LINCOLN — People want to know when Khiry Cooper is going to settle on a sport.
They wonder if he's shortchanging himself in football and baseball as Nebraska's first athlete in 15 years to legitimately mix the two.
Cooper's response? Thanks for the concern, but he's doing just fine.
“I'm kind of in the same place I was last year,” he said. “I'm actually more in that place, because I've seen that I can have success at both sports. I've done both, and I've been successful at both. I'm happy at both right now.”
The 6-foot-3 Cooper started four games at receiver as a redshirt freshman last fall in football. He caught 13 passes and scored his first career touchdown.
In baseball, as the Huskers visit No. 2 Texas Friday night at 6:05 to open a three-game series, the sophomore left fielder is displaying the talent that made him a fifth-round draft pick of the Los Angeles Angels in 2008.
“He's still raw,” NU baseball coach Mike Anderson said. “But he's learning as he goes, and he's having a phenomenal experience.”
Cooper, after hitting .229 with two home runs and nine RBIs in 70 at-bats as a freshman, has jumped this spring to .333 with six RBIs and four doubles.
In 12 games, he's equaled his extra-base hit total from a year ago. Cooper still strikes out once every three at-bats, the highest ratio on the team among Huskers with more than 20 at-bats, but he's noticeably more comfortable at the plate.
“He's grown a lot,” senior outfielder DJ Belfonte said. “He's using the experience that he has, and you can see it carry over to each game. Good things are happening for him.”
Notably, Cooper struggles with off-speed pitching. It baffled him last year, often sending the newcomer out of Shreveport, La., back to the NU dugout without much of an idea how to make contact against Big 12 pitching.
“I struggled, but it was a good experience,” he said. “The pitchers at this level, they throw anything in any situation. You've got to be able to adjust. That's the thing the Big 12 does: They find out what you can do and don't let you do it.
“Obviously, I can hit a fastball, but they're not going to give me that opportunity as much as I'd like.”
According to Anderson, Cooper has attacked the fastball and “covered” the off-speed pitches better than last season. It helped Cooper win the job in left field — at least for now — over sophomore Boomer Collins. Collins opened the season at the position but has struggled to a .194 batting average.
“I think they both understand that every at-bat's important for them,” Anderson said.
Cooper said he has not talked with NU football coaches about how to handle spring practice, which opens Wednesday. He won't do anything physical, but Cooper could occasionally attend meetings.
Anderson said he's talked to football coach Bo Pelini and offensive coordinator Shawn Watson about Cooper's future. He misses the majority of offseason work in both sports.
“I've never really had that conversation with Khiry where I've said, ‘You're going to have to make a decision,'” Anderson said. “But you're looking at next year, where he should lean one way or other and go with it.”
Cooper is eligible again for the baseball draft in June 2011. He could, theoretically, continue to play college football through the 2012 season even while in professional baseball.
Or he could exhaust his eligibility at Nebraska in both sports.
“To be honest, I would just love to ride it out and be able to play both sports for as long as I can,” Cooper said. “I'm not at the point where I'm thinking about a professional career. I'm thinking about what I can do to help my baseball team and then help my football team when that time comes around.”
Contact the writer:
402-444-1031, mitch.sherman@owh.com
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