Jon, he's a well adjusted future astronaut with a sense of humor. He actually has more maturity than 99% of the fans who post on Hawkeye boards. He would be polite and smile and see the humor behind this amateurish attempt at flattery. (Not arguing in favor of showing it to him, just saying this isn't something to worry about one way or the other, and I doubt that you do)
The notion he would be offended or silent is a projection of the limited social abilities of cyberfans - the quality of Coker's character allows him to handle any social interaction generated by good will.
And Jon, anonymous peer pressure is not kryptonite to you. I have never seen you submit to it, and hope I never will. Your common sense comes from within, not from the Internet.