Beavers receiver Cooks catches nation’s attention

It’s currently a dead period for college coaches to contact football recruits.

That didn’t stop Oregon State coach Mike Riley on Friday from making his most important recruiting pitch for next season.

"Brandin (Cooks) will get so much better if he comes back to Oregon State, it’d be unbelievable," Riley said sarcastically. "I think everybody should repeat that to him all the time."

Cooks, who already owns the Pac-12 single-season record with 120 receptions this season, can also set the single-season conference mark with 52 receiving yards against Boise State in the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on Tuesday at Aloha Stadium.

The Beavers’ receiver has put together the best season of anybody in college football, winning the Biletnikoff Award with 1,670 receiving yards and 15 touchdowns.

The 5-foot-10 junior from Stockton, Calif., is racking up frequent-flyer miles since the team’s season finale against Oregon.

Cooks attended the Home Depot Awards Show in Orlando, Fla., earlier this month before joining the Beavers to make the long plane ride to Hawaii for the bowl game.

He will then take part in the Walter Camp Awards festivities, Jan. 9-11, in New Haven, Conn., and will be presented with the Biletnikoff Award in a formal presentation in Tallahassee, Fla., on Feb. 8.

"I’m good. I’m trying to catch up on my sleep, but I’m having fun with it," Cooks said. "(The attention) is a blessing and I’m trying to have fun with it."

Cooks hasn’t made a decision whether to return for his senior season, and Riley said he hasn’t talked to him about it and won’t until after the bowl game.

"We’re going to play this game and then I’m sure we’ll talk," Riley said. "Brandin will do this correctly; he’ll find out from the NFL where he is projected to be drafted and then use that information."

His return would make quarterback Sean Mannion as happy as anybody. Mannion, who will be back for his senior season, has piggybacked Cooks’ success into a record-setting season of his own.

At 6-feet-5, Mannion won the starting quarterback job right before the season began and has started every game, throwing for 4,403 yards and 36 touchdowns while completing 66 percent of his passes.

He needs 55 passing yards to break Cody Pickett’s Pac-12 record, and four touchdown passes against the Broncos would pass Matt Leinart’s 39 at USC for the most in conference history.

Mannion was quick to point out that a lot of that success is because of his receiver wearing No. 7.

"(Cooks is) such a talent and it might sound like a cliche saying this, but I think just the way he works is so impressive to see on a day-to-day basis," Mannion said. "Even with all of the success he’s achieved, winning the Biletnikoff, even these bowl practices, he’s working as hard as anyone, staying after practice, and seeing a guy that talented willing to work that hard has a lot to do with why he’s been so successful."

Cooks had 210 receiving yards and three touchdowns against Utah, a week after scoring twice in a 42-14 win over Hawaii.

His six-touchdown performance against Colorado is when he really began to receive notoriety nationally.

"I’m not really blown away just because of my faith in how hard I’ve worked this offseason, but I’d rather be somewhere better as a team right now than individually," Cooks said.

The Beavers have lost five in a row after starting the season 6-1.

Cooks lost his only bowl game at Oregon State, 31-27 to Texas in last year’s Alamo Bowl.

OSU’s last bowl game prior to that was the 2009 Las Vegas Bowl. The Beavers lost to BYU 44-20.