#15

Marquez Cooper

Former running back at San Diego State. 2024: 1,274 rushing yards, 12 rushing TD, 20 catches.

RB · San Diego State · Sr. · #15

5′8″ · 200 lb · Gaithersburg, MD

CFB Index 52 · #110 of 310 RBsHigh confidenceAll-Conf 1st teamSan Diego State 2024 — college career complete

Recruiting

3★

RB recruit

No. 2416 nationally · Signed with Kent State

No college snaps yet.

His career numbers, season by season

The story

Former running back at San Diego State. 2024: 1,274 rushing yards, 12 rushing TD, 20 catches.

Signed as a 3-star recruit to Kent State in 2020.
Transferred from Ball State to San Diego State in 2024.

His career, year by year

How it ended

Five seasons at San Diego State, 5,119 rushing yards, a first-team All-Conference season (2022) — his college career is complete.

His career

Nobody recruited him. He earned the honors anyway.

20204 games

Signed with Kent State3-star out of Quince Orchard

202113 games

The role got bigger.

All-MACsecond

202212 games

All-MACfirst

202312 games

Entered the portal
All-MACsecond

202412 games

Entered the portal
All-Mountain Westfirst

Career arc

Recruit

★★★

#2416 national

CFB

College

3 teams

2020–2024

NFL

NFL Draft

—

Not drafted

Trophy case · Confirmed honors

What the selectors said

8 honors · 1 category

🥈

ALL-MOUNTAIN WEST · 1ST TEAM

All-Mountain West 1st team (2024)

Coaching lineage · 2020–2024

2 coaches

2020–2023

Brady Hoke

San Diego State

2024

Sean Lewis

San Diego State

era →

Coaching transition mid-career: Brady Hoke → Sean Lewis. Worth noting in scheme + development context.

2024 snapshot

Season context · Team result + system

2020Kent State3-1HC: Sean Lewis · Run-heavy, fast tempo

2021Kent State7-7HC: Sean Lewis · Run-heavy, fast tempo

2022Kent State5-7HC: Sean Lewis · Run-leaning

2023Ball State4-8HC: Mike Neu · Run-heavy

2024San Diego State3-9HC: Sean Lewis · Run-leaning

Where this profile ranks vs the RB cohort

Box-score + play-by-play EPA percentiles

52Rotational starter #110 of 310?

High confidence12 metrics · season cumulative

Elite: carries (99th percentile). Strength: rush yards (96th percentile). Concern: success rate (15th percentile).

Real play-by-play efficiency

TD rate#258 / 442 · 42nd pct

4.2%

EPA / carry#281 / 442 · 37th pct

0.11

Yards / carry#302 / 442 · 32nd pct

4.7

Explosive rate#323 / 442 · 27th pct

4.8%

Success rate#375 / 442 · 15th pct

37.2%

Box-score rates (7)

Carries#3 / 335 · 99th pct

292

Rush yards#15 / 335 · 96th pct

1274

Rush TDs#26 / 335 · 91st pct

Receptions#74 / 330 · 77th pct

Rec yards#105 / 330 · 68th pct

137

Long run#160 / 335 · 52nd pct

Yards / carry#245 / 335 · 26th pct

4.4

Season trend

Last seasonThis season

EPA / carry

48th → 37th percentile

Success rate

71st → 15th percentile

Explosive rate

53rd → 27th percentile

Yards / carry

37th → 32nd percentile

TD rate

11th → 42nd percentile

Percentiles versus same-position peers with enough snaps this season. Most bars are box-score rates; EPA / success-rate bars are computed from real play-by-play (offense only — no defensive EPA model exists yet).

Situational

Situational · Carry shape (PBP, full season)

Yardage DNA

289 carries

15%

Stuffed (≤0)

38%

Grind (1–3)

36%

Chunk (4–9)

11%

Explosive (10+)

Splits & context

Splits · Per-game

2024 season · 12 games

Home/Road · Season halves

Home vs Road

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Home6g	113	4.6	1.3
Road6g	99.0	4.2	0.7

First half vs Second half

	YDS/g	YPC	TD/g
Weeks 1-76g	112	4.5	1.0
Weeks 8+6g	101	4.4	1.0

Supporting cast · Scheme

Staff and system around the player

2026 season

Head Coach

Sean Lewis

Scheme reads (pass share, tempo, sack rate) need at least 3 team games — 2 games in so far.

Awards

Player standing · 2024

All-Conference 1st team

First team in his league at the position.

Recognition

Roster2-deepStarterRecognizedEliteApex

Production · CFB Index Score

52 · #110 of 310 RBs

Three-star recruit. Now #110 at the position.

