Concordia linebacker Cooper Harris has signed his letter of intent to play college football at Siena Heights University; a private, Catholic school in Adrian, Michigan. At this point, he is undecided regarding his major. His reasons for wanting to go to Siena Heights included the school’s distance from home as well as some familiarity he has with a current and future Saint.
“We always like it when our players move on to the next level,” athletic director and former head football coach Tim Mannigel said. “While ultimately, that’s not the goal of our program, it is a nice by-product. And so, we think he’s going to do really well, and we’re proud of him.”
“It’s very close to home, only an hour and a half away roughly,” Harris said. “Kam [Vanderbosch is] going there…and his older brother Jalen’s already there. I’ve been up to the campus before [it’s a] very beautiful campus, and when I got there I just fell in love with the place right away.”
Kam and Jalen Vanderbosch were teammates of Harris’ at Concordia. Jalen was part of the 2020-2021 senior class along with Harris. He led the Cadets in interceptions this past year. Jalen graduated from Concordia in the spring of 2020. He was the Cadets’ leader in receiving yards and interceptions last year. Harris looks forward to being teammates on the gridiron with both of them again.
“I’m very excited about it. I missed Jalen on the field this fall,” Harris said. “My junior year was super fun with him. He was a team captain. I love playing with the Vanderbosch brothers. They’re high-intensity, and they get after it.”
Concordia football has likely given Harris several memories. Those memories include helping to lead the team to back-to-back sectional championships. The Cadets beat Peru 56-6 in the 2019 title game. Harris had five tackles that night. Then they beat Norwell in this past year’s title game. Harris again had five tackles that night.
“It’s a memory that’ll stay with me for the rest of my life,” Harris said. “Definitely the two greatest things I think I’ve accomplished in high school were the two sectional championships. I’m very proud of that. I’ll love those guys forever, and I’ll have that in my heart forever.”
Siena Heights is coached by Matt Kohn. He is in his fifth season as the Saints’ head coach. Kohn has guided the team to back-to-back 7-3 campaigns. They are playing a spring football season this school year, and are off to a 1-2 start.
“Coach Kohn, he’s a wonderful coach, wonderful person,” Harris said. “When I got the chance to meet him, I knew that was the person I wanted to play for, and I knew I wanted to contribute to a person like that.”
Harris has been one of the Cadets’ top defensive players in recent years. This past year, he was the team’s leader in total tackles (78) and tackles for loss (14). In 2019 he was second in total tackles (89) and tackles for loss (11.5).
“I learned everything about football [at Concordia],” Harris said. “I didn’t start playing till my freshman year, and so everything I learned was straight from day one, just taking in everything I could learn…try not to get overwhelmed, and that speaks volumes to our coaches and the great abilities they have.”
One of the biggest lessons that Harris learned from his time at Concordia came from assistant coach Seth Bennett.
“Coach Bennett always said ‘stay relentless’, that was our motto this last season, just to keep going when things get bad,” Harris said. “You’ve got to keep moving your feet, keep going forward despite the bad.”
Tim Mannigel has been Harris’ head coach for the last four years. He greatly appreciates the work that Harris has put in at Concordia.
“He’s a really great kid who gives his all, all the time,” Mannigel said. “He’s a kid that’s been blessed with a lot of natural ability, but he takes that natural ability and works hard to develop it. So [it’s] a great pleasure. We’ll miss him greatly.”
