Has covered the NBA and college football and basketball<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\nLOS ANGELES — Wednesday nights featured dollar beers at Rokko’s Teriyaki.<\/p>\n
That meant a hectic evening for the local eatery in the small college town of Cheney, Washington.<\/p>\n
But Cooper Kupp, now the Los Angeles Rams’ No. 1 receiver, didn’t frequent the place for drinks.<\/p>\n
After football practice, Kupp drove his white Nissan Pathfinder — often with teammates in passenger seats hoping their ride wouldn’t experience one of its infamous breakdowns — across the Eastern Washington campus from the red-turf Roos Field to the restaurant, where a special someone would be expecting him.<\/p>\n
Behind the cash register or serving orders in Styrofoam containers, his wife, Anna Kupp, worked her first job.<\/p>\n
\u00abI supported us monetarily through college,\u00bb Anna said, laughing, almost in disbelief she pulled it off. \u00abI was working full-time so that he didn’t have to worry about that, so that he could focus.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Cooper’s goals pertained to football, and he discovered after a summer of morning workouts followed by an afternoon landscaping gig that he felt exhausted when the season rolled around.<\/p>\n\n2 Related<\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
Football, along with school, had to be his full-time job. Anna supported and sacrificed, while also attending college, in every way she could.<\/p>\n
\u00abWithout a doubt, there’s no doubt in my mind, not only would I not be here where I am today without her or accomplishing the things that I would be doing,\u00bb Kupp said. \u00abI really believe I may not be in this — I may not be in the NFL if it wasn’t for her and what she has inspired in me and pushed me to do.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Kupp’s extended family, Anna and Cooper Jamison, one of the couple’s two young sons, cheered on Kupp from a suite at SoFi Stadium as the Rams dominated the Arizona Cardinals in a wild-card round of the playoffs. The Rams face Tom Brady and the No. 2 seed Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the divisional round at Raymond James Stadium on Sunday (3 p.m. ET, NBC).<\/p>\n
A third-round pick from an FCS college in 2017, Kupp became a breakout star this season, earning a unanimous All-Pro selection and being named to his first Pro Bowl.<\/p>\n
Averaging 893 receiving yards and scoring 24 touchdowns over the previous four seasons as a key playmaker on the Rams’ offense, this season Kupp became the fourth player in NFL history to earn the triple crown as the league leader in receptions (145) receiving yards (1,947) and receiving touchdowns (16).<\/p>\n
\u00abHe’s been such a special player, not only this year, but really since we drafted him five years ago,\u00bb Rams coach Sean McVay said. \u00abLove Cooper Kupp.\u00bb<\/p>\n\u2022 Full bracket, schedule and format \u00bbSee more playoff content \u00bb<\/b><\/p>\n<\/aside>\n
Barely recruited out of Davis High School in Yakima, Washington, Kupp’s two college scholarship offers were from Idaho State and Eastern Washington.<\/p>\n
One of four siblings and the son of Craig and Karin, Kupp has some NFL pedigree in his family. His grandfather, Jake Kupp, was a Pro Bowl guard for the New Orleans Saints in the 1970s and his father was a quarterback and fifth-round pick by the New York Giants in 1990. He played briefly for the Phoenix Cardinals and Dallas Cowboys. Both his grandpa and dad passed on knowledge that helped Cooper’s NFL pursuit.<\/p>\n
But when asked on a late-October day after practice, as his historic season mounted, what we don’t already know about him, Kupp was quick to respond.<\/p>\n
Anna, he said, doesn’t get enough — or really hasn’t received any — credit for his accomplishments.<\/p>\n
And she should.<\/p>\n
‘She brings the most out of him’<\/h2>\n\n
play<\/span>\n3:10<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Cooper Kupp reveals the drills he did with his father during childhood that have paid dividends in his NFL career.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
It could be curious, given his track record of dedication, why Kupp was so adamant that he wouldn’t have been able to succeed at the highest level without Anna.<\/p>\n
\u00abAnna is his rock,\u00bb said Austin Wagner, Kupp’s best friend from high school. \u00abI don’t think there’s a Cooper without what Anna’s done for him. She’s a person that really expects a lot out of the people around her and has kind of a high threshold for excellence …<\/p>\n
\u00abCooper works harder because of that.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Kupp and then-Anna Croskrey met at a track meet as high school seniors.<\/p>\n
\u00abI knew that she was the one that I wanted to marry when we had first met back in high school,\u00bb Kupp said. \u00abI told my mom the day I met her, ‘I’m going to marry this girl.'\u00bb<\/p>\n
They began dating before Anna headed to the SEC, where she competed as a heptathlete at the University of Arkansas. But not long after, they decided the distance and separation was untenable.<\/p>\n
Anna enrolled at Eastern Washington, losing nearly two years of course credits that wouldn’t transfer and caused her to double-time it so she could graduate on time.<\/p>\n
