school football career, Cooper stayed in-state by attending Oklahoma State University. As voted by the coaches, he became a 2011 Second-Team All-Big 12 member after finishing his junior year with 68 receptions for 736 yards and six touchdowns in 13 games. Cooper also returned punts for the Cowboys, tallying 182 yards and a punt return touchdown in two seasons.

While Josh Cooper went undrafted in 2012, the Browns signed him, hoping he would pan out with former Cowboys teammate Brandon Weeden. However, he finished his rookie season with eight catches for 106 yards in six games. The following year (2013), Cooper had nine catches for 60 yards in five games. His low production prompted the Browns to waive him in May 2014.

A month later, the Minnesota Vikings signed him, but he didn’t make it to the active roster after being waived in July. After his playing career, he had coaching stints as the offensive coordinator at Deer Creek High School and as a volunteer coach at Mustang.