Three-star EDGE Zion Cooley, who has been committed to East Carolina University since the summer, has officially reopened his recruitment, he announced on Monday. Cooley, a student at Carrollton High School in Georgia, is the first player to decommit following the dismissal of head coach Mike Houston on October 20.
Rated as a three-star prospect by the 247Sports Composite with a score of .8667, Cooley is ranked among the Top 1000 nationally, as the 78th-best EDGE player, and the 109th player in Georgia. He committed to ECU on June 15, shortly after an official visit, and returned unofficially for the UTSA game.
“After a lot of thought and consideration, I have decided to decommit from ECU and open up my recruitment,” he shared on social media. “I would like to thank all the coaches at ECU for their hospitality and respect, and I look forward to the rest of this recruitment journey!”
Cooley has played both tight end and defensive end for four years at Carrollton, a strong football program. The Pirates had planned to use him as a standup ‘RUSH’ outside linebacker, listed at 6-4 and 225 pounds. Other schools have also recruited him as a tight end, suggesting he may have opportunities to play on offense in college.
At the time of his commitment, Cooley had offers from various programs, including Florida Atlantic, Georgia Southern, Georgia State, Mercer, Navy, Samford, South Alabama, Troy, UAB, and Wofford. He was recruited by defensive coordinator Blake Harrell and outside linebackers coach Rico Zackery for ECU. Harrell is currently the interim head coach, and the Pirates are 4-4 after a recent 56-34 victory over Temple.
Carrollton, which had an 11-win season last year, is currently undefeated at 9-0 as they approach the regular season finale.
East Carolina’s 2025 recruiting class now has two verbal commitments and is ranked 66th nationally by 247Sports, as well as third in the American Athletic Conference.