She and Kupp, both grounded in their faith and family, became inseparable.<\/p>\n\n\u00abI told my mom, ‘I’m going to marry that girl.'\u00bb Cooper Kupp was instantly drawn to Anna Croskrey, who helped him dedicate his time to football and refine his diet.\u00a0@annamariekupp\/Instagram<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\n\u00abCoop and Anna — they were a team,\u00bb said Zach Wimberly, a former Eastern Washington teammate. \u00abNo matter what they did, they’re doing it together.\u00bb<\/p>\n
It only seemed natural that they would get married the summer following her return. No need to wait.<\/p>\n
\u00abWe just were so aligned in terms of what our goals were and what we wanted to do moving forward and what we wanted to be about as a couple,\u00bb Kupp said. \u00abAnd the belief that football was the community, was the place that I was supposed to be, that we were supposed to be and that’s where God placed us.\u00bb<\/p>\n
The question of \u00abWhy so soon?\u00bb often arose — Cooper was 22 and Anna 21 — with skepticism they would miss the rite-of-passage young adults experience in college.<\/p>\n
\u00abA lot of people ask, ‘Why did you guys get married so young? Didn’t you feel you were missing out?'\u00bb Anna said. \u00abAnd you’re telling them, ‘No, we actually think the opposite. We feel so lucky to have found someone that we love and cherish so much so early.'\u00bb<\/p>\n
A piece of paper was taped to Eastern Washington’s locker room white board, a sign-up sheet to attend their June 20, 2015, wedding after their sophomore year of college.<\/p>\n
It was one way to pare down the original 800-guest list, given the inclusion of high school and small-town family friends, and a way to ensure they wouldn’t be wasting a lot of money on teammates who, simply put, probably wouldn’t care about a formal invite.<\/p>\n
\u00abI was like, ‘OK, I know I’m not going to get any RSVPs, these are college guys,\u00bb Anna said, laughing, before saying they did get the guest list down to 400. \u00abWe also — my parents, they don’t drink alcohol at all, so we told people, ‘If you want to drink you need to bring your own alcohol.’ We’re not trying to be stingy, but at the same time, my dad’s not gonna pay for that.\u00bb<\/p>\n\u2022 Is Mahomes-Allen the next big rivalry?
\u00abYou’d look out and we’d see some of our teammates with a six pack on the wedding table,\u00bb said Wagner, Kupp’s best man. \u00abIt was a lot of fun.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Often, where you’d see Cooper, there’d be Anna. It was the college experience they wanted and created.<\/p>\n
\u00abBeing able to find time to be together and find meaningful time together, but also getting things done, I’m just so appreciative,\u00bb Kupp said, \u00abAppreciative of her and her willingness to do all that.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Anna was a fixture at pregame movie nights with Kupp and a few of his closest teammates.<\/p>\n
\u00abMovie nights were the best,\u00bb said teammate Jordan West, one of Kupp’s groomsmen. \u00abWe’d watch everything from ‘Finding Nemo’ to ‘Gladiator’ to ‘Miracle.'\u00bb<\/p>\n
She would work out on the field during offseason 7-on-7 contests and challenge Cooper in the weight room.<\/p>\n
\u00abI’d go and do a CrossFit workout with her and she would just run laps around me in these workouts,\u00bb Kupp said. \u00abI mean, it is unbelievable.\u00bb<\/p>\n
She’d watch film with him, usually sitting at receivers coach Nick Edward’s desk, where she’d bring her homework or a book.<\/p>\n
\u00abI can’t tell you how many times I’d walk in and Coop would be sitting there watching film and Anna would be there with him as well,\u00bb Wimberly said.<\/p>\n
And on game days, Anna would put together goodie bags, with cookies and a passage or note written by Cooper, to set at players’ lockers.<\/p>\n
\u00abThis can’t get me into too much trouble now, but I had a key to the facilities and was able to get into the locker room whenever I wanted to,\u00bb Kupp admitted. \u00abSo I’d just give her the keys to go into the locker room and she would put them in guys’ lockers and get out of there.\u00bb<\/p>\n
\u00abIf you showed up in your locker and you had cookies from Anna before the game,\u00bb Wimberly said, \u00abyou were blessed.\u00bb<\/p>\n\nCooper Kupp, left, and Anna Kupp, second from left, here with Cassidy Wimberly and Zach Wimberly, were always together at Eastern Washington.\u00a0Courtesy of Zach Wimberly<\/cite><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/aside>\nWhen Kupp suffered an AC sprain in his shoulder and could barely move or lift his arm. Anna was his caretaker, propping him up with pillows and helping him get dressed.<\/p>\n
\u00abCoop had that support system with Anna,\u00bb West said. \u00abShe was always there for him.\u00bb<\/p>\n
And then there were the finances. A young, married couple in college, Anna and Cooper wanted to prove they could make it on their own without relying on their parents.<\/p>\n
\u00abI’m sure if we had asked our parents like, ‘Hey, we really need some help here, they certainly would’ve helped out,\u00bb Kupp said. \u00abBut as a married couple, we thought we needed to be able to separate and be us and take care of ourselves.\u00bb<\/p>\n
Their efforts paid off, as Kupp was named a four-time consensus FCS All-American and established 15 FCS records at Eastern Washington.<\/p>\n
Making history<\/h2>\n The capacity crowd at SoFi Stadium bellowed, \u00abCooooooop\u00bb more times than one could keep track of in the Rams’ season opener.<\/p>\n
Kupp beat every defender, then caught a 56-yard pass in stride for a touchdown in an eventual rout of the Chicago Bears that saw him catch seven passes for 108 yards.<\/p>\n
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