They say an apple a day keeps the doctors away, but can it work against rookies? That’s what Terrance Copper is hoping as the Kansas City Chiefs 30-year old wide receiver prepares for his ninth NFL season.
Copper, who last year caught eight passes for 114 yards and saw action regularly on specials teams, decided to take on Father Time this offseason and so far he is winning.
Copper, who starred on the Washington football team from 1996-2000 before shining for East Carolina University from 2000-04, has recently called an audible on his eating habits and so far the results have been overwhelmingly positive.
“I’m getting older. This is year nine and my body needs to hold up,” Copper said. “For me to compete with the young guys coming in I have to stay in shape and get in better shape. That’s one of the reason’s why I really needed to change my diet and get healthier, quicker and faster.”
So far the new game plan has yielded winning results as Copper’s six-foot tall chiseled frame was put on display when he recently came back to Washington for an exhibition basketball game and football camp. While the Pam Pack’s all-time leader in receptions (159) and receiving yards (2,826) has changed the way he eats, he refuses to call it a new diet.
“I don’t want to call it a diet, it’s more like a lifestyle. If you say a diet you will go back to the old ways, so I call it a lifestyle,” Copper said. “I’ve been doing for about six months now and physical-wise I went from 220 (pounds) down to 203 … I feel a lot better, my knees feel better and my feet feel better.”
The ninth-year vet said he has always made a conscious effort to eat healthy but has adopted some subtle changes that have led to big time results.
“It wasn’t so much that I used to eat bad, but it’s just the fact that I didn’t eat on a regular time schedule,” Copper said. “You need to eat regularly. Not big meals, but eat light meals throughout the day. Stay away from sugary stuff. Eat a lot of protein. You can have carbs, but just monitor how much you eat. Sugar is the main thing I stay away from. Sugar turns right into fat. I eat sugar but not a lot of it.”
Copper said he is now in the best shape of his life and felt the impact of his new lifestyle during the team’s minicamp.
“Losing weight, it helps you with your speed and your quickness but the biggest thing for me as a receiver is that it helps me stop quicker,” Copper said. “I can start and stop quicker than when I was heavier and that’s one thing as a receiver, you have to be able to get out of your breaks.”
If all breaks well for Copper, his new lifestyle could lead to his finest season yet in the NFL.