NFL Draft Diamonds Prospect Interview: Aaron Cooper, OLB, Kentucky Christian University

NFL Draft Diamonds has been bringing our readers Prospect Interviews over the past 3 years and this year we mixed up the questions and added some fun questions for our readers. Our questions are designed to give our readers a little more insight on the player. We hope to bring you more than 350 interviews of NFL Draft Prospects this season. You will be able to track them all on the front page of our website in the banner to the right.  Now let’s meet the prospect!!!!

What is your name?

Aaron Cooper IV

What is your Height/Weight?

6’3/ 235

What is your position?

Outside Linebacker

Where do you play college football?

Kentucky Christian University

Football is about giving back, what is the coolest thing you have done off the field?

I work at Ramey Estep and I work with troubled kids and I try and mentor and be someone that they can look up to

What was the hardest college class you ever had to take?

Anatomy

Where are you from?

Born and half my life in Rockford Illinois. Middle school through now Mayfield Kentucky

Who is your role model, and why?

My dad because he does whatever he has to do to take care of his own.

Did you play any other sports growing up?

I played basketball my whole life

Did you play any other positions in football?

When I started in middle school I was a running back. High school I started off as a safety and a receiver. Injuries gave me the chance to play Linebacker and I never looked back

At your position, what separates you from others?

What separates me from others is my length and my speed

When you are breaking down film, what do you look for?

When I break down film I look for the tendencies of the people I am going up against and what I would have to do to be better than them

Who was the toughest player you ever faced?

When I was a redshirt freshman I went up against the starting offensive line at Eastern Kentucky University and Aaron Jones was the toughest player I’ve played against

If you could compare your play to one player in the NFL who would it be and why?

Jarvis Jones or Mingo because of our height, athleticism, edge rusher, motor for the ball, and also power attacking the ball on contact

Do you have any pre-game rituals?

My pregame ritual is to walk the field before every game and when I go to other fields I use the goal post as a punching back for a few seconds

As a small school football player what obstacles do you feel you have to overcome?

I feel like I would have to overcome the differences in the weight program I was offered to the ones bigger schools are offered, and just getting attention from big name guys at big name schools

What is your biggest strength?

My biggest strengths are my tackling, my versatility, and my athleticism

What is your biggest weakness?

My weaknesses is my reaction off the snap, and relying on ability and not relying on technique

If I were a GM and gave you a second to sell yourself, what would you say?

I am a coachable athlete that continues to get better every year. I am good at what I do but I also know that I have things that I need to work on. I am very versatile and feel like I can play multiple positions which helps me fit in a lot of different defenses.

Who was your favorite player and/or NFL team growing up?

Growing up my family was big bears fans so I grew up liking and watching them a lot

If you could have dinner with three people dead or alive, who would you choose?

Buddy Ryan, Ray Lewis or My great Grandma who died a couple of years ago

With your first NFL paycheck what would you buy?

I would get me a house.

Rapid Answers:

• Who will win the Super Bowl? Steelers
• Whose better Peyton Manning or Tom Brady?
• Better Running Back Adrian Peterson or Barry Sanders?
• Better safety Eric Weddle or Ed Reed?
• Better linebacker Ray Lewis or Luke Kuechly?