Nebraska Forward Will Cooper Looks for Playing Time After Redshirt Season

Nebraska forward Will Cooper had a fabulous, front-row seat to the Huskers’ historic, 28-7 season in 2025-26. That was a crazy valuable seat in the frenzy of Pinnacle Bank Arena, but it’s not what Cooper wants for next season.

The physical, 6-foot-7 redshirt sophomore sat out last season as he transferred from Air Force. After a season of working with the scout team getting the starters ready to play, Cooper is ready to battle for his own shot.

“On scout team, it’s a more selfless mindset. You have to step back and look at is as: I’m doing a role for the team,” Cooper said at a news conference Thursday.

“I wasn’t necessarily super thrilled about it but, obviously as a baller, I want to ball. But now it’s: All right, it’s go-time now. So, it’s just that, like I said, it’s that competitive switch that you have to flip.”

Cooper’s mindset for next season

Cooper needed a completely new focus going into summer workouts with the Huskers. The redshirt season was behind him. It was a valuable one, he said.

“It’s definitely a step to take [the transition from redshirting last season],” Cooper said. “I think transferring from the redshirt mindset of getting the starters ready and going into practice every day knowing you’re not going to play, compared to going in this summer, it’s just a flip that you have to switch and just know that you’re going into practice every day to compete for minutes now. So, it’s a mindset.

“You got to know the defense. That’s been big for me this summer just because I didn’t get many reps at that during the season. So now, having the mindset that you have to know the defense and then competing on offense as well.”

About what he learned last season …

“Yeah, a lot,” Cooper said. “I mean when you get to be on a Big Ten team for the first time and get in the locker room.

“You learn so much from everything from the scouting report to how guys like Sam [Hoiberg] and Rienk [Mast] carry themselves as leaders to just what travel days look like.

“So, you get your routines down and it was huge for me to just get that experience of seeing the games, getting my routine and having a whole year to kinda practice everything.”

Cooper’s place on a talented roster

Cooper played as a true freshman at Air Force. He averaged 15.1 minutes, 5.3 points and 1.8 rebounds across 21 games. He shot an impressive 38 percent from distance, a skill coveted by the Husker program.

Cooper steps onto a talented roster, with All-Big Ten forward Pryce Sandfort, and valuable reserves Braden Frager and Cale Jacobsen returning from last season’s Sweet 16 team. Several transfers are expected to see plenty of playing time. Minutes will have to be earned.

“You have to trust yourself [if you get fewer reps in practice],” said Cooper, who attended Fred Hoiberg Basketball Camps as a high school player at Millard South in Omaha.

Nebraska assistant coach Nate Loenser on Will Turner: 'At the end of the day ... you're a good player.' | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“It’s a conversation I had with Nate [associate coach Loenser]. He said, ‘Look, you know at the end of the day wherever you’re at in the rotation, or if you’re not in it, you have to know that you’re a good player.’

“And so, just having that confidence that I’ve done this, I’ve done this at this level and levels in the past, just knowing that I’m a good player at the end of the day and I can handle whatever rep comes my way.

“That’s kind of what you sign up for at this level. You try to do your best every day and Coach Fred’s [Hoiberg] going to make the choices he makes at the end of the day.

“You got to deal with those. It’s not something I really worry about too much. I know I’m a good player and this team’s super talented. So, it’s just not something that you have to hang your head on every mistake or really get down on yourself.

“Just knowing [we have] a really talented team and the guys who earn those minutes are going to be out there. And if the role is not what you want at the moment, it can change in the future.”

Huskers working on chemistry

Nebraska has eight newcomers on the roster. Hoiberg recently said one of things he’s working on in practice is establishing team chemistry.

“I love the group,” Hoiberg said. “I love how they come in and work … Already you can see the chemistry that they’re developing. And now as we transition into live play, now it’s about cleaning things up and learning and taking steps in the right direction and growing as a group.”

Cooper said: “It’s those plays where you’re not really doing with your voice, you’re doing with your actions. And so whether it’s getting on the floor — I mean we always talk respect 94 [feet] and I think even the new guys have set the tone with that, too …

“And the older guys that came in, they’ve been great, too. So, it’s really a culture thing and it’s easy. Rienk was like like that, too. It was just a guy who just came into work every day and worked his tail off.

Air Force forward Will Cooper drives to the basket against Boise State. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

“So I got to see that and it was like, ‘All right, this is how we do it here. You know, this is how you earn the respect of your teammates.’ ”

Cooper said he’s helping the new guys adjust to a new system, with new teammates and coaches.

“You just kinda get thrown in the fire here,” Cooper said. “It was a big learning curve for me and so I just have empathy for them because I know how hard it is to adjust. It was tough for me.

“So just seeing some of the mistakes everybody makes and seeing those mistakes and then if you can give a guy a little tip here and there. That’s been huge for me, just getting outside of myself and into the team this year. Half the team’s new, so it’s huge for me to use my voice and help those guys with their mistakes.”

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