SAN DIEGO – Stephen Cooper, who was instrumental in leading the University of Maine football team to consecutive Atlantic 10 championships and NCAA quarterfinal appearances in 2001 and 2002, has signed a five-year contract with the National Football League’s San Diego Chargers.

Cooper, a fourth-year veteran, signed a deal worth $15 million that runs through the 2010 season, according to a report in the San Diego Union-Tribune. The contract includes incentives that could make it worth more than $17 million.

“It was really important for me to get this take care of before the regular season so that I could just focus on football,” Cooper said. “I wanted to be here and the organization wanted me to be here, so I’m just glad that it worked out the way that it did.”

The inside linebacker, who in 2003 was signed as an undrafted free agent out of UMaine, had agreed in March to a one-year, $1.55 million deal. However, he would have become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the season and San Diego’s other three inside ‘backers are only signed through the end of 2006-07.

“Stephen is one of our young, fast-rising players,” Chargers general manager A.J. Smith told ESPN.com. “He’s a hard worker. He’s tough and he is physical.”

Cooper, a 6-foot-1, 235-pounder, has appeared in 48 games and started four for the Chargers during the last three seasons. He has split time with Randall Godfrey at one linebacker spot, but is expected to garner more playing time this season and possibly succeed the veteran in 2007.

Cooper, 27, also has been a mainstay on San Diego’s special teams. He is averaging 40.5 tackles the past two seasons and has one career interception.

“I know the defense and now that I’ve been in [coach] Wade Phillips’ system for three years, I can go out there and do my job to the best of my ability,” Cooper said.

Cooper, a native of Wareham, Mass., had a stellar career for coach Jack Cosgrove at UMaine. He was named the A-10 Conference Defensive Player of the Year in 2001 (co-recipient) and 2002 and was twice selected as an All-American by The Associated Press.

Cooper’s collegiate career ended on an inauspicious note after he pleaded guilty in December 2002 to possessing 1,262 anabolic steroid pills that he intended to take in the hope of improving his chances in the 2003 NFL draft.

Cooper, who denied actually having had the opportunity to use the drugs, was found with the pills in his duffel bag by the Maine State Police during a routine traffic stop.

In 2003, he was sentenced at U.S. District Court in Bangor to one year of probation, 100 hours of community service and a $200 fine.

Cooper said he was subjected to NCAA drug testing five times during his UMaine career, but each time tested negative for illegal substances.

Cooper was among several athletes referenced in an ESPN “Outside the Lines” program entitled “Winning at Any Cost,” which aired in 2003.