Rome Kadi is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Notre Dame Prep High School for AZPreps365.com  

Cooper Perry has put together one of the most decorated careers in Notre Dame Prep’s football program, and he continues to have a relentless determination to improve his craft.   

According to MaxPreps, the wide receiver has eclipsed 1,000 receiving yards in his last two seasons. His 1,100 yards in 2022 and 1,190 yards in 2023 were ranked 13th in Arizona in both seasons. He also had an eye-popping 38 combined receiving touchdowns in that span. 

Additionally, Perry has accumulated 502 career rushing yards and 223 career passing yards as of Oct. 29.  

It’s safe to say that he’s always been a player who can do anything a head coach can ask him to do on offense, but that’s not even the craziest part about Perry’s prowess on the football field. 

He’s played on the varsity football team since he was a freshman. 

Although Perry has loved football since he was a child, there was one crucial part about the sport that he absolutely despised at first.

“I hated getting hit,” Perry said. “I was crying all the time.” 

However, one important person in Perry’s life helped him overcome his fears. 

“My dad didn’t let me quit,” Perry said. “He knew how much it was going to mean to me in the future.”

That future is looking bright, as Perry will head to the University of Oregon in the fall of 2025 to play college football. 

During his recruiting process, Perry learned a lot about himself and what he wanted out of a college football program.

“The process hit me hard, especially when I was coming down to make a decision,” Perry said. “I had to start taking in a lot of things and a lot of considerations for my family and for me.”

Nevertheless, the biggest thing he realized during this process was something that many high-level players eventually come to understand.

“Ultimately, I just learned that [football] is a business,” Perry said. “The recruiting game is a business. College football is a business and the NFL is a business.”

“When I really started thinking about that, I gained a lot of knowledge,” Perry said. 

Perry said that he chose Oregon because he wants to win a national championship every year and to play with elite competition in the Big Ten Conference. However, a key trait emerged from the rest.

“I also see that [head] coach [Dan] Lanning is culture-driven,” Perry said. “The culture at Oregon was something that stood out to me. Culture was a big thing in my recruitment and it made it easy for that to stand out.”

He also is going to take one lesson with him from Notre Dame Prep to Eugene, Oregon.

“My work ethic,” Perry said. “I’m going to have to learn to work hard and stay grounded and stay humble. It's a blessing that I get to play this game and it’s a blessing [to be] in the position I’ll be in.”

His relentless work ethic has also caught the eye of Saints head coach George Prelock and senior running back and middle linebacker Jason Samis.

“He wants to watch film,” Prelock said. “He goes and watches the elite guys at the next level play and goes through those drills. The great ones all want to compete.”

“In the offseason, he works really hard,” Samis said. “So, when you see that and you see how that translates on the field, that’s a really good lesson about [how] hard work and studying plays and doing the right thing is going to get you places. For me, I took that from [Perry] and I tried translating that into my own work.”  

Finally, when it comes to Perry’s legacy at Notre Dame Prep, he doesn’t want to be remembered solely for his contributions on the field. 

“I just want to be remembered as someone who inspired young kids,” Perry said. “[Former Notre Dame Prep and current Arizona State wide receiver] Jake Smith inspired me to ball out and be like him. Breaking his receiving records was something that I was chasing after. Hopefully, I inspire young kids to come here [and] play football for Notre Dame Prep and break my records.”