Stanford makes top five for Ernest Cooper

One of the most important recruits on Stanford's 2022 board put the Cardinal in his top five that he tweeted out Thursday.

Ernest Cooper is one of the few juniors to visit Stanford in person before COVID-19 caused a recruiting dead period that remains in effect. Stanford, Notre Dame, Ohio State, Oregon and Texas A&M are his top schools.

In addition to attending Stanford's only junior day weekend last year, he took part in the virtual "junior day" Feb. 13 and has been in regular contact with Stanford. He is interested in pursuing a degree in the biomedical field.

Notre Dame also offers a strong academic-athletic option that really appeals to Cooper. He spoke with Mike Singer of BlueAndGold a couple weeks about the Fighting Irish and Stanford. He told Singer he'd like to visit Stanford again after the dead period is lifted — it's currently scheduled to end May 31.

“A lot of people think Stanford can’t compete athletically, but it’s really an outstanding program as a whole,” Cooper said to Singer.

Cooper, who was named the District 4-6A Sophomore of he Year in 2019 and was a first-team all-district selection in 2020.