Monday Man of the Hour: Amari Cooper, the next Julio Jones?

Amari Cooper (9) catches a pass against Tennessee Volunteers defensive back Prentiss Waggner (23). (Jim Brown-US PRESSWIRE)

Amari Cooper.

Take a good look at that name Bama fans. You’re going to be hearing it a lot over the next few years.

The freshman phenom has already been Man of the Hour once this year for his stellar two touchdown performance against Ole Miss. Cooper was off his leash again against Tennessee, smashing his career-high receiving yards and breaking an Alabama freshman receiving yardage record.

Cooper hauled in seven catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns in Alabama’s 44-13 elephant stomping of Tennessee. He now leads all Tide receivers with five touchdowns and yardage with 425.

Saban praised the young wideout after the game saying, “He’s a big-play player and we need explosive players on offense.”

Not since famed Alabama receiver Julio Jones has a freshman wideout been this important to the offense. Cooper was hyped coming in as a freshman, but with a deep group of talented receivers no one could have predicted he would be the statistical leader.

In fact, he is already having a better freshman season than Alabama’s greatest wide-receiver in recent memory, Julio Jones.

That’s right. You read that correctly.

During Jones’ freshman season in 2008, he caught four touchdown passes. Through seven games, Cooper already has five.

Julio’s best performance in 2008 was against LSU when he caught seven catches for 128 yards. Cooper shattered that this weekend with a 162-yard effort.

The most interesting statistic is that Jones did not have a two-touchdown game until his final season with the Tide. Cooper already has a two-touchdown performance against Ole Miss, and a two-touchdown game against Tennessee.

Alabama fans have been waiting for the next Julio Jones to come along, and after seven games Amari Cooper looks like he has what it takes to be the heir to the throne.

The Crimson Tide still has five regular season games left, and this man still has his best football ahead of him.

That is more than reason enough to make him Man of the Hour once again.

Information and statistics sourced from ESPN.com.

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