Indiana WR Omar Cooper Jr. ready for Rose Bowl after sustaining leg injury in Big Ten championship

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LOS ANGELES (AP) — Omar Cooper Jr.’s game-winning catch for No. 1 Indiana against Penn State is the kind of play that gets remembered forever, especially if the Hoosiers go on to claim their first national title.

Cooper is ready for the next step in that College Football Playoff push, a quarterfinal game at the Rose Bowl versus Alabama on Thursday, having recovered from a right leg injury that knocked him out of the Big Ten championship victory over Ohio State in the first quarter on Dec. 6.

“I feel a lot better this week,” Cooper said. “And this past week, this whole month has been just trying to get rest as much as I can, and then trying to work slowly back into seeing what I can do until I’m able to fully practice and everything. So this month has been nice for me specifically, and I was grateful to have it, and now I’m healthy.”

A full-strength Cooper is capable of making plays like the toe-tapping score in the back of the end zone against the Nittany Lions with 36 seconds remaining that gave Indiana (13-0; No. 1 AP, No. 1 CFP) its first win in Happy Valley and kept its chances of a first undefeated regular season and undisputed conference crown in play.

A friend recently informed Cooper that a picture of his reception was displayed prominently in a Bloomington, Indiana, bar popular with students. And when the Hoosiers went to Indianapolis for their No. 1 vs. No. 2 showdown with the Buckeyes, head coach Curt Cignetti found it there too.

“He said at the Big Ten championship, the hotel we stayed at, in his room, they had like a bunch of pictures of Indiana, just, history, sports history. He said my catch was in there, and so that was just amazing,” Cooper said.

Cooper said the hardest part of his catch against Penn State, the most important of his 58 receptions for 804 yards and 11 touchdowns as a fourth-year junior, was getting both feet down in bounds.

To fellow wideout Elijah Sarratt, Cooper is dramatically underselling the degree of difficulty for what he did.

“It’s crazy, it’s crazy,” Sarratt said. “Like, not many people can do that. About 1% of the world can do what he did right there, so to see him jump that high first, and then while you’re getting pushed out of bounds, to be able to tap that toe in, like, that’s next level stuff. That’s stuff you see on Sunday, so Omar Cooper is one of the best receivers on the scene. He’s really just scratching the surface of what he can be.”

Sarratt is glad to have Cooper back to force the Crimson Tide (11-3; No. 11 AP, No. 9 CFP) into accounting for both of Heisman Trophy winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza’s top targets. Sarratt was held to three receptions for 37 yards by the Buckeyes, but did come up with his 12th touchdown catch of the season.

Indiana will need Cooper and Sarratt to help crack Alabama’s sturdy pass defense, which ranks 10th in the FBS, allowing 168.4 yards per game and 13 touchdowns while intercepting 11 balls. Sarratt described Cooper’s return as “super important” to the Hoosiers’ chances of advancing to the CFP semifinals to play the Orange Bowl winner, No. 4 seed Texas Tech or No. 5 seed Oregon, in the Peach Bowl on Jan. 9.

“Like when (No.) 3 is out there, you got to focus on 3, no matter where he’s at,” Sarratt said. “No matter if he’s about to catch a pass at quarterback, no matter if he’s out there at running back, at receiver, Omar, he has that ability to just make something happen just like that. So when you’re missing something, that’s always a big piece you’re missing when he’s not out there on the field. So for allowing him to be healthy again and be back on that field is great for us.”

But even if Indiana’s season ends in Pasadena, California, Cooper is already assured of his place in Hoosiers’ lore.

“A lot more people started to know who I am, but it ain’t changed much,” Cooper said.

“But just the fact that it happened, I was just, it’s still grateful to be a part of.”

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