James Cooper Jr. Never waited, becoming the only NIC-10 quarterback in history to play varsity the very first game of his freshman season at Harlem.
But his college career was put on hold when he didn’t get the offer he wanted. Instead, he decided to go the junior college route at Iowa Western Community College. And even there he had to wait, redshirting last year behind two-time NJCAA Offensive Player of the Year Nate Glantz, who now plays for Iowa State.
“It was a very, very eye-opening situation,” Cooper said. “I realize it’s not always going to be about you. You’ve got to do what the team needs. You have to be there for them. It was definitely different. A humbling experience. But it was what I needed to get to where I want to be.”
Picking his spot
Picking a junior college where he couldn’t start was a little like Fred VanVleet telling NBA teams not to draft him in the second half of the second round because he wanted to pick his own landing spot, and then signing with a Toronto team that had the deepest roster of point guards in the league. There may not have been any room to play in the beginning, but after the Raptors traded third-string point guard Cory Joseph before his second season, Rockford Auburn grad VanVleet developed into an NBA champion and All-Star.
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Cooper thinks he has taken the same crowded, talent-stocked road to develop as a quarterback. Four of the last 10 NJCAA Offensive Players of the Year have been Iowa Western quarterbacks — and all have gone on to become NCAA Division I starting quarterbacks. Two have played in the Canadian Football League and Jake Waters, now a coach at Kansas State, briefly signed with the Philadelphia Eagles and Seattle Seahawks of the NFL.
“They send pretty much all of their quarterbacks on to the Division I level and they are all successful,” Cooper said. “Even our backup quarterback (Tony Bartalo), he went to a Division I University at Charleston Southern. He should be their starting quarterback.
“Last year was good and bad. I got a year off to learn everything on my own. It was bad because it was the firsst time in my life that I didn’t play a football game. It wasn’t a great time being six hours away and not being able to play the game I love. But it was worth it. It will be worth it in the end.”
At Harlem, Cooper set the NIC-10 records for career passing yards (6,500) and TDs (74). In his COVID-shortened six-game spring season his senior year, he became the only conference player to lead the state in passing, averaging 307 yards in six games.
Quarterback-friendly offense
And now he has a chance to start for a program that is known for producing players who excel at the next level.
Since starting the football program at Iowa Western in 2010, coach Scott Strohmeier has sent 358 players on to four-year schools and 29 to the NFL. One of those players was former Harlem offensive tackle Anthony McKinney, who started two years for TCU and then signed as an undrafted free agent with the Tennessee Titans in 2020 before taking a COVID buyout for family reasons.
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Iowa Western became a power when its former conference rivals — who didn’t offer scholarships — folded. After Rock Valley College, Harper and Joliet dropped their football programs, Iowa Western started offering scholarships and moved up in class.
“When they all folded, that opened up the state for us,” Strohmeier said. “My defensive coordinator, Mike Blackbourn, is from Freeport. We have done really well in Illinois.”
And they have done especially well with quarterbacks.
“I don’t consider myself some quarterback guru, but I try to see what skillset the quarterback has,” Strohmeier said. “You have to see the game the way they see it and see their strengths. I have had a true pocket passer who couldn’t run a lick and had a runner who can do both. I’ve had some with a vertical passing game, some short passing game, some weak arms, some strong arms. You have to tailor your offense to who your quarterback is.”
Iowa Western utilizes read-option plays. “But that’s not a staple of our offense,” Strohmeier said. But that does mean Cooper might run more than he did in high school for Harlem.
“There’s pretty much an option on every play,” Cooper said. “I can run. I can throw. I can hand off. A lot of options. I will run more than I did in high school.
“I’m a pretty good runner. Our defensive coordinator said during our spring game that I was surprisingly hard to take down. That’s a good thing for me. I like running, but don’t get me wrong, I would 100 percent rather pass the ball than run. I’m a pass-first quarterback, but I can run.”
Can he take Iowa Western back to the top? The Reivers finished second in the nation last year, but graduated most of their team. They are used to winning — ranking in the top five in 10 of the last 11 seasons and reaching three NJCAA title games.
“I am really excited,” Cooper said. “We have to come back and make a statement and get back there. We moved to the Jayhawk Conference this year, the best conference in JUCO, but I think we are ready for it. We are ready to take it all the way.”
Matt Trowbridge is a Rockford Register Star sports reporter. Email him at mtrowbridge@rrstar.com and follow him on Twitter at @MattTrowbridge. Sign up for the Rockford High School newsletter at rrstar.com. Matt has covered sports for the Register Star for more than 30 years after previously working for papers in North Dakota, Delaware, Vermont and Iowa City. He grew up on a farm in northwest Minnesota with six brothers and a sister. His four daughters all graduated from Rockford Public Schools.