Jon Cooper's tight ends ready for jump in year two

Mississippi State had some good moments from the tight end position last season, but Jon Cooper wants more out of his unit inside Jeff Lebby’s offense this season.

Seydou Traore finished the season second on the team in receptions with 34 and added 361 yards with a touchdown. After that, however, Bulldog tight ends caught just nine passes and all nine of them came from graduated pass catcher Justin Ball.

In the offseason, Cooper went and landed two transfer portal tight ends to go along with Traore, Cam Ball and freshman Joseph Skipworth. It has made for a much more competitive room as the Bulldogs look to elevate the offense with blocking and catching at that spot.

Cooper had a chance to talk to the State media recently regarding his tight ends and about the start of training camp in Starkville.

Question: What do you make of your group at the moment?

JC: “Expectations kind of come and go. Before you put pads on it’s really hard when you’re close to the line of scrimmage to know what you’re going to get. But with the new guys that have come in with Sam (West), Max (Reese) and (Joseph Skipworth) being a freshman, they’ve done a really good job of coming together as a group. That’s what I’m most proud of. They’ve done a bunch of stuff this summer together to really help each other grow and that’s when you make the biggest strides, individually and collectively as a unit.

“They work their butts off. Coach Shaud (Williams) has been super impressed with how those guys have worked. Max and Sam have some experience and that’s something you can’t buy. It’s good to have those guys to be able to bring something to the room as well.”

Q: What does that competition now do for Seydou?

JC: “Ziko is very internally motivated. He’s done a great job – whether it’s through the spring or with Max, Sam and Skip coming in – of always pushing himself. I’ve really challenged him to be able to take something from other guys. They might know one little thing that could help his game. He’s done a great job of changing his body, he’s been a great leader for this team and I’m really excited about the year he’s going to have.”

Q: What is the recruiting process like in that second window in the spring?

JC: “It’s tough because you start recruiting high school kids when they’re 15 or 16 years old. You get to know them and get to know their families and it’s way more than just the game tape. It’s so much of a personal evaluation where you get them on campus and get to talk to their parents and talk to people they’ve been around. To me, that’s just as important as the game tape because what you bring into your own room and your locker room, that’s what you’re going to get. It takes more than a 40 time or a vertical to really be a great player, especially at the tight end position.”

Q: Why did you feel like it was so important for you guys to address the room in the portal during the spring?

JC: “With losing Justin (Ball) who had a lot of experience and played a bunch of ball and had that experience, we want to be able to operate at 11 and 12 personnel on a regular basis without just having two or three guys. We needed some of that experience that has been put on tape. Cam Ball is someone that hasn’t been talked about that had an incredible spring and really good summer. We had a great conversation with him and he’s really stepped up because he doesn’t really have that experience. He understands the challenge in front of him and isn’t shying away from the competition at all. He’s done a really good job as well.”

Q: What does Emeka Iloh bring?

JC: “He’s got a lot of size. You talk about not being experienced, he hasn’t played tight end for long. He kind of had a strange journey through JUCO but we had him in camp and saw some things he could do. Unfortunately, at the end of spring he had a little bit of an injury but he’s working through that and is able to get the individual reps and working through the position. I don’t know what it’s like being 6’9, 270 and athletic. You see that and he walks off the bus and ‘oh my gosh, who is that?’ He’ll flash in the spring and he’ll flash in workouts. His deal is about really learning his body and being really consistent in everything that he does.”