Mike Elko just thwarted Miami's best shot at a five-star flip and stripped them of a top recruiting asset with his latest hire, the Hurricanes' recruiting coordinator David "Pop" Cooney. While this would have been a big move no matter what time it went public, I think there's some calculated tact to the way that this one went down that could pay off in a huge way for the Aggies.
Cooney has long been one of the top recruiters on Miami's staff, a program that has obviously been a massive player on the trail for any number of big time prospects every year. The Hurricanes did not want to lose this guy— even after he left the job for an upgrade in title at Bowling Green and was quickly ousted after a change in head coach, the Hurricanes took him right back, no questions asked.
With the Aggies in hot pursuit of some of the biggest names in the class, this is a nice boost. But with one player in particular— a guy who just so happens to be visiting this weekend— this could be a game-changing hire.
Mike Elko's hire of David Cooney could transform Texas A&M's recruitment of five-star WR Tristen Keys
Texas A&M is hosting a bevy of top talent this weekend, and one of the headliners is the no. 1 wide receiver in the nation, and the no. 3 overall player per the composite rankings, in Tristen Keys. Keys has been committed to LSU for some time, but there have been rumblings of him possibly flipping for just about as long.
The Aggies have been a possible landing spot for the five-star pass-catcher if he chose to flip, but so were the Miami Hurricanes. On that staff, Cooney was the top recruiter for Keys, according to Jaxson Calloway.
Given that Keys just signed a massive NIL deal with Adidas, and the fact that Miami and A&M are the only Adidas schools on his list of top schools, this could be a bigger move than some were expecting. Cooney will be valuable no matter how the recruitment of Keys turns out, but this is a hire that could end up shifting the landscape of this recruiting cycle in a major way.