BLUE MOUNTAIN – Sam Cooper, a standout golfer for New Albany High School and Northwest Mississippi Community College, on Tuesday signed a golf scholarship with Blue Mountain College.

"Sam is a strong player with a lot of experience and he'll be an asset to our program right away," said BMC coach Danny McKenzie. "He's played a lot of tournament golf and we're going to need all that experience this year going into the Southern States Athletic Conference."

During his sophomore year at Northwest, Cooper averaged 77.8 in his seven tournaments with four top-10 finishes. He tied for 7th and 10th in the last two tournaments of the year -- including a 79-70--149 in the state championship.

As a member of the New Albany Bulldogs, Cooper played on two teams that finished second in the MHSAA Class 4A championships.

"It was a pretty dismal spring weather-wise for all golf teams last year," McKenzie said, "but Sam continued to get better as the year went on.  He had his two strongest finishes in the final two tournaments.  That tells you a lot about the caliber of player and person he is."