Brandin Cooks would not be surprised to pick up his cell phone Thursday night and hear Jets general manager John Idzik in his ear welcoming him to the Jets.
It wouldn’t be the first call he has taken from the Jets.
Cooks, a speedy wide receiver out of Oregon State, said the Jets have shown a ton of interest in him over the last few months.
“It’s been big time,” Cooks told The Post on Tuesday at an event at Sean John in Manhattan. “We’ve been talking a lot on and off. I took a visit. I think the visit went great. It’s one of those things. I feel like they’re pushing for me, but who knows?”
Offensive coordinator Marty Mornhinweg attended Cooks’ pro day at Oregon State and spent some time with him there. Cooks then visited the Jets’ training center in Florham Park where he said he spent a long period of time with coach Rex Ryan.
Cooks appears to be just what the Jets need. He ran a 4.33 40-yard dash at the scouting combine in February and put up eye-popping numbers in college. Last year he caught 128 passes for 1,730 yards and 16 touchdowns and won the Biletnikoff Award, given to the nation’s top receiver.
The Jets finished 31st in passing offense in 2013 and had fewer weapons than an anti-war protest. They added wide receiver Eric Decker and running back Chris Johnson in free agency. Adding a player like Cooks to that mix would jumpstart the dormant offense.
“It’s an amazing fit,” Cooks said of the Jets. “I feel like they’re on the rise. They’re doing great things. I just feel like they need to add one more thing to their package. I feel like if they had a speed receiver they’d be complete. We’ll see.”
The only criticism people seem to have of Cooks is his size. At 5-foot-10 he is not the big-bodied receiver teams covet. Cooks, 20, says despite his size he’s the best of a very deep receiver class.
“I feel like the only thing people can do is knock me on my size,” Cooks said. “Other than that, I feel like I’m the best receiver in this class. I honestly mean that. I honestly feel that way. I just feel like since I’m not that prototypical size that’s what I’m getting knocked for.”
Cooks is very charismatic and would become very popular with Jets fans instantly. League sources say he is one of the highest character players in this draft. Cooks took very few team visits because there are so few questions about him.
Many of the draft gurus have linked Cooks and the Jets in their recent mock drafts.
“He’s an exceptional athlete, both quick and fast, with the ability to eat up space, then run past defenders and also outmaneuver them underneath,” ESPN analyst Mel Kiper Jr. said. “That makes him precisely the kind of matchup the Jets need to add to the passing game. If Mike Vick ends up starting, Cooks is the kind of option they would love to have because of his ability to create space. I know New York could go elsewhere here and count on the option of a good pass-catcher later on, but unless there’s a cornerback they love at this spot, I like this fit.”
Cooks grew up in Stockton, Calif. and lost his father to a heart attack when he was only 6-years-old. His mother, Andrea, worked to support the family and is still working in a warehouse packing designer hats and scarves into boxes — a job she leaves for at 5 a.m. every day.
Cooks’ NFL dream is to take care of his mother and make sure she doesn’t have to keep working.
“It would mean the world to her,” Cooks said of him being drafted. “I’m going to retire her. I won’t go past a year without retiring her.”