Though multiple true freshmen looked excellent on Fan Day, one player in particular stood above the rest for his movement skills and start/stop ability during sideline drills. Blue-chip 2026 RB Derrek Cooper was the talk of the town leading up to spring practice, and it was easy for Texas fans to see why on Saturday.
The 6'1", 210-pound running back from Chaminade-Madonna HS in Ft. Lauderdale, FL, looked like the biggest player in the group and he moved like Raleek Brown through different bag and hurdle drills.
His ability to cut is astronomically impressive for his size, and his footspeed was undoubtedly put on display at DKR this past weekend.
Coop-Deville has excellent handling!
— Sir Himothy Stackhouse|Stacc Loc|🤘|ATX|DC4L (@76stacc) April 18, 2026
Smooth as a Cadillac 🤘 pic.twitter.com/l3sdI2k6vE
The way he's able to flip his hips and accelerate was beautiful to watch, and the Longhorns haven't had a player who's able to move like that in a while. Former Texas RB C.J. Baxter was built similarly, but he didn't have the same amount of suddeness that Cooper has.
The craziest part about all of this is that Cooper was more of a power back in high school. He was known for his ability to run between the tackles and plow dover defenders between the hashes.
The point is that there's a chance that Cooper could be even better than advertised for Texas, and if he's able to show new RB coach Jabbar Juluke that he's a complete runner, it's going to be extremely hard to keep him off the field in 2026.
He was already projected to see time in different short-yardage situations, but Steve Sarkisian could want to feature him a bit more than that in year one. If Cooper continues on this path, Texas fans shouldn't be surprised if the Longhorns utilize more of a three-headed attack at running back rather than just Raleek Brown and Hollywood Smothers in 2026.
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