STEPHENVILLE, Texas – Tarleton State Football wide receiver Darius Cooper earned one of the most prestigious honors for performance on and off the field on Tuesday, as he was one of 53 NCAA Division I players on the 2024 Academic All-America® football teams selected by College Sports Communicators.
 
Earlier this month, Cooper was one of four Texans named to the 2024 Academic All-District® Football teams, selected by College Sports Communicators. To be eligible, student-athletes must be at least a sophomore academically and athletically, have at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average, and compete in 90 percent of the institution's games played or started in at least 66 percent of the institution's games.
 
Cooper was selected as one of the top student-athletes across all Academic All-District honorees to earn Academic All-American honors, placed on the 2024 Academic All-America® NCAA Division I Second Team. Cooper was one of 53 D1 players across the First and Second Teams, and one of 28 players on the Second Team. Cooper was also one of just 15 FCS players on the D1 teams, and one of just four wide receivers overall across the D1's two teams.
 
Cooper, a kinesiology major, finished as the leading receiver across all of NCAA Division I football, both FBS and FCS with 1,450 yards and 14 touchdowns on 76 receptions. The St. Louis, Missouri, native was a First Team All-American by both the Associated Press and Stats Perform in addition to being a unanimous First Team All-United Athletic Conference receiver. Cooper set new program records in playoff single-game receiving yards (190) and career receiving yards (3,185).
 
Cooper becomes the second Texan over the past three seasons to earn College Sports Communicators Academic All-America® honors. Defensive lineman Segun Ijiyera also earned the honor in 2022.
 
Tarleton State Football won a Division I program record 10 games in 2024, earning an at-large bid to its first FCS Playoffs appearance. The Texans collected their first Division I playoff win against Drake in Stephenville before falling to No. 4 seed South Dakota in the second round. Finishing in the top-15 in the national rankings, Tarleton Football collected 10 All-UAC honors and won two All-American titles to complete 2024.
 
The full 2024 Academic All-America® NCAA Division I football teams selected by College Sports Communicators can be found below:
 
FIRST TEAM
QB, Tommy Mellott, Montana State University
WR, Elic Ayomanor, Stanford University       
WR, Ricky White III, UNLV
RB, Tahj Brooks, Texas Tech
RB, Raheim Sanders, University of South Carolina   
TE, Anthony Torres, The University of Toledo           
OL, Seth McLaughlin, The Ohio State University       
OL, RIley Adcock, Mercer University 
OL, Jake Majors, University of Texas 
OL, Donovan Jackson, The Ohio State University      
OL, Easton Kilty, Kansas State University      
DB, Travis Hunter, University of Colorado     
DB, Beau Freyler, Iowa State University        
DB, Tanner Wall, Brigham Young University 
DB, Jalen Catalon, UNLV        
DL, Brody Grebe, Montana State University 
DL, Ejike Adele , Dartmouth College  
DL, Kyle Kennard, University of South Carolina        
DL, Patrick Passalacqua, Columbia University           
LB, Jack Kiser, University of Notre Dame      
LB, Andon Thomas, United States Military Academy
LB, Jackson Woodard, UNLV  
K, Bert Auburn, University of Texas   
P, Riley Riethman, U.S. Naval Academy        
ST, Julian Ashby, Vanderbilt University         
 
SECOND TEAM
QB, Brady Cook, University of Missouri        
WR, Cooper Barkate, Harvard University      
WR, Darius Cooper, Tarleton State University          
RB, Quinshon Judkins, The Ohio State University     
RB, Mason Sheron, Davidson College
TE, Jared Casey, University of Kansas
OL, Reid Williams, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga
OL, Ashton Beers, University of Minnesota   
OL, Logan Zschernitz, Northern Illinois University
OL, Luke Kandra, University of Cincinnati     
OL, Bruno Fina, Duke University        
DB, Trevin Gradney, University of Montana  
DB, Craig Woodson, California          
DB, Maxen Hook, The University of Toledo   
DB, Jonathan McGill, SMU     
DL, Eli Mostaert, North Dakota State University
DL, Hayden Harris, University of Montana    
DL, Brendan Mott, Kansas State        
DL, Aaron Graves, University of Iowa
LB, Adam Bock, South Dakota State University         
LB, Carson Schwesinger, UCLA
LB, Jacob Dobbs, James Madison University 
LB, Logan Kopp, North Dakota State University        
LB, Marco Notarainni, Boise State University
K, Ritse Vaes, Abilene Christian University    
P, Avery Book, The University of Akron         
P, Juan Velarde, North Carolina Central University  
ST, Henry Freer, Georgia Tech