Copper not unwanted any longer

When Jon Copper graduated from Jim Hickam’s Northside High School program six years ago, there were no offers waiting for him to play college football.

A year later, nearing the end of a preparatory season with John Shuman’s Fork Union Military Academy post-graduate team, again there were no full rides for the linebacker.

Today, Copper will walk out of Scott Stadium as one of the top 20 tacklers in University of Virginia history and with 36 starting assignments under his belt. Perhaps more importantly, he will play his last home game with the assurance that he is one of the most respected players in the Cavalier program.

Copper walked on at Virginia and earned a scholarship and a starting job with his smarts and his grit — and an unyielding desire to succeed.

Under the radar

The only interest he had received prior to walking on at UVa was a sort of offer from Bucknell during his postgrad season at FUMA.

“I had that partial offer from Bucknell, but they dropped me,” Copper chuckled, unable to hide his amusement from the irony of it all. “Coach Shuman told me, ‘Man, you know you’re terrible when Bucknell drops you.’ He gave me a hard time.”

Little did anyone — except for perhaps Copper himself — have faith that he would end up being a reliable, accountable starter for a major college football team.

Still, his fellow teammates are not above razzing Copper about his lifestyle.

“Cop is extremely mature ... and old,” said fellow senior linebacker Clint Sintim, taking a good-natured jab at his teammate. “He handles himself the way older married men would.”

Copper actually proposed to his longtime girlfriend, Holly Dixon, during the 2006 season and they were married in the offseason.

A singular player

When Al Groh was recently asked if Copper was the only married player he had coached at Virginia, he responded with a quick wit and a smile.

“Officially, yes,” Groh said. “We’ve had quite a few that it wasn’t recorded down at the hall of records. But they had a lot less independence than Jon.”

Copper has done a solid job of handing his education, football, marriage and a strong religious faith, leaving teammates wondering how he gets it all done. Perhaps it’s the — ahem — old married man’s time management that gets him through.

While teammates are huddling around their TV sets to check out Thursday night football games, it’s date night at the Copper residence. It’s important to him to set aside family time in a busy household where his wife is taking 18 hours this semester.

Copper’s dedication to film study of opposing teams is legendary around Virginia’s football offices. He buries himself in the exercise, often coming over when there’s no one else in the building but coaches who are required to be there.

And, unlike many of his teammates, he takes notes.

“He absorbs it ... stuffs it in his brain like scripture,” Sintim said of his pal.

“Jon always has that dog-eared spiral notebook with him,” Groh said of Copper’s note-taking and film study skills. “He’s figured out how to do it.”

Copper plays his work ethic down, saying that he needs to do those things in order to perform at his best.

“Other guys are a lot more gifted athletically than me and they don’t need to do as much on the mental side,” Copper said. “They go out and play just as well, if not better. Taking notes is just like class. I usually try to review them later that week. It helps it to stick a little better.”

Perhaps that is one reason why the inside linebacker has 285 career tackles (UVa’s active leader) heading into today’s game against Clemson. He needs eight more tackles to crack the Cavaliers’ all-time top 15 tacklers list.

In fact, Copper, who leads the team in tackles this season with 85, is bidding to become the first Wahoo since Charles McDaniel (1982-84) to lead the team in tackles for three consecutive seasons.

Not bad for a guy that nobody wanted.

“He’s had a remarkable, amazing, distinguished career,” Groh said. “He’s going to leave here as one of the all-time leading tacklers. He quietly goes about his business, and as productive as he’s been, he’s as unassuming as a person can be ... but not unconfident. Whatever Jon takes on, he has that can-do attitude.”

Sintim, who has played alongside Copper all through their times at UVa, has gained a great appreciation for the Roanoke native, who was once thought to be too small and too slow to play major — maybe even not-so-major — college football.

“Copper’s a man,” Sintim said of his 6-foot-2, 230-pound teammate. “Copper’s a great player — and he’ll tell you this — especially for the lack of athleticism and lack of height. I think he feeds off the fact that he’s not the fastest or the strongest or the tallest. I think every team has one like him, who puts his heart and soul into the team and isn’t blessed with the same intangibles as other players. But he makes up for it with his heart and passion and physical toughness. The defense wouldn’t run without him. He might be the MVP of the defense because everything is run through him.”

It is a journey that Copper hasn’t taken lightly. Perhaps he has always been as dedicated, perhaps that quality in his character magnified when he was given the opportunity.

“It has been a blessing,” Copper said. “I have been very fortunate. I’ve been healthy. I’ve gotten an opportunity that I might not have been given at some other places.”

He has been remarkably strong during his time at Virginia having never missed a game and the 36 starts is nothing to overlook.

“I’ve been very fortunate,” he said. “I don’t think many people make it through a career like this unscarred, being able to play in so many consecutive games.

All the while, he has been a bit of a role model. Groh

often tells younger players coming in, especially linebackers, to watch Copper and everything he does — how he studies film, how he lifts weights, how he practices — because Copper figured it out a long time ago.

Groh tells them, “If you watch him, maybe you’ll figure it out a little quicker than you would have on your own.”

While most athletes don’t relish the idea of serving as role models for kids these days, Copper considers it a compliment. He understands that athletes, even on the college level, can have a great influence on youngsters.

It’s hard to believe that even as long as Copper has been around that today is his last game at Scott Stadium.

Virginia is going to miss him, but not as much as Bucknell did.