’23 star climbing up the list of KY QBs
6-1, 190-lbs member of the class of ’23 has Bethlehem High envisioning championships.
We are unaware of whether you realize this, but quite a bit of football gets played in and around Bardstown, Kentucky. David Clark’s Tigers, in Class 3A (Bardstown High) were 7-2 in 2020 and the Class 1A counterpart, Bethlehem High School, was 6-3, narrowly losing on the road in the playoffs to Holy Cross (Louisville).
You’ll have to forgiver Bryan Walker and his Eagles if they are seeing championships on the horizon. After all, they were a hair-breath away from getting to face Newport Central last year, ending their nine-game COVID-19 shortened season 6-3, and were 8-3 the last time the country’s health permitted a full slate of games (2019).
One of the great coaches to ever stride a sideline in the NFL, John Madden, once said, “If I had one drive to win a game…and I had a quarterback to pick, I would pick Kenny [Stabler].” Coach Walker would probably tell you he’s starting to feel the same way about a young QB who’s beginning to come into his own.
Ron Jaworski, a former Philadelphia Eagles great at the QB position, once said, “The heartbeat of a football team is the quarterback….I think everyone who has any intelligence about the game understands you must have consistency at that position to be a championship team.” Who would ever disagree?
Now “Jaws,” as he gets regularly referenced, wasn’t talking about Cooper Stone when he said this. However, the sentiment is just as true in discussing this young guy, entering his Junior season, who is set to explode onto the scene at the QB position for his Bethlehem High School Eagles.
Cooper is 6-1, weighs 190 pounds, and is strong as a bull. We have gotten weight-room reports of his deadlifting 365-pounds, 3 repetitions. He’s also strong in the classroom.
Stone reports a 3.8 GPA at a high school with a mighty good academic reputation known to produce quality students AND athletes. Stone doesn’t have a registered test score yet (or we aren’t aware of one). When it comes back as lofty as we expect, we believe he will have a limitless amount of next-level opportunities.
Stone has a strong arm and gets the ball out quickly. He has a high release point and makes all the throws on the route tree with the ball arriving when it should.
In 2020, playing an abbreviated season, Stone threw for 1,458-yards with 13-TDs against a solitary interception. That would make for a fine QB-rating, let me assure you.
In evaluating his highlights, Stone appears poised to us, possessing copious amounts of pocket presence together with his ability to avoid the rush and make plays with his feet when that becomes necessary. One of the more important things about Cooper Stone, and an attribute hard to describe but something we all recognize when it is standing before us, is Cooper Stone is a winner.
A QB who is a winner, someone who expects to meet with success as opposed to being perpetually awaiting the other shoe to drop is of inestimable importance at that critical offensive position for any team at any level. You might even say it may provide the championship edge.
Yessir, Coach Walker’s Eagles have much to anticipate going forward with this guy under center directing the offense. Fans should be really excited about what the immediate future holds as this QB catapults both his team and himself into the coming season poised to break-out onto the Kentucky high school football scene.
This is HB Lyon reporting for Kentucky Prep Gridiron reminding you that WE’RE JUST CALLING IT LIKE WE SEE IT!
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