Prospect: OG – Ethan Cooper, Indiana (PA.)
This is the first interview in a segment of Q&A’s our website will be doing through the month of April. Ethan Cooper is a small school prospect who hopes to get drafted by an NFL team. Despite being a prospect from a small school like Indiana (PA.), Ethan has the ambition and drive to make an impact on the NFL. We hope you enjoy my interview with him as much as I did.
MATT: We’d like to thank you once again for doing this with us, Ethan. We are excited for the chance to get to pick your brain a bit. Here’s the first question: “You have experience at both tackle and guard. Which position do you prefer?”
ETHAN: If I had a position to prefer, it would definitely be guard.
MATT: Interesting. Is there a type of offense you would prefer going into such as West Coast, Spread, Pro-style, etc.?
ETHAN: Honestly, there really isn’t a specific offense I would like to go into. I’m comfortable in any type of offense.
MATT: That’s exactly the kind of confidence an NFL team will be looking for during the Draft! Indiana (PA) has generated 7 players that have been drafted. Of the 7 players drafted from Indiana (PA), guard Chris Villarrial sets the bar for NFL success. Has anyone brought that up to you in college? If so, how would you compare yourself to Chris?
ETHAN: I would say that I compare very well to him! We both have the same mentality and the physicality when it comes to the games.
MATT: As someone who has personally watched game film of you, I could definitely see your point. Who’s your favorite offensive lineman currently in the NFL?
ETHAN: Marshal Yanda from the Baltimore Ravens, I feel like his game and my game correlate a lot.
MATT: Seriously though! Marshal Yanda is a future HOF, so that’s a great answer as far as comparing yourself to yet another great player. Which person in your life whether it be a family member, coach or friend, has had the greatest impact on your life and why?
ETHAN: The person with the greatest impact on my life is my grandfather. He’s always been there supporting me day in and day out. He always showed me what it meant to be a man, and how a man takes care of his family.
MATT: Your Grandfather sounds like a great man! It’s special to have that kind of relationship with someone. Unfortunately, not every NFL player in this league has that kind of relationship. What is the one thing you’re going to miss the most about college? Also, if there was one thing you could have changed about your college experience, what would it have been?
ETHAN: The thing I’m going to miss most about college is going to war with my brothers every Saturday, and sharing everlasting memories with them! I wouldn’t change anything about my college experience, because I feel like it made me the man I am today.
MATT: The bonds you make with people that you work with can last forever! It’s very awesome to hear that you cherish your experience with college so much. We’ve been talking so seriously, let’s take it down a notch with this next question. I myself play a lot of video games. I dabble quite a bit in NBA 2K17! Do you play any video games? If not, the alternate question would be what TV shows do you watch during your down time?
ETHAN: Yeah, I play a lot of 2K with my roommates and stuff, but I definitely have my shows that I watch whenever I’m free! I binge watch Fresh Prince a lot, as well as The Office.
MATT: Ah, The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air is still one of my favorite all time shows as well! Jazz getting thrown out of the house by Uncle Phil still cracks me up every time! Our draft analyst and scout (Tim Campbell) believes that you have the potential to be drafted starting early as the bottom of round 5. Do you have any expectations for being drafted and when your name might get called?
ETHAN: Yeah, I definitely feel like I have a chance to get drafted. Regardless of what happens during the draft, I ultimately just want the chance to continue to play football.
MATT: That’s fair. Even if you were to go undrafted, you’ve got plenty of examples of current players in the league that didn’t get drafted themselves, yet have excelled in their individual roles with their teams. Regardless, we feel very confident in you getting drafted. Now, where and with whom do you plan on watching the draft?
ETHAN: I plan on having a draft party at a local establishment back home with some close friends and family.
MATT: If you had the opportunity to choose where to play out of all the teams in the league, would you have a certain one you’d want to play for? Perhaps a childhood favorite?
ETHAN: Well, I grew up an Eagles fan. Plus, Philadelphia is only about an hour and some change away from home. So, that would be great for my family to be able to see me. That being said, it doesn’t really matter where I play as long as I have the opportunity to continue playing football.
MATT: Of course, I can imagine your main goal is to play football no matter where you end up! That being said, you see plenty of players in Free Agency end up choosing to play in their hometowns. Well, that actually brings us to the end of our questions! I can honestly say it’s been a pleasure talking to you. Your speedy responses have certainly been appreciated and shows the type of character you have. Do you have any questions or any statement you’d like to make before we let you go?
ETHAN: I just want to say thank you for taking your time out to interview me, and that it was a great experience!
MATT: We are so glad to hear it! Hopefully, this will end up being good practice to all the other interviews you will be having before the Draft! I personally will be covering the entire draft, and I will be looking for your name to pop up the entire time! We wish you nothing but the best during your career in the NFL!
Make sure to follow Ethan on Twitter: @ECoop59
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