It's time to feel old, but also optimistic.
According to On3, Cooper Witten, son of legendary NFL tight end Jason Witten, said the Oklahoma Sooners are one of four teams "making him feel like a priority" early in his recruitment process. The teams include OU, Baylor, SMU and Texas A&M.
2027 No. 1 LB Cooper Witten tells @ChadSimmons_ that 4️⃣ teams are making him feel like a priority👀
— On3 Recruits (@On3Recruits) February 28, 2025
Cooper is the son of 11-time Pro Bowler Jason Witten.
Read: https://t.co/n0okQF5spk pic.twitter.com/4GKrYQxJpU
Witten isn't just a priority because of his genetics, although that has probably helped him become the football player he is. Witten is a consensus four-star prospect from the 2027 class, with the 247Sports Composite rating him as a five-star recruit.
On3 ranks Witten as the No. 1 linebacker in the 2027 class, while 247Sports has him as the No. 2 safety, and both rank him as a top-5 recruit in the state of Texas. Rivals just lists him as an athlete.
Witten already stands at 6-foot-2 and 210 pounds as a sophomore at Liberty Christian in Argyle, Texas, where his father has been the head coach since 2021 after a successful NFL career.
Jason Witten played 17 seasons as a tight end in the NFL and was selected to the Pro Bowl 11 times. He spent most of his career with the Dallas Cowboys from 2003 until retiring in 2017. However, Witten was retired for only a year before playing one more season in Dallas before finishing his career with a season on the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020.
During his brief retirement, Jason Witten was a color analyst on ESPN's Monday Night Football. But once Witten truly retired, he started coaching high school football at Liberty Christian, which has won back-to-back state championships in Texas' private school division.
All that success has drawn even more interest toward Cooper Witten, who also has reported offers from Arkansas, Auburn, Kansas State, LSU, Michigan, Missouri, Oregon, TCU, Tennessee, Texas Tech, USC and more.
Despite not mentioning it as making him a priority, Rivals predicts Witten to choose Tennessee, where his father played.