SUPER COOPER: Smallish guard leads GW offensive line

Published: September 30, 2008

George Washington senior Terrance Cooper stands at the same height as fullback Tahron Goods — and weighs just 24 pounds more. Yet the smallish guard can still lay a block on any bigger defensive lineman in the way of one of his running backs.

That’s been proven the past two games as the Eagles have pounded out 943 rushing yards in wins against Matoaca and Parkland — and that includes David Wilson’s single-game school rushing record of 331 yards against Matoaca.

“It’s been a slow process, but we’re getting it done now,” said Cooper, who is a co-captain and in his second year as a starter on the offensive line.

A slow process, indeed. In the preseason, the Eagles’ offense had problems moving the ball, including in the running game. And GW only managed 81 rushing yards against Varina in the first game of the season. It has been in that time since that the line has come to life and where Cooper’s leadership has rubbed off on his fellow linemen.

“He’s the kind of leader that gets up on you before a game or practice,” senior center Tim Harris said. “He’ll talk to (the younger linemen) and make sure they know everything and what’s going on.”

From there, it has been a good few weeks for the line of GW. The past three games have been a building block for the Eagles, even in the loss to Amherst County, where the Cooper-led line opened up holes for Wilson and Goods to run for 357 yards.

“(Terrance) plays one of the most critical positions that we have in our Wing-T offense, which is our split guard. He pulls on most of the important plays that we run, especially to the tight side plays, our fullback trap, and our outside power play that we run to David Wilson,” Newell said. “He’s the main guy that helps us communicate where our calls are going to be, how our adjustments are going to be made.”

The reason why Cooper is that go-to-guy on the line is that he is the only fulltime starter returning from last year’s dominating offensive line.

“When you have been a part of a winning program, been around some really good, outstanding lineman, it kind of rubs off and you take it upon yourself to be one of those guys,” Newell said of Cooper.

And Cooper knows that is true of the way he plays and leads the line. Goods and Wilson are certainly glad that he is leading them on runs, but also have seen how strong his leadership ability is as a fellow co-captain, especially with three sophomores starting on the offensive line.

“My role is to make sure the offensive line keeps their heads up and about making sure we pound on (opponents),” Cooper said. “With a young offensive line and (breaking the rushing record) again this year, it felt real good.”

Like all linemen, Cooper takes pride in the way the running backs behind him run. And again, like all linemen, he enjoys laying a lick on opposing linemen and linebackers.

“He always brags about his pancakes that he has in games,” said Wilson, who came up with Cooper to the varsity team their sophomore year. “Whenever he gets those — he’s a pulling guard so he has a lot of blindside hits — he’ll brag about that and see who has the most pancakes.”