Alabama Football G12 vs Auburn (Iron Bowl) 2014

Alabama wide receiver Amari Cooper (9) jogs off with a win and a 13-catch, 224-yard, 3 TD performance after the Tide's 55-44 win in the Iron Bowl.

(Vasha Hunt/vhunt@al.com)

NEW YORK

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In high school, Amari Cooper didn't watch much college football. Alabama, though rising into a power, wasn't on his radar.

Then, the summer before his senior year, one of his high school coaches asked if he wanted to attend Crimson Tide's camp. It was just a few days away, but he never hesitated making the long haul from Miami.

What happened next changed Cooper direction and made Alabama history. Three-and-a-half years later, Cooper is in New York as the first receiver voted a Heisman Trophy finalist since 2003.

Some in Cooper's life weren't high on Alabama, but Saban was sold.

"I walked away from that camp saying 'You know this guy may be the best receiver we've ever had in our camps,'" Saban said. "And we've had some really good ones."

Cooper made his decision that hot summer week.

"I was going to commit on the spot," Cooper said Friday. "But coach Saban was like, you don't have to commit yet. It was so early. You can really think about it."

The official commitment came Sept. 22, 2011 through protests from several people around Cooper.

Alabama had the No. 69 passing offense that fall as running back Trent Richardson made the trip to New York for the Heisman. The Crimson Tide also won a national title that fall, but the doubters were looking at the stat sheet.

"But I wanted to be a winner," Cooper said. "That was the most important thing to me. People who were disagreeing with me, they were focused on my stats and what my stats would look like. And I was more focused on winning."

Cooper said he didn't listen to any of the outside chatter. Decisions are made with one voter. Those few days at Saban's camp was all he needed.

"Oh yeah, I remember it," Cooper said. "It was really, really hot. But I just came out here. I wanted to prove I deserved an offer from Alabama. So I came out here, worked really hard. Did 1-on-1s, and I tried show the coaches what I could do."

And though Cooper isn't a college football historian, he was aware of the numbers Julio Jones recorded in Alabama's offense from 2008-10.

"I knew he would be gone by the time I got here," Cooper said. "He put up some good numbers too. They use him well and I thought they would do the same thing for me."

Cooper ultimately broke a few of Jones' records while reworking Alabama history. He now holds practically every school record a receiver could approach. The SEC record for receptions in a season also fell last week as Cooper's 115 passed Vanderbilt's Jordan Matthews' 112 in 2013.

The history is not lost on the typically stoic, singularly-focused Cooper. Thursday night's Biletnikoff Award win was huge.

"The Biletnikoff was something I had my eye set on since I was a senior in high school - since I knew what it was," Cooper said. "I told myself I wanted to win it. And to take, what, three years to actually see it happen, it's like a dream come true."

The Heisman would make even more history. No receiver since Desmond Howard in 1991 has posed with the trophy and Cooper faces tall odds against favorite Marcus Mariota of Oregon.

"The quarterback has such a huge responsibility on the field," Cooper said, "so I think Marcus deserves the trophy."

Either way, Cooper's presence in New York affirmed his choice to pick Alabama over places like Miami and Florida State. He's got a shot at a second national title in three years while positioning himself for a top-10 selection in the NFL draft.

"Yeah," Cooper said. "I think I made a pretty good decision."