When asked to describe the key to last year’s turnaround, Cooper football coach John Windham didn’t hesitate to point to a player who won’t even be around in 2009.

Windham is hoping, though, that the residual effects will be.

The 2008 Pirates were headed for another struggle in non-district, losing their first three games and trailing by two touchdowns in the second quarter of game four against Brownfield. That’s when Windham pulled senior quarterback Tyler Sutton in favor of sophomore backup Tae Richerson.

The move worked as Cooper rallied for a win, then went a perfect 5-0 to claim the District 1-3A crown. But it wasn’t Richerson at quarterback that made the biggest difference, according to Windham. It was Sutton’s willingness to switch positions and maintain his leadership role.

“(It was) the way he accepted the role and the seniors following in behind him,” Windham said. “Tyler was a big part of what happened — his leadership and accepting of moving to receiver and doing an outstanding job. It’s tough on a senior captain to have to move positions your senior year. But the way he handled that and the way the seniors led with him … that helped us and got us rolling. We owe a lot to what Tyler did for us when we made the move.”

It’s that leadership and selflessness that Windham hopes are the lasting effects as the Pirates enter this season, one in which in terms of talent the Pirates are just as good as they’ve ever been.

Cooper returns 11 starters combined, including a majority of offensive skill kids and a defense that was outstanding late in the season after taking some lumps early. Windham has put a great deal of emphasis on getting off to a good start and not going into district play with a 1-4 record like last year.

A big part of that will be Cooper’s plan to return to a two-platoon system that limits as many two-way starters as possible. It is a formula Cooper used when winning district championships earlier this decade, and is made possible by increased participation in the wake of last year’s success and continued growth on the far south side of Lubbock.

“We want to get out on the right foot and get rolling,” Windham said. “We want to go into district on a high note and win more than we didn’t in non-district. And then the district championship is always our goal. We have a good group of seniors coming back and I feel they will lead us this year, and hopefully we’ll be strong from the get-go. Our seniors have picked up that challenge and I’m confident from a leadership issue we’ll be just as strong as it was in district play last year.

“We’re big enough and have enough athletes to cover 22 spots.”

Experience will definitely be on the Pirates’ side and headlining the group will be the quarterback who made Windham’s midseason move of 2008 pay off on the field.

With some improvement in the passing game, Richerson, now a junior, could become one of the top dual-threat quarterbacks in the area. He finished last season rushing for 939 yards and 10 touchdowns on 157 carries, which makes him one of the top returning Class 3A rushers on the South Plains. He also completed 25 of 58 passes for 232 yards and two touchdowns but threw seven interceptions.

“Tae was a good leader from the get-go but he was in the shadows all last year and not really vocal,” Windham said. “This year in the spring he became more of a vocal leader and tried to get guys rallied up. It will be fun to watch him as a junior and see how much better he is and his leadership skills.”

The thing, Windham said, is that Richerson might not be playing quarterback all the time. The emergence of sophomore quarterback John Keane will allow Cooper to split Richerson out wide — where he played before the switch last year. It will also allow more play sets for the Pirates, who with Richerson were almost strictly out of the shotgun. Don’t be surprised to see some direct snaps to Richerson or tailback D.J. Ware, either.

And speaking of Ware, his emergence last year now gives the Pirates a returning rushing threat. Ware, a junior, was second on the team in rushing yardage last year with 514 on 97 carries with four touchdowns.

Cooper’s question marks offensively will come in the receiving corps and along the offensive line, where only junior Dillon Beesinger returns.

Two players off the junior varsity and three backups a year ago look to fill in the four open spots. Bo West takes over at center after starting on JV, as do Luke Moore and 2008 backups Sergio Vega and Justin Fenter. Ryan Heinrich, another returning letterman, gets the starting nod at guard.

The receiving corps will consist of a pair of juniors in Ryan Hixson and Cody Nelson, and a senior in Mathan Ethridge. Also in the mix will be juniors Ethan Kohnle and Cameron Wright and senior receiver Nick Rodriguez, who will also start on defense. Of the five, only Nelson caught a pass last year — one for 11 yards.

Defensively, the Pirates will be stacked with a very experienced secondary and key players returning throughout the front seven.

In the secondary, Cooper is set with returning seniors Tyler Collard and Rodriguez at the corners and three guys battling for two safety spots in juniors Tom McDaniel and Pate Bednarz and sophomore Adam Taylor. McDaniel should be the leader of the group after picking off a pair of passes last year.

Cooper’s set of linebackers would rival anyone’s on the South Plains in terms of talent and experience. Seniors Trey Chandler and Jared Flowers and junior Kohnle provide a great run-stopping unit. Chandler recorded 114 tackles a year ago to go with 78 for Kohnle an 70 for Flowers.

“Those three guys will be a special group of linebackers,” Windham said. “They will help us big time.”

Up front the Pirates will be anchored by Vega, Beesinger and senior Josh Tomlinson with help from junior Zach Moseley.

“The exciting thing about it is we played so many sophomores last year who played a lot, so that will help us going forward,” Windham said. “There’s not a lot of teaching to do, just some tweaking of things … and it will make us stronger overall.”

But with all the players back in the fold and their credentials from last year, the Pirates are still not given what they feel is due credit by some of the experts, projected to finish second in the district.

“We’ve mentioned that a few times already,” said a smiling Windham. “But we tell the kids that’s how much respect they have for you right now. It’s a good thing for us and we’re looking forward to the challenge of being the underdog, and maybe we can surprise some people again.”