Plant loses a TE, gains a WR, thanks to the Bucs

Posted Apr 23, 2012 by Bill Ward

Updated Apr 23, 2012 at 07:14 PM

Robert Weiner and Plant football must be living right.

Not long after learning his program will lose tight end Austin Roberts because his dad is changing coaching jobs from the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to the Indianapolis Colts, Weiner landed another player, wide receiver/defensive back Tristan Cooper, whose dad is changing jobs from Louisiana State to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.

Oh yea, Weiner also won the grand prize at the annual Hillsborough County Coaches Banquet, sponsored by the Steinbrenner Family—a new car—last weekend.

The 6-foot, 175-pound Tristan Cooper, a rising senior, was a starter last season for University Laboratory School in Baton Rouge, La. Cooper says his team there played a spread offense and hauled in about 41 receptions. He also played defensive back and ran back kicks.

His dad, Ron Cooper, coached at LSU but was recently hired by the Bucs to coach DBs. At LSY, Cooper at LSU, coached both Morris Claiborne, a Tigers cornerback who won last year;s Jim Thorpe Award, (Thrope Award), “The Honey Badger,” defensive back Tyrann Mathieu (Bednarik Award), and 2010 SEC defensive player of the year winner Patrick Peterson, a defensive back now with the Arizona Cardinals.