Sevier County quarterback Cooper Newman (7) is the 5Star Preps Offensive Underclassman of the Year (2024) after leading the Smoky Bears to the Class 5A state championship. (Photo by Danny Parker)
BY JESSE SMITHEY
Cooper Newman wore the weight of community expectations before he even walked his first hallway at Sevier County High School in the Fall of 2023.
From the youth leagues and on, all the incredible touchdowns he threw and every impressive win he accumulated only seemed to set the stage for something more grand to see.
It was almost as if he were born to play the position, Sevier County coach Todd Loveday said.
“People were looking at him to be like, ‘Alright. This is the missing piece. He’s going to be the savior. He’s going to do it all.’ I give Coach (Matt) Penland a lot of credit for keeping that at an even-keel.
“And Cooper’s a pretty easy kid to keep something on an even-keel with. Super confident. Super humble. And just a sweet kid on top of it all.”
Spot on, Coach.
With Newman, an uncommon blend of humility and confidence brims from his being and permeates about his play, giving him the ideal mentality to thrive under the brightest of lights or even perhaps against insurmountable odds.
The sophomore quarterback faced it all and handled it all in the 2024 season, leading Sevier County to a 15-0 record and Class 5A state championship.
He earned BlueCross Bowl MVP for his performance against Page in the title game.
And now, he is also the 5Star Preps Offensive Underclassman of the Year.
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Newman completed 71.4 percent of 363 passes in the fall for 3,488 yards — and 45 touchdowns against just one interception.
“He throws it so accurate that, in practice if he misses one, you start thinking, ‘What’s going on here?’ He’s got us spoiled on that,” Loveday said. “… His skills and talent and mindset are going to take him a long way.”
“He’s very athletic,” Loveday added. “I think anyone who has his stature and throws it so accurate, they tend to get labeled a pocket guy. But Cooper’s athletic and has a lot of spacial intelligence; he feels stuff well. He might be even more accurate on the run as he is in 1-2-3 throw (plays).”
In the postseason alone, he threw for 1,163 yards and 12 scores.
His one interception of the season came in a second-round playoff game against Powell, which many pundits believed would carry the torch for East Tennessee into the 5A championship round. The Powell defense proved to be legit that Nov. 15 contest, keeping an electric Sevier County offense in check and intercepting Newman late in the third quarter.
The Panthers built a 24-10 lead on host Sevier County with 3 minutes, 14 seconds to play.
But from that point on, Newman and the Smoky Bears constructed a playoff run for the ages.
They rallied to beat Powell — in regulation.
The next week, they authored a double-overtime win at two-time defending 5A champion West.
They fell behind by 10 at Oak Ridge in the state semifinals only to win 45-34.
And in the championship, Sevier County matched up against Page, a midstate power which had finished runner-up in the previous three 5A BlueCross Bowls and that entered the 2024 title game allowing just 2.2 points per outing.
The Smoky Bears won it, 27-20, notching the program’s second state championship and first since 1999.
All of that, too, without having a healthy senior running back Tegan Avera nor star linebacker Joey Galazin (6-5, 210) down the stretch.
“I’ve watched the game plenty of times — not only the championship but I went and rewatched every one of the playoff games,” Newman said. “Just the thrill of watching those games, it’s crazy to look back and see some of the things we had to overcome.”
Newman didn’t do it alone, though. He had three pass-catchers go for 700 yards or more.
And don’t forget: he operated behind a top-tier offensive line, led by MTSU signee Otto Janse Van Rensburg.
“I trust those guys with anything. We’re all friends off the field,” Newman said. “I buy those guys cookies every week for (lack of) sacks given up. All those guys, their work’s paid off. Most of them are going to play college level. They did a great job this year. Not a lot of people talked about it, but I didn’t get sacked.
“They gave me enough time to do whatever I wanted to do back there. And any sacks that happened were my fault for holding the ball too long. But those guys did their job and led us to the championship.”
As for the cookies the linemen received from Newman, most were chocolate chip in nature.
“Sometimes, I gave them brownies or cupcakes,” Newman continued. “There were so many things they got throughout the year. A lot of them liked the brownies. My mom would go and buy them.
“But they liked her homemade cookies, too. Those were pretty solid.”
WHAT’S NEXT
Listed at 6-foot-3 and 200 pounds, Newman possess the frame, intangibles and on-field skill set to play college football. He made a recent visit to Florida and is on the radar of Tennessee coach Josh Heupel, as well. Virginia Tech offered Newman in May of last year, a handful of months after Newman — then a freshman — had gone 10-2 as the varsity quarterback of the Smoky Bears.
But by no means is Newman basking in his current circumstance.
There are preparations for improving his physique and play.
There are camps in which to compete, such as Elite 11 and Rivals.
There are more campus visits and recruiting conversations to be had.
His older sister Maddy, who’s now playing basketball at Tennessee Tech after a successful prep career at Gatlinburg-Pittman, went through the recruiting process already, which gave Cooper a preview of what’s to come.
Still, Newman gives off the sense, as he typically does, that he’ll be able to process it properly.
“I just stay calm with everything and try not to let the moment get too big for me,” he said. “Just go out there and have fun with it. That’s what I try to tell my team, too. You’re only going to play high school football for four years. Go out there and enjoy it.
“That’s something our team did this year. We’ve played together our whole lives. We knew how special our team was this year. We wanted it to go end on a good note.”
5SP OFFENSIVE
UNDERCLASSMAN OF THE YEAR
PAST RECIPIENTS
2018 — Tommy Winton (Catholic, WR)
2019 — Adarius Redmond (Powell, WR)
2020 — DeSean Bishop (Karns, RB)
2021 — Jayden Neal (Catholic, QB)
2022 — Connor Wheeler (Powell, RB)
2023 — Tyreek King (Catholic, WR), Jayzon Thompson (Bearden, RB)
2024 — Cooper Newman (Sevier County, QB)