Cooper Earns Three Spots on Coaches Preseason All-SEC First Team

Aug. 25, 2015

University of South Carolina junior standout Pharoh Cooper earned three spots on the All-SEC first-team, as the annual preseason Coaches’ All-SEC football squads were announced today.

Cooper, a 5-11, 207-pounder from Havelock, N.C., was named to the first team unit as a wide receiver, as the all-purpose back and as the return specialist. Cooper is coming off a breakout season in which he earned first-team All-SEC honors as a wide receiver and was a second-team pick as an all-purpose back. He finished third in the SEC in receptions (69), second in receiving yards (1,136) and receiving yards per game (87.4), fourth in receptions per game (5.3) and ninth in all-purpose yards per game (108.5).

Cooper has previously been named to the 2015 watch lists for the Biletnikoff, Maxwell and Hornung awards. Earlier this summer, Cooper was selected as a first-team preseason All-SEC all-purpose back and was a second-team selection as both a wide receiver and return specialist by the media at SEC Media Days.

Senior offensive tackle Brandon Shell and junior placekicker Elliott Fry were named to the All-SEC third team by the league’s 14 coaches.

Shell, a 6-6, 328-pounder from Goose Creek, S.C., is the most experienced offensive lineman on the squad, as he has made 36 starts over the past three seasons, the most on the team. A two-time member of the SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll, Shell was also a preseason third-team All-SEC pick by the media.

Last season Fry, a Groza Award semifinalist, connected on 18-of-25 field goals, ranked third in the SEC with 105 points, the third-highest single-season mark in school history, and was fifth in in the SEC in points per game at 8.1. The 6-0, 164-pound junior from Frisco, Texas has hit on 33-of-43 career field goal attempts and on 105-of-106 extra points, including his last 99 in a row, a school record. Fry is on the 2015 Groza preseason watch list, was nominated for the Allstate AFCA Good Works Team and was a second-team preseason All-SEC selection by the media. He was also a member of the 2014 SEC Fall Academic Honor Roll.

The SEC begins its 2015 season on Thursday, September 3, when South Carolina faces North Carolina in Charlotte at 6 p.m. ET on ESPN.