Carson Cooper probably had never heard such good news in his entire teen-aged life.

When his coaches at Bradenton (Fla.) IMG Academy told him a certain college had become impressed with his play at a recent NIKE Elite Youth Basketball League session in Indianapolis, that sounded favorable. When they told him Michigan State was the school, he almost couldn’t believe it.

“It was unreal,” said Cooper, a 6-foot-11 center who committed to Michigan State on Sunday after a two-day official visit to the East Lansing campus.

Cooper grew up in Jackson, Mich. He played for two years at Jackson Northwest High School. Then he played his junior year at Ypsilanti Prep Academy. He played his senior year at IMG in Florida.

He isn’t ranked by Rivals.com or most of the national services, but he took off as a late-blooming prospect during his year at IMG. He averaged more than 13 points and 8 rebounds per game, drawing scholarship offers from Duquesne, Stetson, Eastern Michigan and Vermont.

He thought he could draw offers from bigger schools if he returned to IMG to play for the academy’s post-graduate prep school team during the 2022-23 season. That was his plan, but he decided to give the summer grassroots circuit one more shot, just in case he caught a coach’s eye.

And that’s exactly what happened. Michigan State coaches were aware of him in past years, and noticed intriguing development from him when scouting the EYBL Orlando session the weekend of April 9.

Michigan State paid closer attention to him at the Indianapolis event during the weekend of April 24, but kept their interest quiet.

“They came to both of our games during one of the days in Indianapolis, but I honestly didn’t know they were there for me,” Cooper said. “But it was after the Indianapolis trip that I got contacted by IMG coaches, saying, ‘Michigan State coaches like what they saw.’”

Cooper believed he had the ability and potential to impress major conference colleges. But Michigan State? Dream school is an understatement.

“It was hard for me to sleep for the next three days,” he said with a laugh. “I was like, ‘Is this really happening?’ It was like a dream.

“Just growing up around that area, watching them play on such a big stage. And look where I’m at now, it’s just a crazy dream.”

Michigan State assistant coach Doug Wojcik reached out first. Then Tom Izzo arranged a FaceTime call last week.

“I first got on a FaceTime call with him a week before the visit, last weekend," Cooper said. "As coaches, they said they respect me leaving home and going down to Florida to pursue my goal and to try to develop and get better at basketball. They really like that I want to do what it takes to get to the next level. They know I have that work ethic.”

Izzo told Cooper early on that they wanted him to come in with plans of redshirting as a freshman. Michigan State didn’t want this decision to be something that they and he pondered throughout the summer and into the fall. They want the redshirt plan to be in place from the beginning.

“Coach Izzo was really stressing that I need to look at the redshirt year as a good thing,” Cooper said. “Some people might look at it as sitting out a year, but he said you want to look at the positive aspects of it, of not having the stress of any games or anything like that, so you can spend a good year of developing without any stress.

“They were really optimistic about it working out.”

That sounded good to Cooper. So they agreed to schedule an official visit for him during Mother’s Day weekend. Michigan State wanted him on campus as soon as possible, before other schools got in the hunt.

Cooper was eager to get home and see his parents during the holiday weekend, so the date was set.

Michigan State strongly indicated that a scholarship offer would be waiting for him during the visit.

“I was probably 99.9 percent sure when I came up here that I was going to commit,” Cooper said. “I came up here knowing I was going to commit. I wanted to come up here and see the campus with my parents and have a good time with the coaching staff. They were all optimistic.”

The visit was even better than Cooper anticipated.

“It was awesome,” he said. “I’ve been on campus a couple of times as a kid, going to little camps and things. I’ve been around it a little bit. But seeing it a little more in-depth, and seeing all the buildings, and getting an in-depth view of the academics, I told my parents that when I was going through it that there wasn’t no doubt in my mind.

“They gave me an official offer this weekend when I went on my visit. They were super excited. It was an opportunity I couldn’t pass up.

“I didn’t have any doubt at all that this is where I wanted to go.”

Michigan State coaches were aware of Cooper during his time with Ypsi Prep, a school founded by Emoni Bates’ father, Elgin Bates. Michigan State had a commitment from Emoni Bates during the 2020-21 season. Cooper was a back-up center for that team, playing behind 6-foot-10 Shaun Phillips, a national Top 50 recruit who signed with North Carolina State.

