Iowa State tight end Cooper Alexander won a state championship – Washington High School’s second straight – on December 9.
He’ll sign his National Letter of Intent with Iowa State on Wednesday, and is working on learning what he can of the playbook before he enrolls early and arrives in January.
“So we won our second straight and it’s crazy – in a little less than a month, I’m already going to be back up in Ames playing football again,” Alexander said. “It’s definitely definitely a privilege. I’m already trying to trying to kind of get used to college football, you know, and get used to the playbook, formations and all that stuff.”
The 6-foot-4 tight end is one of Iowa State’s highest rated recruits in the 2024 class, and chose the Cyclones over offers from Oklahoma, Pittsburgh, Duke, Texas A&M, Colorado, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Washington State, Liberty, Tulsa, and UNLV.
He’s been taking in his first few off days of the season learning Iowa State’s basics from the playbook.
“(Iowa State) didn’t really send me anything – didn’t worry about it – until after the season was over,” Alexander said. “Then early (last week), they sent me just a lot of the basic stuff like formations, motions, shifts, and stuff like that. I’m just trying to get get slowly acclimated to all of it.”
Alexander will room with his high school quarterback, Major Cantrell, who took a preferred walk-on offer to play in Ames.
“Me and Major have been best friends for a while now,” Alexander said. “I think it’s definitely going to make the switch a lot easier, living eight hours away from home. We’re probably going to be roommates, and I’m just really excited to be able to spend that time with him.”
The highly touted tight end is rated as the No. 6 prospect out of Oklahoma by 247 Sports and will join Taylor Mouser’s tight end room in Ames.
“Coach Mouser is definitely a great coach, but most of all, he’s a great person,” Alexander said. “I feel like out of all the coaches that have recruited me from multiple different schools, he’s been the best for sure. And I feel like it’s easy to see how good of a person he is, but also talking to some of the tight ends in the tight end room at Iowa State, they all rave about him as a coach as well. I’m just really excited to be in his room.”
Alexander’s words on Mouser were echoed when he was asked what made the difference in his final choice.
He singled out the coaches that built a relationship with him as the biggest reason he’ll be in Ames in January.
“The coaching staff – coach Campbell, coach Mauser and coach Scheelhaase as well,” Alexander said. “I feel like they’re, they’re all great coaches, in their own regards, but they’re also great people and they were really just the type of people that I wanted to play for. I feel like going to college for four to five years is definitely a learning experience. It’s also a time to grow as a person and also as a football player, but for like being being in a program surrounded by those great coaches.”
“I’m definitely super excited for it,” Alexander said. “I know it’s definitely going to be a learning experience. I’m definitely definitely gonna go to work, and just put my hard hat on and do the best I can to get familiar with everything. And just give it all I’ve got – 110 percent. I feel like that’s the best way to win the coaches over, and win my teammates over as well.”
