Mark Dantonio Adds a Defensive Monster for Commitment #12 for the 2013 Class: DE Demetrius Cooper!

Mark Dantonio doesn’t even have his players and coaches around to celebrate with. With camp over and players and coaches reporting tomorrow afternoon he got some great news earlier this evening. Stud DE Demetrius Cooper committed to the Spartans 2013 class earlier tonight.

I spoke with Cooper this evening and he told me that before he told Dantonio, he called his primary recruiter Dan Roushar to let him know that he was ready. “He was very excited. I am coming up for the Boise State game and I think they were hoping maybe I would commit then. I just thought about it and prayed about it and talked with my family. What reason was there to wait if I knew I was a Spartan? I was ready to commit now and words just can’t describe the joy I feel in my heart to be a Spartan. He was so excited like I was.”

Roushar should be excited. Cooper is a game changer.  He is a star, and more importantly a great young man.

Roushar’s joy was shared by the Spartans head coach. After talking with Roushar, Cooper called Dantonio. He said of that conversation, “Coach Dantonio was real excited. He told me that I was his number one recruit on their board and that he was so excited to welcome me to the family. I am real proud to get to play for him and Michigan State.”

Cooper has once again been soaring up the recruiting radar even with having to sit out last year with a knee injury that will have no negative impact on his career. The injury will not hinder him for his 2012 senior campaign.  As of late LSU and may other national programs have shown great interest, and with a multitude of offers and other schools making a hard press for his attention, Cooper knew now was the time.

Cooper had been as a sophomore considered one of the elite prospects in the nation for the 2013 class. He told me this evening that once he sustained his knee injury a lot of the teams backed away. He knows who they are and he will never forget. 

“I thought about weighing my options but that (MSU) was where I wanted to be and what I wanted to do.  The only reason you would wait if you know what you wanted to do was for the attention. Attention that I haven’t earned yet. People like that don’t fit at Michigan State. I knew what I wanted and I didn’t need to wait.”

Cooper didn’t have nice things to say about the schools that were all over him until his injury. They were schools that wanted him again when he was healthy, but he wasn’t interested in them anymore. He told me, “The Michigan Wolverines and all of them were all over me before my injury. Even when I wasn’t ranked Michigan State knew what kind of player and person I was and most of all my character. The number one thing that they liked was my character. They told me that injuries heal, but character is who you are. Look at Michigan State recruits. They win with a lot of guys that aren’t highly ranked because they want to know what kind of player you are on and off the field. They beat teams at Michigan State who have higher ranked players, but they don’t have character that they look for and those other places don’t have the MSU coaches. The coaches at Michigan State don’t look at ranks, they look at what kind of person you are. Now that I am getting all my rankings back, I didn’t need to wait. I didn’t want the people that didn’t want me when I was down. I wanted people who knew me, my character and I saw that same thing in them. Michigan and Ohio State recruit to rankings. Michigan State, they recruited what I can be as a man and that meant a lot.”

The Spartans have been able to sell to future recruits what they can do on the defensive side of the ball and all of the accolades and attention the program is getting certainly helps. Cooper brings a great first step and terrific explosion to the Spartan defense. Most schools know him as a great defensive player and he is. What sold him on the Spartans is that they got to know the man, and the commitment to character that the Spartans live by was what drew him. Cooper is the same. This high character young man saw in the staff, what his family has spent a lifetime instilling in him. It was home.

The 6’5 ½” 226# monster is a shorter William Gholston, but still has plenty of time to add height and weight. Cooper is from Chicago, IL. Stay tuned to Spartan Nation Radio to hear very soon from the Spartans new defensive monster.

Cooper is the 12th commitment for Mark Dantonio for the 2013 class. Of the 12 committed players he is the tenth from out of the state of Michigan.  He is joined by:

1)Gerald Holmes RB, Flint, MI http://spartannation.com/2012/02/06/mar ... ld-holmes/
2)Jon Reschke MLB Bloomfield, MI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KdoA2fhm0bQ
3)R.J. Shelton RB Beaver Dam, WI http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rr_OkpkbYR0
4)Jalyn Powell S Marion, OH http://www.youtube.com/v/PtYdpZPrTMI
5) Shane Jones LB Cincinnati, OH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MruWw-rMkhA
6) Damion Terry QB Erie, PA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZ6vmQq2C9I
7) Darian Hicks CB Solon, OH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9AjMmrni1sU
8) Dylan Chmura TE Waukesha, WI http://spartannation.com/Hondo's_House/ ... A0612.html
9) Trey Kilgore WR, Cincinnati, OH http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vd9LUsduTXE
10) Jay Harris Ath/Spec Exton, PA http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGwe_5L8i5w
11) Devyn Salmon DT Plant City, FLÂ http://spartannation.com/2012/07/24/mark-dantonio-lands-commit-11-for-the-2013-class-dt-devyn-salmon/