2024 Prep Football Previews: Cooper’s talented team planning to make another run at state title

By Dan Weber
NKyTribune sports reporter

A recent ranking has two of Greater Cincinnati’s top eight college football prospects calling Union home. Both are a part of a Cooper team that has plans to take the final step this season after falling in the Class 5A state championship game a year ago.

But that’s just a part of the plan that has offensive skill people everywhere you look. That’s something “that has not happened here before,” says Cooper head coach Randy Borchers .

“It’s a good problem to have,” Borchers says with a laugh as he heads into his 17 th season with the Jaguars, when his team’s extensive offensive options are listed for him. Those top two are 6-foot-3, 243-pound senior tight end/edge rusher Austin Alexander and junior quarterback Cam O’Hara , now grown to 6-2, 195 pounds from the 160-pound freshman starter of two seasons back.

But that’s just the tip of the Jaguars’ weapons on a team that returns seven starters on offense and eight on defense. How about a three-man wide receiver rotation ( Isaiah Johnson, Malachi Ewell and Jaiden Combs ) along with running back Keegan Maher , over and above those top two.

Alexander, nephew of former NFL MVP and Alabama All-American Shaun Alexander , has already signed with North Carolina from the 30 colleges recruiting him. But the basketball/football athlete, who caught 67 passes last fall for 1,138 yards and 19 TD, will focus on defense in college. No wonder. His 81 tackles included eight for loss and a second-best-in-Kentucky 19 sacks.

On offense, Alexander will be just one of five or more targets for the quick-armed O’Hara. Johnson, Ewell and Combs combined for 117 receptions for 1,686 yards and 27 TD led by the 6-4, 200-pound Johnson’s impressive 1,372 yards and 21 TD.

And no, O’Hara says, “I don’t lock in on anybody. We work out every day, we’re a brotherhood and if they don’t get the ball, they don’t get upset.”

Whoever’s open gets it. And it might be junior running back Maher (5-8, 170), who had 28 receptions for 309 yards and four TD. Add those to his 1,204 yards rushing and 18 TD on 185 carries.

But there’s a caution here, Borchers says. “We can have all the skill kids you want but it starts up front. Obviously, our emphasis has to be there.” And on “team chemistry,” which was “the biggest thing” a year ago.

“We have a little bit of swagger,” Borchers says, “but not an overconfidence.” Which matters, he says. “We haven’t really sustained success for multiple years … so are we hungry or complacent?”

So far, so good, he says. “The coolest thing about these kids is they’re one of the hardest-working groups we’ve ever had.”

That’s the case for O’Hara, who looks so instinctive, as if he’s making it up on the fly with his arsenal of throws with differing-angle deliveries. “We’ve had some really good kids as quarterbacks here,” Borchers says, “but we haven’t had one who can make the throws Cam can. He’s just a natural.”

In games, that’s how it happens, says O’Hara who threw for 3,361 yards on 239 of 357 passing (65.1 percent) for 47 TD against just seven interceptions. “It’s definitely a natural thing – I don’t stop to think in games — but I work at it a lot although I’ve always had a quick arm.”

And he’s had a quarterback coach since the sixth grade, Max Stover of Knoxville, Tenn., who Cam works with twice a month. Many of the great California prospects over the years had their own separate coach over and above their high school coaches.

“We travel everywhere for seven-on-seven football,” Cam says, “including California.” It’s what you do in today’s football, high school and college.

“High schools are a couple of years behind the colleges,” Borchers says. “It’s kind of a culture thing. The good thing with this group is that we’ve been able to keep these kids at Cooper.”

With all the talk about skill players, Borchers lists an offensive lineman – 6-4, 210-pound left tackle Noah Reichel , and 6-2, 225-pound senior linebacker Michael Mulvihill , back from injuries, as keys. Reichel “is a real student of the game,” Borchers says, and Mulvihill, “when he’s healthy, is a great asset.”

But it’s O’Hara with the last word for this team taking that next step to a championship: “Oh yeah, we’re going to be there.”

COOPER JAGUARS
2023 SEASON: 12-3 record, lost in Class 5A championship game.
STARTERS RETURNING: 7 offense, 8 defense.
DISTRICT: Class 5A, District 6 with Boone County, Conner, Dixie Heights, Highlands, Scott.
HEAD COACH: Randy Borchers (96-90 in 16 seasons at Cooper, 103-104 in 18 seasons overall).

2024 SCHEDULE
Aug. 23 – BARDSTOWN, 7:30 p.m.
Aug. 30 – at Lexington Henry Clay, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 6 – RYLE, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 13 – at Campbell County, 7 p.m.
Sept. 20 – GREAT CROSSING, 7:30 p.m.
Sept. 27 – at Highlands, 7 p.m.
Oct. 4 – CONNER, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 11 – SCOTT, 7:30 p.m.
Oct. 18 – at Boone County, 7 p.m.
Oct. 25 – at Dixie Heights, 7 p.m.

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