5-star RB Derrek Cooper turns his back on Georgia for SEC rival

Five-star running back Derrek Cooper has officially announced his commitment to Texas. Cooper chose the Longhorns over Georgia, Florida State, Miami (FL) and Ohio State.

Derrek Cooper is third recruit to spurn Georgia for Texas

According to the 247Sports composite rankings, Cooper is the No. 29 overall player in the country. He also is the No. 2 player at his position in the 2026 recruiting class and the No. 2 players from his home state of Florida.

The fact that Cooper is this great of a player makes this a difficult loss to overcome. On top of that, Georgia was thought to be the leader in Cooper’s recruitment for the last few weeks, so it’s a shame that UGA wasn’t able to get this recruitment to the finish line.

This isn’t the first loss Georgia has suffered at the hands of Texas in the past week, in fact the Bulldogs have now lost three five-star recruits to the Longhorns. The first loss came last week when linebacker Tyler Atkinson chose Texas over Georgia who was the in-state school. Then just a few hours later the Longhorns flipped defensive lineman James Johnson from UGA as well.

While all three of these losses are tough to experience against an SEC rival, Georgia still has the No. 2 recruiting class in the country. So even though it would have been nice to have all three recruits in their class, Georgia is still in a great position in the 2026 class.

Georgia may have to find a new running back to target now after losing Cooper. Four-star running back Jae Lamar is already committed to Georgia’s class, but UGA may want to add a second running back to their class before signing day.

Georgia fans will have to be patient to find out who that recruit could be, but Kirby Smart always has a plan so UGA fans shouldn’t be too worried just yet.