Makai Cope may already be an honorary member of Stanford's wide receiver room. The rising senior has visited Stanford twice and regularly works out with and talks with current Cardinal receivers in Southern California.
The Culver City athlete is Stanford's top remaining target at the position and, according to Cope, schools such as USC, Michigan, Northwestern, ASU, Arizona, Utah and Kansas State are also recruiting him hard. Stanford offered May 1.
“I was definitely in shock, especially to get it from the head coach was something truly amazing," Cope said about getting the offer. "My mom actually burst into tears. My dad was happy. That was a good day.”
Cope visited last season for Stanford's win over Washington and was on campus one other time for a junior day.
"I did like the atmosphere," he said. "The people there were very nice. The culture, it was just, everybody was well rounded there and Coach (Bobby) Kennedy is a great person.”
"Coach Kennedy was always telling me, and telling his players, that he feels like I'm one of his guys. That I fit not only his team but also his wide receiver crew. He's done his research and asked different people about me and nobody has said anything bad about me. And he said on film I'm big, I’m fast, and I can catch the ball -- my catch radius is ridiculous. He doesn't care about stars or anything or hype around anybody's name."
Cope is one of many young athletes across the country who lost the critical offseason before their senior year to show coaches and the recruiting services how much they've improved.
Cope says he's grown to 6-3, 200 pounds since his measurements were last taken by Rivals -- which show him to be 6-2 and 180 pounds. There were only a couple opportunities during the spring to compete but Cope flashed his potential at those events.
"Cope is a receiver who’s a fringe four-star candidate - and I’ve wanted to pull the trigger on it - but a shortened spring evaluation period makes that decision tougher. He was solid at the Rivals camp and another camp this offseason, but I wanted to see him dominate more often against elite defensive backs. At Culver City, Cope plays good competition, but not the best in Southern California, so evaluating him only on film could be tricky. The high three-star was definitely someone we wanted to see even more through the off-season."
Cope works out every other day with current Cardinal Brycen Tremayne and occasionally is joined by Colby Bowman and Michael Wilson. (Cope and Tremayne were teammates for one year at Venice High.) Cope also has talked to Tanner McKee and hopes to work out with the quarterback before McKee goes to Stanford.
“Footwork and foot placement," Cope said about his focus in drills. "Depending on what route I have, I make sure my foot placement is under me. Depending on depth and how I'm gonna run my route, I can cycle my legs to make it seem like I'm running full speed but I'm not really running full speed because I'm changing my speed in order to make a sharp cut or be able to break down with my shoulders over my toes and get in and out of my break really quickly.”
Cope does not have a timeframe for his recruiting process and wants to see when visits will be allowed.
