Evan Cooper (born June 28, 1962) is a former American football player. He played

college football College football (french: Football universitaire) refers to gridiron football played by teams of student athletes. It was through college football play that American football rules first gained popularity in the United States. Unlike most ...

as a

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

at the University of Michigan from 1980 to 1983. He played professional football in the National Football League (NFL) as a safety for the Philadelphia Eagles from 1984 to 1987 and the

Atlanta Falcons The Atlanta Falcons are a professional American football team based in Atlanta. The Falcons compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's National Football Conference (NFC) South division. The Falcons joined th ...

from 1988 to 1989.

Early life

Cooper was born in Miami, Florida, in 1962. He attended Killian High School in the Kendall area of Miami, Florida.

University of Michigan

Cooper enrolled at the University of Michigan in 1980 and played

as a

and

punt returner A return specialist or kick returner is a player on the special teams unit of a gridiron football team who specializes in returning punts and kickoffs. There are few players who are exclusively return specialists; most also play another position ...

for head coach

Bo Schembechler Glenn Edward "Bo" Schembechler Jr. ( ; April 1, 1929 – November 17, 2006) was an American football player, coach, and athletics administrator. He served as the head football coach at Miami University from 1963 to 1968 and at the University of ...

Michigan Wolverines football The Michigan Wolverines football team represents the University of Michigan in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Bowl Subdivision level. Michigan has the most all-time wins in college football history. The team is known for its ...

teams from 1980 to 1983. He started four games at cornerback in 1981, 12 games at free safety in 1982, and 12 games at strong and free safety in 1983. He was selected by the Associated Press as a first-team All-Big Ten defensive back in 1983. In his four years at Michigan, Cooper recorded 129 tackles, 12 pass breakups, 10 interceptions, and 100 interception return yards.(to retrieve Cooper's statistics, enter "cooper" in the box for the player's last name) He also returned 40 punts for 428 yards, an average of 10.7 yards per return.

Professional football

Cooper was selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the fourth round (88th overall pick) of the

1984 NFL draft The 1984 NFL Draft was the procedure by which National Football League teams selected amateur college football players. It is officially known as the NFL Annual Player Selection Meeting. The draft was held May 1–2, 1984, at the Omni Park Cent ...

. During the 1984 and 1985 seasons, the Eagles used him as a

. During those two seasons, he returned 83 punts for 614 yards, an average of 7.4 yards per return. He also returned 20 kickoffs for 331 yards, an average of 16.6 yards per return. In 1985, he started 13 games for the Eagles at the right cornerback position. In 1988, Cooper joined the

. He was a kick returner during the 1988 season, returning two punts and 16 kickoffs. He concluded his playing career in 1989 with the Falcons, starting 13 games at the

strong safety Safety is a position in gridiron football on the defense. The safeties are defensive backs who line up ten to fifteen yards from the line of scrimmage. There are two variations of the position: the free safety and the strong safety. Their dut ...

position. He intercepted four passes and had 54 interception return yards during the 1989 season.

Coaching career

Cooper began the 2022 season as the cornerbacks coach for the Carolina Panthers. After a head coach change, new interim head coach

Steve Wilks Steven Bernard Wilks (born August 8, 1969) is an American football coach and former player who is the interim head coach for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the head coach for the Arizona Ca ...

fired Cooper along with defensive line coach Paul Pasqualoni on November 7, 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Evan 1962 births Living people American football safeties Atlanta Falcons players Michigan Wolverines football players Philadelphia Eagles players Miami Killian Senior High School alumni Players of American football from Miami