HOOVER, Ala. -- Maybe it’s fair that Pharoh Cooper gets lost in the shuffle.

At 5-foot-11, he’s never been as tall as your prototypical receiver. In high school, he did a little bit of everything: quarterback, running back, receiver, defensive back and return specialist. Potentially an athlete without a home, ESPN pegged him as a three-star prospect. His game speed was intriguing, but he lacked the measurements scouts covet with 40-yard dash time in the 4.7-second range.

Cooper was a standout on the field at Havelock High in North Carolina, but figuring out how he’d translate in college at South Carolina was something different entirely.

For his part, Cooper thought defense was the way to go. He looked at former Gamecock Stephon Gilmore and figured he’d follow the same path. According to coach Steve Spurrier, Cooper was told that the solution was simple: “Go to South Carolina, be a DB, a first-round NFL pick, make millions of dollars and last a long time.”

But it didn’t work out that way. Two summers ago, Spurrier checked in on Cooper’s progress at cornerback, and the response wasn’t great. “Ah, coach, he’s doing OK,” Spurrier recalled an assistant telling him, “but he’s not really an aggressive guy.” Spurrier watched how effortlessly Cooper fielded punts in practice and told him to give offense a try.

“He was a natural,” the Head Ball Coach said.

In 2013, Cooper proved elusive with the ball in his hands. Of his 655 all-purpose yards, 202 came rushing the football and 359 came by way of kick returns. He was still figuring out how to play receiver while he was named to the freshman All-SEC team as an all-purpose back and return specialist.

But last season, it clicked. He practiced harder, he said. He prepared better. He saw Bruce Ellington leave for the NFL and welcomed the pressure of filling his shoes at receiver.

“It was my turn to step up,” he said. “I had to be counted on to make plays, and that’s what I did.”

A first-team All-SEC choice by both the AP and league coaches, Cooper finished last season second in the SEC in receiving yards (1,136), third in receptions (69) and ninth in all-purpose yards per game (108.5). In addition to catching nine touchdown passes, he ran in two scores and threw for two more.

“He’s a great player,” said linebacker Skai Moore. “He’s a different type of player, too, though, because of how versatile he is and how he runs. He runs powerfully and will lower his shoulder on you or give you a little move or something. He’s fun to watch.”

Kicker Elliott Fry said: “I literally watched his highlight tape two to three months ago. It was stuff I’d seen but never really took it all in. I mean, he’s incredible. He can affect the game in so many ways. It really is something.”

Fry isn’t the only one late to the Pharoh Cooper party.

When the preseason All-SEC votes were released at SEC media days earlier this month, Cooper was noticeably absent from the first-team squad. That honor belonged to Ole Miss’ Laquon Treadwell and Auburn’s Duke Williams, despite both having fewer receiving yards and touchdowns than Cooper last season.

A self-described “chill guy,” Cooper takes being overlooked personally. He, Treadwell and Williams have different styles of play, he said, but he considers himself the top receiver in the SEC.

“I should be looked at as one of the nation’s elite at my position,” he said. “As an athlete, I feel like I am one of the more versatile players in the nation. What I can do with the ball, on offense, that’s my mentality to go out there and score every time I touch the ball.”

The rest of the nation might be catching on, but Cooper is already a star at South Carolina, where Spurrier jokingly said he’s its answer to the Triple Crown-winning horse American Pharoah.

“South Carolina Pharoh,” he said. “He's a really good player. He can play receiver, shotgun, quarterback, throw, run. He's really an All-American-type player.”

Cooper may not look the part of a star receiver, but maybe it's better for him to be overlooked. Maybe it adds to his elusive nature.

If anything, it's emblematic of South Carolina as a whole.

After winning 11 games in back-to-back seasons, the Gamecocks stumbled and finished 7-6 last year. Now they're being picked to finish fourth in the East by the media.

"People going into this season don't think we're going to be as good as we know we are," he said. "Last year we lost three to four games by three to four points or a touchdown. We were close to a 10-win season but none of that matters.

"We're going to surprise some people this year. ... We're going to turn it around."