Cooper was 6-foot-9 as a reserve player for Ypsi Prep.

Cooper played last summer for Bates Fundamentals, with Michigan State continuing to focus on Cooper’s teammates, but remaining aware of the Jackson native.

Then Cooper grew two inches and added muscle to his frame during his senior year at IMG.

“I probably improved even more than I thought I would,” Cooper said. “With IMG and all of their resources, you have no choice but to get better. I utilized everything I could down there to get the most out of it. They have a good program down there. You stay in there and you stay dedicated to it. That’s a big part of it in college basketball.

“My confidence (escalated) and playing with an intensity, just knowing that I could get to this level.”

Growing a couple of inches, and filling out physically, helped too.

“We did all of our measurements this weekend (during the official visit),” Cooper said. “And they have me listed at 6-11 with a 7-1 wingspan and 225 pounds.”

Cooper is young for his class, playing his senior year at age 17.

Michigan State was impressed by the progress they saw in him in Orlando and had recruiting room discussions about him in the following days.

Michigan State coaches wanted to see him again two weeks later in Indianapolis to get a closer evaluation.

Cooper played a reserve role for the Florida Rebels in Indianapolis and Orlando, behind a pair of Top 50 power forwards. But Cooper’s reserve minutes for a team that went 7-1 in the first two sessions of the EYBL were enough to encourage Michigan State to get on the Cooper train right now, for the 2022-23 season rather than wait a year to see how he developed as a post grad.

It’s a recruitment that followed a similar path to the one that led Goran Suton to Michigan State in 2004. Suton played locally at Lansing Everett. Michigan State coaches were aware of him for three years and kept him on the back burner as a Plan C prospect. Then Suton began making big leaps of improvement during his senior year. Suton had a terrific two days at the Izzo Shootout in the summer prior to his senior year, and Michigan State ramped up its attention.

Michigan State had company in the fall stages of Suton’s recruitment, with LSU coming on strong and getting an official visit from him.

But Michigan State withstood LSU’s charge, gained a commitment from Suton. He redshirted, enjoyed a steady climb of success at Michigan State, culminating in him being named Midwest Regional Most Valuable Player in helping lead Michigan State to the 2009 Final Four during his senior year.

The Suton recruitment became serious earlier, and took a little longer to finish. The Cooper recruitment became serious later, and ended quicker.

Wojcik was involved in the Suton recruitment back then, and he was the lead recruiter for Cooper.

“One thing he really likes about me is my size and that I can move really well,” Cooper said. “He said for someone my size that can move, the possibilities are endless.

“They said they can see how much better I can get after a good couple of years of development and I know that I fit in their playing style because of how they use bigs like me.”

Cooper has a good assortment of tools. He has good length, pretty good quickness, good explosiveness to the rim and has become a strong finisher. He makes good use of the pivot foot and has shown good shooting form out to 3-point range.

“I’ve been really working on my perimeter game,” he said. “With the way the game is changing, the need to stretch the floor and work on ball handling is important. Sometimes I won’t be guarded by a traditional big man, so being able to get to handle the ball when guarded by a smaller guy and being able to get to those handoffs is something you need to be able to do as well as being able to drive against a bigger guy, and being able to be confident and make a strong move with the ball.

“Working on my post moves is always important, and Izzo likes his back-to-the-basket guys, so that’s something I work on every day anyway.”

Cooper made the commitment official during the latter stages of the visit. Cooper, his parents, Izzo and other coaches were in the Michigan State film room, watching Spartan basketball hype videos.

At some point, Cooper spoke up.

“I’m ready to be a Spartan,” he said.

Izzo celebrated. Cooper’s parents beamed.

“They were probably even more excited than I was,” Cooper said. “One thing they would love to do is watch their son play in person in college, and being 40 minutes away from home, it just makes it so much easier for them. They are just so happy for me. I know how much they put in, and for me to get this opportunity is really reassuring for them.”

“This is exactly what I hoped would happen. That’s what I went into the spring hoping for, to play in front of the high major schools in person and for them to see how much I’ve improved. The right school ended up doing that. There weren’t many, but this was the one that mattered.”