For Kinston High receiver, state title quest caps a record-setting season
His future looks as bright as that of any student athlete to come out of Kinston High School in a while, but this week Tyreek Copper isn’t looking much past Saturday.
“I just want to go out there and play as hard as I know I can and help my team get a ring,” Tyreek said Tuesday. “At the end of the day, that’s the big goal – to win the championship.”
The state championship, that is. As winner of the 3A East Region title, in a 30-7 rout of No. 1 seed James Kenan High last week, Kinston High’s Vikings will take on West Region champs Shelby, holder of 12 state titles. Saturday’s game, in Durham, will be the Viking’s first trip to the state finals since 2015.
That achievement in itself makes the 2025 Vikings a special football team, a team that has used experience, talent and grit to march through the playoffs as a No. 14 seed and head into its final game with a 12-3 record. But even on a special team with many special players, Tyreek Copper stands out.
He is simply the best high school receiver in the state this year and one of the best in the state all-time. With a touchdown catch in the James Kenan game, he bested his own record for consecutive games with a TD reception at 16. His 30 touchdown receptions this season rank him first in the nation. With one game to go, he is within reach of all-time state records for single season receiving yards and touchdowns in a season.
Such a breakout year doesn’t just materialize. Each of Tyreek’s seasons as a four-year starter has been a season of improvement, from a 300-yard season as a freshman to more than 2,000 yards as a senior. “Even if you’re playing good, you have to keep working hard. You’re never there yet,” he said. “You don’t get satisfied. You always want better for yourself.”
That’s a resolve that runs through the Viking team, particularly its core group of 17 seniors, Tyreek thinks. After going deep into the playoffs in 2024, Kinston went into 2025 with title aspirations. And a confidence that may have expanded into over-confidence. Early season losses proved to be a wake-up call.
“We went back to our roots and started practicing real hard, treating practices like game day.” Tyreek said. “We got things fixed and started rolling.”
He’s a 17-year-old who’s asked to sign autographs and is the subject of innumerable selfies, but Tyreek is a serious young man whose work ethic on the football field mirrors his approach to life. At KHS, he is a member of the National Honor Society and was a Rotary Student of the Month. A self-described homebody, he prefers church and the weightroom to the social life. He will finish high school on Friday and, as a December graduate at Kinston High, will move on in January to N.C. State University, where he plans to major in psychology with an eye on “some type of therapy work” down the road.
He committed to NC State as a scholarship athlete in February at a National Signing Day ceremony with his parents, Terrance and Kandy Copper, and other family members by his side. But he’s known he was headed to Raleigh since this past summer, when his performance at 7-on-7 camp caught the eye of Wolfpack coaches and an offer soon followed for the 6-2, 188-pound receiver.
“I look forward to getting to meet new people on the football team and on the campus period,” Tyreek said. “I was around those guys (on the team) on my official visit and they were fun to be around. So I want to get back up there with them and also to impact the team early.”
First things first, of course. This week,Tyreek is putting extra emphasis on conditioning, expecting to play some defensive safety against Shelby’s passing attack. The receiving records he could claim in his final high school game are “in the back of my mind,” he said.
“If it came down to it, I’d rather win the game than break the records,” Tyreek said. “I’m just going out there to try to help win the game.”