3 key areas in which Sharife Cooper is already turning heads for Auburn basketball

The highest-rated signee in program history has wasted no time showing that he's far beyond your typical true freshman point guard.

PG Sharife Cooper (Shanna Lockwood/Auburn Athletics)

Anyone can tell you that Sharife Cooper is unlike any freshman Auburn basketball has had in a long time, if ever.

Cooper was the No. 24 recruit in the class of 2020 by the 247Sports Composite, and his player rating of 0.9920 is the highest in program history. He was only the third McDonald's All-American the Tigers have ever signed, joining Frank Ford in 1983 and Korvotney Barber in 2005. Sports Illustrated named him a first-team All-American. He was USA Today’s National Player of the Year as a high school junior. 

The accolades are easy to see. Auburn hasn’t had an incoming freshman this decorated and this highly rated in, at the very least, the modern recruiting rankings era. 

But all of those honors fade away as soon as a true freshman enrolls in college. They don’t guarantee success at the next level, and some elite prospects have been known to have a tough time with the transition.

That doesn’t seem to be the case with Cooper.

When A…