Usage / Role
8%
Rotational defensive role
lowfeatured
Player Dossier
2020-2023Western Kentucky
Niko Cooper
LB • 6'5" • 242 lbs • Memphis, TN, USA
Ball-hunting defenderSplash play profile
Niko Cooper shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 20.7 disruption score.
Impact Production
7
Developing production for a linebacker
lowelite
Reliability
15
Sporadic game-to-game production
lowhigh
Star Power
21
Limited ceiling signals so far
limitedstar
Career Arc
Value trend by season
Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Western Kentucky
202121222323
Snapshot
- Career Teams
- 2
- Unique Seasons
- 4
- Program Path
- Nebraska • Western Kentucky
- Peak Game
- Peak game by takeover score: Troy
Player Story
Niko Cooper built his college career from 2020 through 2023 as a linebacker from Memphis, TN wearing No. 48, spending time with Nebraska and Western Kentucky. The clearest part of Niko Cooper's career was his...
Read the story5★
- Committed To
- Florida State
- Commit Date
- Jan 1, 2006
Niko Cooper, LB. Best season Best season by Season Value: 2023 Postseason · Western Kentucky. Niko Cooper shows a ball-hunting defender profile with 20.7 disruption score.
Stat Footprint
Career production snapshot
- Tackles
- 62
- TFL
- 4
- Sacks
- 1
- QB hurries
- 4
- Passes defended
- 2
Quick Answers
Niko Cooper quick answers
- Latest team and position
- Western Kentucky · LB
- Career Tackles
- 62
- Tracked sample
- 4 unique seasons · 6 entries · 28 games
- Best season
- 2023 Postseason · Western Kentucky
- Top game
- Troy
- Recruit profile
- 5-star · Stone Mountain · Florida State
- High school pipeline
- Stone Mountain · 7 FBS recruits · 0 drafted players
- Latest roster
- No. 48 · Senior
- 2023 Tackles rank
- 38 tackles · LB 362nd (top 30%) · Conference USA 59th (top 15%) · National 968th (top 17%)
Season Ledger
Crawlable season-by-season stats
| Season | Team | Games | Tackles | TFL | Sacks | QB Hur | PD | TD | Overall |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Regular Season | Nebraska | 2 | 3 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 38.1 |
| 2021 Postseason | Western Kentucky | 6 | 3 | 1 | 0 | - | - | 0 | 9.8 |
| 2021 Regular Season | Western Kentucky | 6 | 6 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 9.8 |
| 2022 Regular Season | Western Kentucky | 8 | 12 | - | 0 | 1 | - | 0 | 8.7 |
| 2023 Postseason | Western Kentucky | 12 | 1 | - | 0 | - | - | 0 | 43.2 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Western Kentucky | 12 | 37 | 3 | 1 | 3 | 2 | 0 | 43.2 |
Related Context
Keep exploring Niko Cooper
Transfer Portal History
Matched portal movement
| Season | Path | Movement | Value | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | Nebraska to Western Kentucky | P4 to G5/FCS | 17.1 | Mar 12, 2021 |
Niko Cooper played LB for Nebraska and Western Kentucky. Across 4 tracked seasons, Niko Cooper recorded 62 tackles. His top tracked season came in 2023 with Western Kentucky.
Player insights
Lead takeaway
Best season by value score: 2023 Postseason
Western Kentucky paired 9 primary output with 20.7 efficiency.
Supporting note
2023 Postseason role shape
impact-led usage with 20.7 efficiency.
Supporting note
Career value stayed steady
2023 Regular Season tracked close to the prior stop by season value score.
Supporting note
Multi-stop career journey
Production spans 2 team stops, with role shifts visible across Nebraska, Western Kentucky.
Supporting note
Peak game by takeover score: Troy
Loss with 4 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet. It landed in the 100th percentile of the selected season.
Analysis workspace
Season Workbench
Filter the strongest season sample, inspect game-level shape, and then drop into the full log without losing the story of the year.
Season Explorer
Understand the selected season before dropping into the full game log.
2023 Postseason · Western Kentucky
Games
12
Havoc Plays / G
0.8
Efficiency
20.7
Usage
4.6
Consistency
13.9
Best Game by takeover score
Troy
Hover a point or expand a game row to keep the active game context visible here.
Active game
Hover over a point
Hover or select a game to keep its context visible here without the page shifting around.
Game-by-Game Trend
Follow how the selected stat changes from one game to the next. Spikes mark standout outings, while dips show quieter weeks.
Chronological game order.
Game by game trend chart. Old Dominion: 0. South Florida: 1. Houston Christian: 0. Ohio State: 0. Troy: 4. Middle Tennessee: 1. Louisiana Tech: 0. Jacksonville State: 0. Liberty: 0. UTEP: 2. Sam Houston: 1. Florida International: 0
Volume vs Efficiency
Each dot is a game. Farther right means the player carried more of the workload, and higher means they were more efficient with those chances.
