By Ryan Deal 

605 Sports

Given Pierre’s recent track record, it’s nothing new for head coach Steve Steele to field calls about a football prospect. But never this early in the process, prompting Steele to say: “It's an incredible thing, a lot earlier than you would ever anticipate.”

It also justified their decision to start Terwilliger as a freshman, a rarity for the Class 11AA Governors. He responded with 19 catches for 274 yards and four touchdown receptions in 2023. 

“I think as a coaching staff it makes us feel a little good, like we made the right call obviously and decided to put him up with the big boys,” Steele said. “That’s a big step in itself and we gave him every opportunity to show us that he wasn't ready and to fail and he just never did. He just continually wanted more and wanted to get better.”

Steele said Terwilliger is just scratching the surface and “the potential for him is higher than we’ve seen. Obviously, Kienholz is another one in that (category). It’s just a different position. So it’s a little bit of a different conversation in that. But the sky is absolutely the limit.”

Steele said Terwilliger has the physical tools, but said what sets him apart is his mental toughness. 

“He’s a mentally tough kid,” Steele said. “He was a freshman playing seniors last year. There were plays he got out-physicaled because he’s playing 18 year olds as a 15 or 14 year old at the time. He was OK with that and understood that there’s some things that are going to have to change a little bit and ‘I have to adjust my style to survive against certain people.’ ”

Terwilliger showed off his physical tools at football camps at Kansas State, Nebraska, Iowa State, Iowa, Wisconsin, Georgia and Alabama. 

“I thought I stacked up pretty well against talent from other states and other areas,” Terwilliger said. “It’s kind of cool how I can compare myself to others, especially guys that I know are getting highly recruited. I can kind of see what they do and try to get to where they are at and compare myself a little bit.”

The college football coaches have taken notice, with Iowa State the first to offer him on April 16. 

“That first offer was super exciting because I didn’t expect it at all,” Terwilliger said. “I was just really excited about it. My parents were excited and playing college football has always been a dream of mine. So it was pretty unreal.”

Terwilliger’s recent offer was from SEC power Georgia, which has recently won two national championships and regularly produces NFL talent.

“The Bulldogs offer was pretty cool,” Terwilliger said. “It was pretty special. I like the way that they use tight ends, and I really like their coaching staff down there and I like how they do things. It kind of surprised me a little bit. But I just like it down there. It’s a pretty cool place.”

Terwilliger’s college football visits are done for the summer. He’s now set on playing the remainder of the Legion baseball season with Post 8. He also plays basketball in the winter and does track and field in the spring. 

Terwilliger comes from an athletic background. His parents — Jim and Alexis — were both college standouts at the University of South Dakota. Jim was a three-year starter along the offensive line, earning all-North Central Conference honors. Alexis, whose maiden name is Wissing, still ranks top-10 in numerous USD volleyball categories and was a member of the first team in school history to compete in the NCAA Division II volleyball tournament. 

Cooper’s sister, Reese Terwilliger, was a multi-sport athlete for the Governors and will play college basketball at South Dakota School of Mines this season. 

Now it’s Terwilliger’s turn to go through the recruiting process. But he’s in no rush to make a decision. He’s looking forward to building relationships with his suitors, while continuing to shine for the Governors. 

“I am just looking forward to visiting as many schools and creating as many relationships as I can with all these schools,” he said. “And just focus on keep winning at Pierre and keep playing high level football and keep improving myself all the time. Because the end goal is just to keep constantly getting better and better and just enjoy it and create a lot of relationships and it will be a fun ride.”