'I definitely knew it was something bad': Victory WR Kooper Jones overcomes two torn ACLs

LAKELAND — When Kooper Jones scored his first touchdown in the season opener against Golden Gate, it was an emotional moment. For Jones, it was the end of a long, difficult trek to play a varsity high school football game. The game was his first varsity football action of his career and his first football game since he played five plays in the junior varsity season opener of his sophomore year.

The Victory Christian wide receiver saw his first two years of high school football wiped out because of ACL injuries to each of his knees. He then spent last year on the Lakeland scout team practicing against the Dreadnaughts' high-profile college prospects but buried on the depth chart at wide receiver.

Jones transferred to Victory Christian for his senior year and when the Storm plays at Lakeland Christian at 7:30 p.m. on Friday, he'll be an integral part of his team's offense.

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Jones has become one of the most productive wide receivers in the county. He has 19 catches for 266 yards, averaging 14.0 yards per catch, and three touchdowns to lead the Storm in all categories. He has the most yards from scrimmage of any Victory receiver or running back.

"He's been a great asset, great kids, great testimony, tearing both of his ACLs and still having perseverance to come out and be productive," Victory Christian coach Kendrick Stewart said. "A lot of kids would have got down on himself, but he used that as motivation. He's not the tallest, fastest, but he does have heart and that's what I respect about him."

Needless to say, Jones' high school career didn't go how he expected. His freshman year at Lakeland was wiped out even before he got to high school.

Two knee injuries derail early career

It was March 18, 2020, the spring prior to his freshman year of high school, and the date of his grandfather's birthday. He was playing youth football for the Lakeland Gators on a muddy field as it rained hard the previous day. As Jones attempted to strip the ball away from the opposing player, "he went through my knee."

"I definitely knew it was something bad," he said. "I didn't know what it was originally. I remember because I busted my chin but when they came over, she said something about my chin, but I heard shin. So I was thinking I broke my leg or something. I had no clue that it was gonna be the severity that it was of my knee. It definitely hurt. I didn't feel a pop. Everyone says you would feel a pop. I didn't hear it. I felt the pop the second time."

Second time?

After surgery on March 25 and months of rehab that wiped out his freshman season of football, Jones was ready for football the following spring. He went through spring football, summer workouts, fall practice and in the first game of his JV season, on the fifth play ... well, let Jones tell the story.

"I ran a slant route and when I cut, I felt it," Jones said. "I don't think that I fully tore it right there because when I got on the sidelines, they had me do a side shuffle. Actually, on the side shuffle, I felt the pop and that's where I think I fully tore it."

The two injuries were on different knees, the first being more severe because he also tore his meniscus.

"I was definitely determined to get back out on the field," Jones said. "It was just the flexibility, that was the difficult part just because I had a couple of setbacks with the meniscus tear. I was ready to get back."

After the second injury, Jones wasn't sure football was in his future. Although healthy for spring football at the end of his sophomore year, he ran track and didn't go out for spring football.

"As excited as I was (to be back after the first injury), after I saw the other one (injury), everything just shattered for me," Jones said. "I'm not going to lie. I was so excited to get back and just knowing that I was going to have to go through that entire process again. It was more of a mental toll than it was a physical toll just because I'm restarting this process."

Jones credited his father, Terry, with helping him through the mental process of coming back from his injury. When Terry, who wrestled for Kathleen in high school, was a senior, he lost his father to leukemia on Christmas Day. Knowing what his father went through in his high school season helped him to persevere mentally.

"The fact that he did lose his dad and continued like he did after what he's been through, honestly, he's been through something harder than I have mentally," Jones said.

A discouraging return to football

By summer, he decided to play again. However, playing on a deep Lakeland squad, he was buried on the depth chart and just played on the scout team.

"I was discouraged at the start of it," Jones recalled. "I sat down and talked to my dad about it and he was like, listen, whether or not you touch the field, you're going to get better playing against the guys we had."

Looking back, Jones admits that even though he didn't play in games, going against three-, four- and five-start prospects like Cormani McClain, Shadarian Harrison, Donte Joyner and the others in Lakeland's deep and talented secondary was beneficial.

However, after earning a state championship ring last season, he was ready to play and knew to get that opportunity, he would have to transfer. Initially, he was going to play at Lake Gibson. But after Gov. Ron DeSantis signed the bill that allowed athletes like Jones — he attended Polk Collegiate — to play at a private school, Jones transferred to Victory Christian. The Storm had several players, he said, that he played with in youth football.

Stewart couldn't be happier to have the 5-foot-8, 180-pound Jones.

"He's small in stature, but he's fast, he can fly. Losing (Janius) Taylor, who could also fly, Kooper came in at the right time. Koop, he has soft hands, runs good routes, and he's a leader. He fit right in."

Making plays on the field once again

Against Golden Gate in the opener, Jones finished with five catches for 79 yards and has been a steady performer for the rebuilding Storm. And for whatever he does the rest of the season, that touchdown catch will remain memorable.

"That first touchdown, it took me a second when I scored it," he said. "All the emotions, we scored a touchdown, it was a big drive, we needed it; big momentum shift. But it took once I got to the sideline and I realized that was my first one. So it was great. At the same time, I've worked for this, coming from the scout team.

"Like on scout, you would make big plays every now and then and you celebrate. But then in the game, it means so much more because it actually means something. So it definitely meant more coming out to the field and it's been great. I look back at everything I went through, it was like it paid off."

This article originally appeared on The Ledger: Victory Christian's Kooper Jones emerges as top WR after 2 ACL injuries