Marcus Cooper earns Southland Player of the Week honors

HAMMOND, La. – After helping Southeastern Louisiana retain the River Bell with a 21-17 victory over No. 17/25 Nicholls in the regular season finale, Lion freshman running back Marcus Cooper was named the final Southland Conference Offensive Player of the Week, the league office announced on Monday.

Cooper’s recognition marked the fifth time this season a SLU student-athlete has received weekly recognition from the league. He joins freshman Austin Mitchell (Offense, Oct. 9), sophomore Juwan Petit-Frere (Special Teams, Sept. 25 and Oct. 9) and senior Max Lyons (Special Teams, Sept. 4).

The speedster from Altair, Texas led Southeastern with 12 carries for a game-high 142 yards in the win over the Colonels in last Thursday’s River Bell Classic. He put Southeastern on the board in the first quarter with a 63-yard touchdown run and set up another score with a 54-yard run deep into Nicholls territory.

Despite not playing in the first two games of the season, Cooper finished his debut collegiate campaign with a team-high 646 rushing yards for the nation’s No. 3 rushing offense. The Jerry Rice Award Watch List member set a single-season school record with 10.1 yards per carry.

Cooper and the 2018 Lions will open next season with a Sept. 1 contest at FBS opponent ULM.