Cooper had a dominant season, going undefeated all the way up to the title game where they came up short against Bowling Green. Austin Alexander is graduating but Cam O’Hara and Ryker Campbell are back. O’Hara is one of the most touted arms in the state. Campbell is as good as any deep back in Northern Kentucky. Possibly the state.

Keagan Maher is also back. He was the Jaguars’ leading rusher and a popular O’Hara receiving target. O’Hara will have to add some favorite targets alongside Maher as the top three leading receivers are gone.

Can Cooper remain dominant over NKY competition? Can they make a title run again? Will O’Hara be a contender for Mr. Football? It should be fun to find out.

Cooper enters a 5A where there are not the apparent grizzly bears that were there last year. Cooper was a beast in 2024, but bigger, badder beasts were in the forest. I still maintain that South Warren would have handled Cooper much in the same way BG did in 2024.

But South has moved to 6A... Owensboro is without a coach or identity... BG returns a lot but is replacing their OL and QB... Scott Co. seems to be playing second fiddle in their own county... Southwestern has gone MIA... Highlands has gone down to fight with Cov Cath in 4A... Woodford Co., well, we've seen Woodford Co. in big games. 

All that is to say, 5A is about as wide open as it has been for a while. Cooper returns some of the best players in 5A, and one of them is their phenomenal QB.

Predictions for 2025:

• Cooper is the best NKY 5A team but behind Ryle, Highlands, Beechwood, and Cov. Cath overall
• Cooper is in, at the least, the Final Four, likely the Finals 
• O'Hara is one of the top 3 contenders for Mr. Football 

While Cooper loses some top talent. They still have talent returning. Plus Cooper’s whole offensive line will be returning to go along with Ohara, Maher, and Campbell. So offensively they may have to do it a little differently without Johnson, Alexander, Jaidan Combs, and others. However, they should still be one of the top offenses in the state IMO. The same goes on the defensive side, as they obviously lose some really good seniors. They do return two starters in the secondary, their two inside linebackers, and two DL. So they return some good pieces on defense too, and just may take a little time for a few others to adjust to varsity play. With that said I believe Cooper’s JV only lost one game last year. So there is some good players coming up from JV that will look to help out next year.

So when all is said and done coach Borchers and staff will have this team coached up, and I think we see Cooper back on the state title game again for the third year in a row. 

How things are shaping up Cooper will once again cruise to the 4th round of the playoffs. They’ll likely be playing wofo in round 2 but I’m not sure how difficult that will be for the jags.

Heard rumors that O’Hara is looking to transfer. IF that is true, (completely hear say) what will Cooper do at QB? 

9 minutes ago, NkyGuy22 said:

Heard rumors that O’Hara is looking to transfer. IF that is true, (completely hear say) what will Cooper do at QB? 

Cracks me up how these rumors get started ?.  Cam is 100% locked in at finishing his senior season where he's started as a freshman and will own nearly every record in NKY and possibly many statewide.  

It does make for speculative message board conversation though.  Nothing to see over here on Longbranch but the core of returners all going back to work in an attempt to get back to Kroger Field and try to win the schools first major state championship.

2 hours ago, NkyGuy22 said:

Heard rumors that O’Hara is looking to transfer. IF that is true, (completely hear say) what will Cooper do at QB? 

I live around that area and have not heard those rumors at all, and I seriously doubt that is true. 

Was on the field for the 1st quarter of their state title game. Was impressed with their physicality. Don't see this program going away anytime soon. Coach Borchers was on our podcast. Excellent football coach. He played for Coach Schneider at NewCath when I coached at Paris! 

16 minutes ago, futurecoach said:

I live around that area and have not heard those rumors at all, and I seriously doubt that is true. 

Glad he’ll finish where he started, but I’m not going to lie, given that the two schools district lines are within 20 minutes of each other, I had a brief day dream of what he could do following coach Pence to Walton and playing 2A.

1 hour ago, ChickenWyngz said:

Glad he’ll finish where he started, but I’m not going to lie, given that the two schools district lines are within 20 minutes of each other, I had a brief day dream of what he could do following coach Pence to Walton and playing 2A.

I don’t see that happening either. ??

5 hours ago, NkyGuy22 said:

Heard rumors that O’Hara is looking to transfer. IF that is true, (completely hear say) what will Cooper do at QB? 

Simon Kenton would love to have you transfer there!

Who is he going to throw the ball to at Walton?  That is about the craziest thing I have seen on this site in a long time.

6 minutes ago, Bengal Boy said:

Who is he going to throw the ball to at Walton?  That is about the craziest thing I have seen on this site in a long time.

No one said he was going to Walton. It was clearly stated as a day dream, but since you asked... If I were Walton's QB, I'd zero in on Michael Oldfield early and often. Caught 10 TD's in a new offensive system as a junior last year. It's not like Walton has nobody.

The talent Cooper has, nope. Good enough to compete well in 2A, absolutely. 

I do not want to offend anyone. Just taking a 10,000 foot view of this situation.

As mentioned, Cam O'Hara will break the NKY Passing records and has a good chance to have his team back in the final 4/State title game for 3 straight years. Very Very impressive!

With KY HS football not being held in the highest regards by recruiters (Have personally heard this many times), I could see a move to Ohio to increase recruiting possibilities. QB is the toughest position to find a spot at the FBS level.

He has nice offers from WKU, UK and Miami in FBS. Those offers have been out there for a while and would be dependent on how many spots are left when Cam decides to commit. After watching his play during his Junior season, I really expected to see more FBS offers coming in. Maybe there are more that haven't been posted on the recruiting sites. 

Obviously, there is still time and I have no clue where he is personally in the 2026 recruiting cycle, but I wouldn't think the O'Hara's were crazy if they attempted to find a spot in the GCL, for example. 

With the Signing periods continuing to move up, most Power 4s and many Group of 5 schools will have their 2026 signing classes committed before the start of the upcoming HS season. 

I really enjoy watching Cam play and I hope he continues at Cooper. He has created quite a legacy there. 

 

Do you think the transfer portal hurts QB recruiting? I think many programs fish the portal pond and if they don't get a hit move on to HS players. I would think O'Hara is in an offense designed around his talents and he might not wind up in the same situation if he moved to another place.

42 minutes ago, FirstTimeLongTime said:

I do not want to offend anyone. Just taking a 10,000 foot view of this situation.

As mentioned, Cam O'Hara will break the NKY Passing records and has a good chance to have his team back in the final 4/State title game for 3 straight years. Very Very impressive!

With KY HS football not being held in the highest regards by recruiters (Have personally heard this many times), I could see a move to Ohio to increase recruiting possibilities. QB is the toughest position to find a spot at the FBS level.

He has nice offers from WKU, UK and Miami in FBS. Those offers have been out there for a while and would be dependent on how many spots are left when Cam decides to commit. After watching his play during his Junior season, I really expected to see more FBS offers coming in. Maybe there are more that haven't been posted on the recruiting sites. 

Obviously, there is still time and I have no clue where he is personally in the 2026 recruiting cycle, but I wouldn't think the O'Hara's were crazy if they attempted to find a spot in the GCL, for example. 

With the Signing periods continuing to move up, most Power 4s and many Group of 5 schools will have their 2026 signing classes committed before the start of the upcoming HS season. 

I really enjoy watching Cam play and I hope he continues at Cooper. He has created quite a legacy there.