Career stats

Season	Team
2024	San Diego State	292	1,274	4.4	12	--
2023	Ball State	227	1,043	4.6	4	--
2022	Kent State	285	1,331	4.7	13	--
2021	Kent State	241	1,205	5.0	11	--
2020	Kent State	57	266	4.7	5	--
Career		1,102	5,119	4.6	45	--

Season	Team
2024	San Diego State	20	137	6.8	2	--
2023	Ball State	19	164	8.6	0	--
2022	Kent State	8	94	11.8	0	--
2021	Kent State	10	95	9.5	0	--
2020	Kent State	1	14	14.0	0	--
Career		58	504	8.7	2	--

Signature game

SIGNATURE GAME · Week 1 · 2024

W 45–14

vs East Texas A&M

223 rush yds (27 car) · 2 TD

Dominant 31-point win at home against East Texas A&M.

With D. O'Neil — 214 yds · 2 TD · 0 INT · QBR 35.8 · 18 rush yds (5 car) · T. Pastula — 36 AVG · 40 LONG · 3 NO

Signature plays

Signature plays · top plays by |EPA|

The plays that mattered most

fact

Week 1 · East Texas A&M · 3&2 · Q3 · EPA +4.60Marquez Cooper run for 47 yds for a TD (Nick Lopez KICK)
Week 14 · Air Force · 4&1 · Q3 · EPA -4.13Marquez Cooper run for a loss of 6 yards to the AFA 12
Week 10 · Boise State · 2&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.59Marquez Cooper run for 42 yds to the BOIS 23 for a 1ST down
Week 1 · East Texas A&M · 4&2 · Q2 · EPA -3.24Marquez Cooper run for no gain to the TAMC 25
Week 5 · Central Michigan · 1&10 · Q2 · EPA +3.21Marquez Cooper run for 47 yds to the CMU 26 for a 1ST down
Week 14 · Air Force · 2&13 · Q2 · EPA +2.91Marquez Cooper run for 18 yds to the AFA 42 for a 1ST down
Week 2 · Oregon State · 3&12 · Q1 · EPA +2.84Danny O'Neil pass complete to Marquez Cooper for 21 yds to the SDSU 44 for a 1ST down
Week 6 · Hawai'i · 3&5 · Q2 · EPA +2.82Marquez Cooper run for 9 yds for a TD (Gabriel Plascencia KICK)
Week 7 · Wyoming · 3&4 · Q2 · EPA +2.70Marquez Cooper run for 4 yds for a TD (Gabriel Plascencia KICK)
Week 14 · Air Force · 2&8 · Q4 · EPA +2.68Danny O'Neil pass complete to Marquez Cooper for 8 yds for a TD (Two-Point Conversion failed)

Game log

Game log · Week-by-week

2024 season · 12 games

Box score · CFBD

Wk	Opp	CAR	YDS	AVG	TD	LONG	Note
Wk 1	W 45-14vs East Texas A&M	27	223	8.3	2	47	Season-high 223 yds
Wk 2	L 0-21vs Oregon State	13	53	4.1	0	10
Wk 3	L 10-31@ California	22	87	4.0	0	17
Wk 5	L 21-22@ Central Michigan	34	111	3.3	1	47
Wk 6	W 27-24vs Hawai'i	30	109	3.6	2	31
Wk 7	W 27-24@ Wyoming	25	87	3.5	1	26
Wk 9	L 26-29vs Washington State	18	78	4.3	2	20
Wk 10	L 24-56@ Boise State	16	94	5.9	1	42
Wk 11	L 16-21vs New Mexico	35	123	3.5	0	11
Wk 12	L 20-41@ UNLV	26	97	3.7	0	10
Wk 13	L 20-41@ Utah State	23	118	5.1	1	14
Wk 14	L 20-31vs Air Force	23	94	4.1	2	18
Total		292	1274	4.5	12	47

How he plays

Play style

Plays within the scheme — consistent production without a dominant dimension.

CFB Index positional classification

Boom vs consistent · carry-yardage shape

Steady, not spectacular

~ our read

289Carries

1352Yards

15.2%Top-5 share

14.5%Stuffed rate

Just 15.2% of his season rushing yards came on his 5 best carries — remarkably even — and he's stuffed on 14.5% of his carries. 17 carries for 77 yds vs Washington State; 27 for 225 vs East Texas A&M.

Closer · Q4-with-lead carry share

Not actually a closer

checked · no story

75.3%Carry share

61.0%Q4-lead share

88.0%In competitive games

75.3% of carries overall (289/384) → 61.0% of Q4-with-lead carries (25/41) — 88.0% of those in competitive (≤16-pt) games.

Short-yardage / goal-line · enumeration

Who gets the tough yard

fact

18/273rd/4th & short

15/17Inside-5 share