Former FSU Standout Robert Cooper talks 'Trench Monster' Nickname, time with the 'Noles

The NFL Draft is scheduled for the end of April and multiple former Florida State standouts are vying to hear their names called. Last week, the Seminoles held their annual Pro Day in Tallahassee as players such as safety Jammie Robinson, wide receiver Ontaria Wilson, tight end Cam McDonald, and offensive lineman Dillan Gibbons.

There was one player who was held out of the athletic testing during the event, former FSU defensive tackle Robert Cooper. The Georgia native is in the process of recovering from a shoulder procedure after playing through an injury in 2022. He's about 70% at the moment and still has nine to ten more weeks of rehab.

On Monday, Cooper made an appearance on Good Morning Football, a morning show held on NFL Network that is hosted by media personalities such as Jamie Erdahl, Peter Schrager, Jason McCourty, and Kyle Brandt.

Out of the gate, he was asked about his decision to spend five years at Florida State after having offers from some of the best schools in the country. Cooper is happy with the legacy he's leaving for younger players in Tallahassee.

"I feel amazing. I feel like I felt when I committed," Cooper said. "I'm just very happy and like you said just leaving a legacy for the young guys to look at and hopefully just copy it and get better from. That's one thing I always told these guys, 'just get better every day and nothing is gonna go wrong.'"

Cooper originally committed to Florida State in 2016 when he was in tenth grade. A large reason that he stuck with the Seminoles throughout some of the toughest times in program history was due to his loyalty to defensive line coach Odell Haggins. They've always kept their word to each other.

"My decision, Florida State's been with me since late middle school. Me and coach Odell grew that relationship all the way through high school," Cooper said. "He's just always been there, I always kept my word to him. I committed tenth grade, 2016, and I told him I was going to keep my word no matter what goes on in this process. I just stuck to it and I'm happy I came here, happy I spent my five years here. I wouldn't want to do it nowhere else."

Finally, Cooper got into a discussion about how he earned his 'Trench Monster' nickname dating back to his prep days in South Georgia. According to Cooper, his dad coined the moniker before he was in high school due to his play between the lines and also for fanfare.

"Well, I would first say shout out my dad, David Cooper. He's the one who definitely coined it. It was going on about sixth, seventh grade, I was touching about 315-320 at the time in bodyweight," Cooper said. "I was terrorizing, I was just a monster in the trenches. That's mainly what it was and also for entertainment purposes at the time. Everybody wanted to see the trench monster in action. It's something that my dad thought of and it stuck. Of course, he brought it to me and it stuck with me. I agreed to the name. The main thing, I had the Ray Lewis face mask he had later in his career. It was called the big grill 2.0 so when I got that I felt like I definitely was in trench monster mode."

The 6-foot-2, 335-pound defensive tackle concluded his college career by being named a back-to-back All-ACC honorable mention. During his five years at Florida State, Cooper totaled 123 tackles, 13 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, three pass deflections, and a fumble recovery in 57 games, with 41 starts.

Cooper recorded a career-high eight tackles, two tackles for loss, and one sack in a victory against Syracuse in 2019.

. @FSUFootball DT Robert Cooper wakes up with GMFB to let the league know what he can bring to an NFL team pic.twitter.com/j8tOXd00o3
— Good Morning Football (@gmfb) April 3, 2023

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