Wauconda’s Jarren Cooley is a football player, plain and simple.
Seeing the senior cornerback play in his No. 2 jersey seemingly confirms that.
But as recently as 15 months ago, Cooley was definitely not a football player. He was a sprinter.
“After I started playing, I couldn’t stop,” he said. “It didn’t matter how tired I was, I wanted to play, and now when I wake up, it’s what I’m thinking about.”
Cooley’s quick transformation from complete novice to seasoned starter for the undefeated Bulldogs (5-0, 3-0), who will play Round Lake in a Northern Lake County Conference game on Friday, has been impressive, to say the least.
“It goes together with me like peanut butter and jelly,” he said. “I wouldn’t trade it for anything.”
Cooley’s entry into the sport can be traced back to his sophomore year, when he was in Wauconda coach Chris Prostka’s physical education class, and the topic of football naturally came up. Cooley said he almost decided to play that year and became convinced it would be a good choice by the following spring.
Looking back, Cooley gives Prostka credit for not only nudging him toward football but also for getting him up to speed in a certain way.
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“He knew that I had athletic ability, but he said that he would push me,” Cooley said. “I didn’t know if I’d like to be pushed like that, but he knew my potential. He thanks me every day for being coachable, and I’m very appreciative of that.”
From Prostka’s standpoint, recruiting an athlete like Cooley was a no-brainer. But Prostka has learned that Cooley brings more than physical ability to the table.
“As a junior, there was a lot of us trying to decide where best to use him,” Prostka said. “What really helped was that he’s the type of kid who, if he’s going to do something, he’s going to do it all the way.
“He doesn’t do things halfway, and if he knows that you’ll give everything you have, he’ll give everything he has in return.”
Cooley’s commitment to football began immediately, and his rapid progress followed.
“It’s a crazy thing to see him go from last year telling me that he didn’t know the plays to making big plays,” Wauconda senior lineman Jayden Sanders said. “During the last year, you definitely saw a light flicker, and he was rolling.
“He ended up learning things really fast. I’m really happy for him to be achieving success.”
Cooley got more snaps in the offensive backfield last season as he learned the intricacies of the sport. This season, he’s getting far more action on defense as a starting cornerback, and his new knowledge of technique and his quick-twitch tendencies have made him a good fit.
“At cornerback, you have to stay levelheaded, and you can’t overthink things,” Cooley said. “Our coaches say to make them snap it one more time. You have to live for the next play if you don’t do something right. Especially at that position, anything can happen.”
Cooley had that mantra in mind during Wauconda’s 48-14 conference win over previously unbeaten Grayslake North last week. He intercepted a pass by quarterback Jaylen Newkirk at a point in the second quarter when the Bulldogs led 8-0.
Cooley’s play gave Wauconda’s offense a short field, and Brody Rudolph scored the first of his three rushing touchdowns five plays later.
“He watched the most film of anyone on the team last week — around three hours,” Prostka said of Cooley’s preparation. “We had noticed plays on film when they had a receiver run a 10-yard in, and we came up with a formation and call for him to just sit there.”
But Cooley still had to execute.
“Before the game, my position coach said to me, ‘I want a pick and seven tackles from you,’ so after I handed the ball to the ref, I went over to him and said, ‘There’s your pick,’” Cooley said. “I had a certain assignment, and I played it to a T.
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“The most fun part about it was having so many teammates come up to me slapping my helmet afterward.”
It was Cooley’s second interception of the season but wasn’t the only play that caught the eyes, and ears, of onlookers. On a short pass, Cooley was both swift and assertive, and he walloped the receiver within a split-second of the catch, resulting in no gain.
“We work on a lot of tackling in practice, and it goes into having the mentality that even if you catch it, I’m not going to let you go far,” he said. “Cornerback is usually played with a lot of technique, so to be able to bring a lot of pop onto someone is a great feeling.”
Cooley’s aggression on that textbook tackle reflects the facet of the game in which he sees the most growth in himself in the past year. Along the way, he has found a home away from home.
“When I’m outside my house, these guys are my family, and that’s the way it’s been since I started,” Cooley said. “I try to stay humble and make sure I get better every day. But I’m going to enjoy every last game, doing this with the people I love most.”
Steve Reaven is a freelance reporter.