Elite 2018 defensive tackle Robert Cooper signs with Florida State

It’s been a known commodity for some period of time that Robert Cooper was going to sign with Florida State. The four-star defensive tackle made it official during December’s Early Signing Period. Now, just ahead of Wednesday’s National Signing Day, Cooper will be waiting to see which other prospects will join him in garnet and gold, which we addressed in the podcast linked below.

Cooper, a Snellville (Ga.) South Gwinnett HS product, has been aboard with FSU since his commitment in June of 2016 while participating in a Jimbo Fisher Football Camp. His impressive frame (6’2, 377 pounds) has drawn interest from a number of programs of note including Alabama, Miami, Georgia, Ohio State, Oklahoma, Michigan, LSU, Florida, Wisconsin and Notre Dame.

Still, Cooper stayed loyal, taking just one official visit to FSU the final weekend before the early signing period, quickly shutting down his recruitment after new head coach Willie Taggart visited him in-home.

Cooper is the No. 9 defensive tackle in the 2018 recruiting class, the No. 117 overall recruit and the No. 15 player from the state of Georgia.

Although Cooper is an early signee, he will not be an early enrollee at FSU, instead arriving over the summer in Tallahassee.

With Derrick Nnadi graduating, there could be playing time available for Cooper as a true freshman, as there was for Marvin Wilson this past year.

Here’s our staff’s breakdown of Cooper’s game after watching his film:

Robert Cooper is a large human being. He is a true nose tackle who has power and speed. He typically lines up in a four point stance and explodes out of his stance. Cooper’s stance has nice coil, and he is able to spring out out of it and engage offensive linemen with a low to high attack. It is impressive for a player of his size to be as quick and agile as he is. Cooper shows good power defeating double teams. His strength is going straight forward, so he will be limited moving laterally. He shows powerful hands able to get offensive linemen off of him. On film, Cooper shows an average swim and above-average rip move in pass rush. If Cooper gets into an offensive linemen one on one he will normally win with a strong bull rush. Cooper is going to be a good addition to Florida State’s defensive line group.

For all your updates surrounding Florida State’s signees and potential signees this week, follow along on Tomahawk Nation’s Early Signing Period tracker.