Late-season flourish puts Cooper Lutz in the thick of Syracuse running back picture
Cooper Lutz never lacked for confidence on a football field. He started as a sophomore at Berks Catholic and rushed for over 1,000 yards on a team that went 12-2 and set a Berks record by averaging 44.5 points per game.
He went on to set half-a-dozen Saints rushing and scoring records, earned All-State honors and a scholarship to Syracuse.
Things were different at the next level.
Lutz didn’t get on the field his first two seasons. He felt out of position playing wide receiver. He felt he was letting people down, not living up to expectations. He grew frustrated, and thoughts of walking away from the game began to creep into his mind.
“There were times when I wasn’t loving football how I knew I loved it,” he admitted.
Lutz thought he blew it all when dropped several balls and performed poorly at an intersquad scrimmage.
He was down on himself, plummeting to depths he had never experienced before.
His brother picked him back up.
Isaac Lutz experienced similar struggles and doubts as a walk-on at Penn State. He understood.
“It’s mentally exhausting,” Issac Lutz said of the demands. “In high school you’re used to working hard and seeing instant success. You get to college, you can work super-hard and not always see that pay off instantly.”
Isaac’s advice to his brother: Bleep the expectations. Forget about what other people think. Play for yourself.
“Go out and take what’s yours,” Isaac urged him.
Cooper took those words to heart. In fact, he wrote them down and posted them on the wall, as a daily reminder.
In the months since, the picture at Syracuse has brightened for him. The coaching staff moved him to running back and, when several players at that position opted out last season due to COVID concerns, he got a chance to carry the ball.
(Photo courtesy Syracuse University sport information department.)
A broken rib in preseason camp cost him some early time. He returned to play special teams by mid-September and got his first college carry Oct. 24 — at Clemson.
“It was nuts,” Lutz said of playing before some 80,000 in Death Valley. “It was our first away game with fans. It was pretty overwhelming. There’s no real feeling like it. (I told myself): This is what you worked for your whole life.”
A week later against Wake Forest he had 15 carries and went for a team-high 81 yards.
His breakout moment came in the season finale, Dec. 5, at Notre Dame. The 6-foot, 205-pound redshirt sophomore blew up the internet when he broke free down the right sideline and sprinted for an 80-yard touchdown run in the shadows of Touchdown Jesus.
“I got to the 30, then the 20 (and I thought), ‘I’m gonna get caught’ … ‘I’m gonna get caught’ …”
He never did.
“We were running an iso to the left,” Lutz said. “I saw the right side ‘Mike’ linebacker over-pursue it, so I popped out the front door on the other side, cut back and took it around the corner.”
After two seasons of frustration he ended his third college season on a high note, with 114 rushing yards against the second-ranked team in the nation.
People noticed, including Orange coach Dino Babers. He had some interesting things to say about Lutz’s status in the Syracuse running back picture.
“We expect big things out of him,” Babers said during the offseason. “(Cooper) sees something that normally (backs) don’t see. (Syracuse running back) Sean (Tucker) has it as well, but you didn’t know that Cooper had it.
“I think Cooper is really good. I think people look at him and go, ‘Ahh, I don’t know,’ but if you just watch the production and watch what he does, I think those two guys (Tucker and Lutz) are really good.”
Lutz’s potential at running back still appears to be untapped. He saw very few reps at that spot during spring practices, then – like everyone else – saw the season placed in peril because of the coronavirus.
“We didn’t know we were going to play a full season until two weeks before the first game,” Lutz said. “You had to go through this mental battle not even knowing if you were going to play.”
His mindset became: “’Let’s just go out here and get better.”
“That’s what it came down to every day,” he said. “That’s the path I chose to take. It was beneficial in the long run.”
Lutz basically had to re-learn the running back position – a new scheme, how to pick up blitzes, etc. – and those chances were limited once practice resumed in August because of his rib injury.
He proved himself early in the season on special teams, on the punt and kickoff teams; when he finally got his chance to touch the ball out of the backfield he showed a little of the old Cooper magic.
Some writers who follow the program project him as the No. 2 running back, behind Tucker, entering the season.
“I’m extremely excited,” Lutz said, who heads to preseason camp later this week. “Football season’s back. (I’m) just going out there competing every day. I’m going to go in there and control the things that I can control, and when I’m in the game I’m going to play my hardest and give my best effort. I feel great about it.”
Cooper Lutz’s Berks Catholic stats
| Most rushing yards, game | 221 | vs. Bishop McDevitt | 2017 |
| Most rushing yards, season | 1,525* | 2017 | |
| Most touchdowns, game | 4 | vs. Gettysburg; vs. Wyomissing | 2017 |
| Rushing yards, career | 3,141 | 2014-17 | |
| Most touchdowns, season | 31 | 2017 | |
| Most touchdowns, career | 55 | 2014-17 | |
| Most rushing touchdowns, season | 27* | 2017 | |
| Most rushing touchdowns, career | 49* | 2014-17 | |
| Longest touchdown run | 96* | vs. Wyomissing | 2017 |
| Longest kickoff return for touchdown | 90 | vs. Steel-High | 2015 |