Low volumeHigh quality
High volumeHigh quality
Low volumeLower quality
High volumeLower quality
Volume on the x-axis, quality on the y-axis.
Volume versus efficiency scatter chart. Old Dominion: 1 by 4.2. South Florida: 7 by 39.2. Houston Christian: 1 by 4.2. Ohio State: 6 by 25. Troy: 6 by 65. Middle Tennessee: 1 by 14.2. Louisiana Tech: 4 by 16.7. Jacksonville State: 4 by 16.7. Liberty: 1 by 4.2. UTEP: 2 by 28.3. Sam Houston: 0 by 10. Florida International: 5 by 20.8
Split Comparison
Compare how this player performed across different situations. "Games" shows how many matchups are included in each split.
Wins0.6 · Games = 8 · -0.4 vs Losses
Losses1 · Games = 4 · +0.4 vs Wins
Game Log
Dense stat lines with inline explanations and season-linked highlights.
12 games
Featured metric
Havoc Plays
Top game by takeover score
Troy
Best efficiency game
65 vs Troy
| Result | |||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mon 12/18 | @ Old Dominion | W 38-35 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/25 | @ Florida International | W 41-28 | 5 | 3 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 11/18 | vs Sam Houston | W 28-23 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Sun 11/5 | @ UTEPSplash game | W 21-13 | 2 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 1 | — | — |
| Tue 10/24 | vs Liberty | L 29-42 | 1 | 1 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Tue 10/17 | @ Jacksonville State | L 17-20 | 4 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Fri 10/6 | @ Louisiana Tech | W 35-28 | 4 | 2 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Thu 9/28 | vs Middle Tennessee | W 31-10 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/23 | @ TroySplash game | L 24-27 | 6 | 3 | — | 2 | 1 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/16 | @ Ohio State | L 10-63 | 6 | 4 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/9 | vs Houston Christian | W 52-22 | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
| Sat 9/2 | vs South Florida | W 41-24 | 7 | 7 | — | 1 | 0 | — | 0 | — | — |
Player Story
Niko Cooper story
Niko Cooper built his college career from 2020 through 2023 as a linebacker from Memphis, TN wearing No. 48, spending time with Nebraska and Western Kentucky. The clearest part of Niko Cooper's career was his defensive production: 62 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 1 sack, and 2 passes defended across 28 career games in the available record. That gives Niko Cooper's career enough real context without stretching the story beyond the available production.
Career Arc
Track team changes, role shifts, and season-to-season movement.
- 1
Nebraska
2020
Opening stop
- 2
Western Kentucky
2021-2023
Final stop
Season Value Progression
202020212021202220232023
| Season | Team | Primary | Efficiency | Usage | Delta |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020 Regular Season | Nebraska | 0 | 6.3 | 1 | — |
| 2021 Postseason | Western Kentucky | 1 | 7.9 | 1.8 | 1 |
| 2021 Regular Season | Western Kentucky | 1 | 7.9 | 1.8 | 0 |
| 2022 Regular Season | Western Kentucky | 1 | 7.5 | 1.5 | 0 |
| 2023 Postseason | Western Kentucky | 9 | 20.7 | 4.6 | 8 |
| 2023 Regular Season | Western Kentucky | 9 | 20.7 | 4.6 | 0 |
Signature Performances
Top Games
#1 Featured game
@ Troy
Week 4 · L 24-27
Loss with 4 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
4
Havoc Plays
88.3 takeover
4 disruption/tackle impact with 88.3 takeover score.
#2
@ App State
Week 1 · W 59-38 · Postseason
1
Havoc Plays
57.5 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 57.5 takeover score.
#3
@ Charlotte
Week 10 · W 59-7 · Conference game
1
Havoc Plays
44.4 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 44.4 takeover score.
#4
vs South Florida
Week 1 · W 41-24
1
Havoc Plays
42.5 takeover
Win with 1 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
1 disruption/tackle impact with 42.5 takeover score.
#5
@ UTEP
Week 10 · W 21-13 · Conference game
2
Havoc Plays
39.4 takeover
Win with 2 impact plays across the defensive snap sheet.
2 disruption/tackle impact with 39.4 takeover score.
Top Seasons
#1 Season by Season Value
2023 Postseason · Western Kentucky
9 primary output · 20.7 efficiency · 4.6 usage
43.2
#2
2023 Regular Season · Western Kentucky
43.2
9 primary · 20.7 efficiency · 4.6 usage
#3
2020 Regular Season · Nebraska
38.1
0 primary · 6.3 efficiency · 1 usage
Milestones
1
Impact games
2
Splash games
0
10+ tackle games
Next best actions
Keep exploring Niko Cooper
Move from the player story into the game log, career arc, team context, and video shelf.