Ayden Cooper threw for 1,452 yards and 10 touchdowns in his freshman season with the Lions. (Evan Dennison, The Ledger Independent)
HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL
VANCEBURG — The quarterback position gets all the glitz and glamour, but when a freshman throws for over 1,400 yards in eight games, you take notice.
Ayden Cooper’s 2021 season for Lewis County was eye-opening.
As a freshman quarterback, not only did he have to adjust to the speed of the game, but had to help progress a program that hadn’t seen much success lately.
Cooper threw for 1,452 yards and 10 touchdowns in eight games last season before going out with a leg injury. He displayed enough arm strength to help the Lions move the football with success, guiding the Lions to putting up 20.2 points per game in games he started as they made their first postseason appearance since 2013.
The yardage was the most since 2016 when Isaac Kelly threw for 1,567 yards and Isaac Weddington throwing for 1,626 yards in 2013. If it weren’t for the injury Cooper suffered against Mason County, those marks would have most likely been surpassed as Cooper missed the final three games of the season.
Now as Cooper enters his second varsity season, it will come with some more learning as the Lions will have a new offense under new coach Gene Peterson, who took the program over in January after Bryan Hoover resigned after two seasons.
Peterson is no stranger to developing quarterbacks, coaching at Fleming County, Kentucky Christian and an assistant at Morehead State. He likes what he sees out of Cooper early on and knows there’s progress still to be made.
“His arm excites me and his accuracy does. One thing that we’ve really had to concentrate on is his footwork. That’s where it all starts. If the footwork is not right then, he’ll tell you that if the footwork is not right, everything else isn’t right,” Peterson said. “So that’s one of our main things that we work on every day and to make sure that we’re in a position when we have to throw the ball that we’re on target and reading who we’re supposed to be reading.”
Cooper’s progression will be vital for the Lions as they try to build off a positive trajectory that had them end an eight-year playoff drought. The sophomore is getting used to the playbook and adjusting to things.
“Last year I didn’t really get under center a lot, this year I’m under center a lot more. I prefer to be in the gun, but just getting used to my dropbacks,” Cooper said. “We’ll be more balanced this year where last year I felt like we were a little more pass-heavy.”
The sophomore signal-caller’s main focus in the offseason was to get bigger, faster and stronger and put on 20 pounds. He attended Phil Simms quarterback camp at Morehead State to focus on his fundamentals.
“Learned a lot. He knows what he’s talking about,” Cooper said. “I’ve also learned to take care of myself more and try to take the least amount of shots as you can.”
Asking a freshman to be a leader of an offense can be a tough task. Peterson feels like he’s slowly developing into that and will only get better with time and maturity.
“It’s like when you give the keys of the Cadillac to a young man, sometimes they are a little nervous at first, how fast you want to go, making sure that everything is right,” Peterson said. “So we work on those kinds of things as far as showing that leadership out on the field. He’s got to be the one that everyone looks up to. At that position you’re going to get all the boo’s or all the cheers when you’re at that spot and it’s a tough spot to play. I think he’s going to relish it and I think he’ll continue to get better at it every year.”
Cooper will have most of his weapons back at his arsenal. He did lose his feature back Ethan Sizemore to graduation, but Austin Howard looks ready to fill in that role after tallying 1,000 combined rushing and receiving yards. Trey Gerike then turns into his leading returning receiver and Peterson likes what he sees out of Jaxon Rister and Braedyn McGlone early on in practice. Drew Noble can also provide a big target at tight end.
For more on the Lions and the upcoming season, make sure to check out our football preview that comes out in newsstands and online August 19.
