Record-breaking day for Alabama’s Cooper
Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper added two impressive records to his already stellar resume Saturday.
Widely considered college football’s best receiver and one of its finest players, Cooper caught 12 passes – 10 of them in the first half – as Alabama routed Missouri 42-13 in the SEC Championship game at the Georgia Dome.
The performance gave Cooper these entries in the SEC record book:
- He broke the SEC Championship game receptions record of 11 set by Florida's Reidel Anthony against Alabama in 1996.
- And he broke the conference's single-season receptions record by increasing his total for the year to 115 catches, surpassing the 112 by Vanderbilt's Jordan Matthews last season.
“It’s a great feeling,” Cooper said of his record-setting day. “It’s a great accomplishment. I just feel real blessed about it.”
But he could have done more, he said.
“I think I could have gotten more (yardage) out of my catches today,” Cooper said. “But overall I’m just happy we won this game and that we’re going to be able to play and compete for a national championship.”
Cooper gained 83 yards on his dozen catches Saturday, the longest going for 17 yards. He has 1,656 receiving yards this season, second on the SEC all-time single-season list behind LSU’s Josh Reed’s 1,740 yards on 94 catches in 2001. With No. 1-ranked Alabama clearly headed for the inaugural College Football Playoff, Cooper has at least one and possibly two more games to play.
Cooper caught three passes on Alabama’s game-opening, 10-play, 68-yard touchdown drive Saturday. He caught three more on a 14-play, 75-yard drive in the second quarter that gave Alabama a 21-3 halftime lead.
Cooper caught only two passes in the second half, but fellow receiver Christion Jones came through on a key drive after Missouri climbed within 21-13. Jones caught three passes for 40 yards — the first two for 17 yards apiece and the third for a six-yard touchdown — as Alabama regained the comfort of a 28-13 lead.
“Oh, most definitely,” Cooper said when asked if the attention he was drawing helped free Jones. “I’m just happy we were able to distribute the ball.”
Cooper’s next stop is likely the Heisman Trophy ceremony. Ranked No. 3 in USA Today’s Heisman survey last week, he is expected to be one of the contenders invited to the ceremony.
“Very few are chosen to go,” he said. “If I get the opportunity to go there, I’ll have that in mind.”
About the Author
Tim Tucker, a long-time AJC sports reporter, often writes about the business side of the games. He also had stints as the AJC's Braves beat writer, UGA beat writer, sports notes columnist and executive sports editor. He was deputy managing editor of America's first all-sports newspaper, The National Sports Daily.
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