BLOOMINGTON — The New York Jets drafted Indiana football receiver Omar Cooper Jr. with the No. 30th pick in the first round of the 2026 NFL Draft on Thursday night.
Cooper, a Lawrence North grad, blossomed into one of the Big Ten’s top receivers over the course of three seasons with the Hoosiers. The dynamic athlete had a career-season for IU in 2025 with one of the most memorable plays in program history.
He’s the first IU receiver drafted since Denver selected CoryLatimer in the second round of the 2014 draft.
Indiana football receiver Omar Cooper Jr. highlights
There’s none bigger than his toe-tap touchdown at Penn State. The receiver made a leaping grab in the back of the end zone with 36 seconds to go. He showed incredible body control to get a foot down in bounds with Zakee Wheatley trying to push him out of bounds.
“I saw his focus,” Cooper’s mother Vnemina told The Herald-Times. “He didn’t just get one toe down, he got two.”
Early in the season, he hit 21.1 mph on a 75-yard touchdown run against Kennesaw State and had 10 catches for 207 yards with four touchdowns in a win over Indiana State. It was the ninth 200-yard receiving game in program history and tied a single-game record for receiving touchdowns.
“That’s a quarterback’s dream,” Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza said.
Cooper closed out the year with five catches for 71 yards in the national title game against Miami.
Indiana football receiver Omar Cooper Jr. NFL Combine results
Cooper received an NFL combine invite, but waited to do most of his testing until IU’s Pro Day. In Indianapolis, he ran a 4.42 second 40-yard dash. He performed a 37-inch vertical jump at his Pro Day. He had a 9.16 Relative Athletic Score, a metric that evaluates NFL prospects by comparing their athletic ability to historical data for their specific position. The score ranked 355 out of 4,196 receivers tested going back to 1987.
Indiana football receiver Omar Cooper Jr. stats
Cooper had career-numbers across the board with 69 catches for 937 yards and 13 touchdowns. The 13 touchdown receptions tied for third-most in the country behind teammate Elijah Sarratt and Georgia South’s Camden Brown. He had eight receptions for 274 yards and four scores on throws of 20-yards or more through the air. Cooper is just one of six IU players in program history with 20 or more career touchdowns.
Indiana football receiver Omar Cooper Jr. scouting report
Cooper expressed initial concerns about moving to the slot in 2025, but the position change ultimately highlighted his versatility and made him an even more attractive draft prospect. He was a menace in the open field with 27 forced missed tackles, tied for fourth most among receivers. Cooper’s game-winning touchdown against Penn State highlighted his sure hands and contested-catch ability. He ranked No. 29 in USA Today’s top 200 draft prospects.
Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Omar Cooper Jr. NFL draft: New York Jets pick Indiana WR in selected in first round