Iowa’s Cooper DeJean, a small-town success story, doing it all for Hawkeyes

IOWA CITY, Iowa — Cooper DeJean comes from the middle of nowhere Iowa from an alphabet city high school but turned in the type of performance Saturday that little boys dream about once they finally lie still.

The do-it-all Iowa sophomore stood anxiously against a wall waiting to step behind the lectern. Everyone in the room knew what DeJean had accomplished was special, especially fellow Iowa defensive back Kaevon Merriweather.

As he does in typically loquacious fashion, Merriweather held rapt attention in the moments after the Hawkeyes’ 24-10 win against Wisconsin. When the questions shifted to DeJean’s performance, Merriweather stared at his young protege with tinted prescription glasses. And for 45 seconds, DeJean’s face turned 50 shades of Wisconsin red.

“What doesn’t Coop do?” Merriweather asked. “You saw him on the punt return, athlete. Corner, athlete. Cash, athlete, Y’all didn’t get see him play safety yet, but he did in fall camp, athlete.”

The senior safety then looked over and knew DeJean was becoming uncomfortable.

“You have someone who’s just talented and a student of the game and is always wanting to learn and even when he makes mistakes,” Merriweather said, “he’s always finding a way to bounce back and correct those mistakes, you’re going to have a very talented player. I think the ceiling for him is the sky wherever he wants to take it.”

Coop & Score. @cdejean23 x #Hawkeyes
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 13, 2022

DeJean (6-foot-1, 209 pounds) was composed when he had his chance to answer questions and appeared humbled by both Merriweather’s comments and the adoration coming his way. Growing up in northwest Iowa, DeJean was the typical All-America boy at a high school composed of four towns inside 259 square miles. By the way he’s playing, DeJean could wind up as an All-American in another way.

As the Hawkeyes’ left cornerback, DeJean influenced a game unlike nearly any defensive player without rushing the quarterback. In the second quarter, DeJean stepped in front of a wayward Graham Mertz pass and returned it untouched 32 yards for a touchdown.

In the third quarter, DeJean forced a fumble that went 2 yards backward and out of bounds. As a gunner on the punt team, DeJean stopped a ball from landing in the end zone, and it was downed at the 1-yard line. On the ensuing punt, DeJean returned it 41 yards until he was forced out of bounds by the punter at the Badgers’ 18. DeJean also had 10 tackles, including a team-high seven solo stops.

“He’s a special kid, and he’s a special player, too,” Iowa linebacker Jack Campbell said. “You guys see it out there on Saturdays, and I’m excited to see what he’s going to continue to do.”

Since he was a four-star athlete, DeJean’s rise wasn’t unexpected, but nobody predicted he could make an impact like this in only his second year on campus. Through 10 games, DeJean has four interceptions and returned two for touchdowns. He also has seven pass breakups and 60 tackles, ranking third on the nation’s No. 3-ranked defense.

“For a guy to be a sophomore and do the things that he can do and understand what he needs to do I think is really good,” said Iowa defensive coordinator Phil Parker, who has coached five Big Ten defensive backs of the year since 2012. “It’s really an elite … (you’re) just looking at him and saying, ‘How can he do all this stuff?’”

Small-town success story

DeJean did everything and more at OABCIG High School, both in the community and the sports arena. Few athletes were as versatile in state history. In basketball, his 1,832 career points rank him 58 behind Minnesota Vikings tight end T.J. Hockenson and 55 ahead of Sacramento Kings forward Harrison Barnes on the state’s all-time scoring list. DeJean was a quarterback and defensive back for the football team, scoring 80 touchdowns and passing for 78. As a senior, DeJean finished the 100-meter dash in 10.71 seconds, the fastest of any runner in the state.

“The most amazing part is he wasn’t recruited, especially in this day and age where there’s no secrets,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “On top of it, he’s a great young guy and just a great team member.

“Being a multi-sport athlete, it seems like anybody who’s smart I talk to in football, they endorse that, the people in the NFL. You can usually go back and trace that; like the good ball skill guys, they played stuff other than just football growing up. Sometimes they didn’t play football until later.”

But more than his stat-stuffing credentials, DeJean was known for his high-flying dunks and incredible big-game moments. Before DeJean, the school district had won just a single playoff game, and the towns combined for one win before consolidation. During his junior year in 2019, DeJean led OABCIG to the Class 2A state title. Then in the COVID-19 pandemic-riddled senior season, DeJean took his career one step further and cemented his legendary status.

OABCIG won every game by at least 22 points entering the state title game against Van Meter. With his team trailing by eight points with 4:23 left, DeJean blocked an extra point. He then led his team down the field but ran out of downs and seemingly out of chances. After DeJean made a pair of tackles followed by a third-down incompletion, DeJean returned a punt to the Van Meter 45. Four plays later, he ran in for the touchdown and the ensuing two-point conversion that tied the score with 90 seconds left.

DeJean’s younger brother, Beckett, recovered a fumble on the kickoff at the 19. With his coach wanting to set up a field-goal attempt, DeJean ran a counter to the right. But without space, DeJean circled to his left and weaved into the end zone for the championship-winning touchdown. In less than two minutes, DeJean made nine impact plays in a 10-play sequence. He recorded two tackles, returned a punt 14 yards, completed two passes for 52 yards, rushed three times for 22 yards and scored two touchdowns and a two-point conversion. OABCIG held on to win 33-26.

“He’s just a competitor,” OABCIG coach Larry Allen said. “It doesn’t matter if it’s basketball or football or track or whatever. He’s the kind of kid that wants the ball in his hand. He wants to be in control and probably that makes him such a great player.”

“It’s just like somebody wrote a script on that stuff,” Ferentz said.

Destination: Iowa

DeJean had few football options, either play quarterback at South Dakota State or defensive back at Iowa. He chose the Hawkeyes and started making plays on the scout team as a true freshman. By midseason of 2021, DeJean had shown too much potential for a top-10 team in need of extra bodies, so the staff brought him up for special teams.

With injuries ravaging the secondary, particularly at cornerback, DeJean shifted from safety and took reps at both positions. He landed on the depth chart and in the Citrus Bowl, he ran from across the field for a touchdown-saving tackle on a 52-yard pass late in the fourth quarter.

This spring, DeJean shifted from safety to cash, which is a hybrid of a slot cornerback and strongside linebacker. During the summer, he worked at both cash and cornerback.

“In the first week and a half at camp, like we were getting after him,” quarterback Spencer Petras said. “By the second week of camp, he started picking off some throws that he wasn’t before and started making some plays that he hadn’t been making. I think once he started to really get comfortable and just figure it all out, he started really showing up and being a guy that we had to be aware of in camp.”

By the opener, DeJean emerged as the first-team cornerback when the Hawkeyes played a 4-3 and the cash defender in a 4-2-5. Against Iowa State, DeJean had an end-zone interception. The next week against Nevada, DeJean stole another pass along the sideline and stayed in bounds with a toe dance. Then at Rutgers, DeJean sagged off his receiver and attacked a high ball in the middle of the field at the 45-yard line. He caught it over his shoulder, broke two tackles, eluded multiple tacklers and scored his first career touchdown.

“He has great balance,” Parker said. “He has great football awareness. He sees things, and he is always on his feet and has always, what I say, played with good leverage. He has great ball skills. Some catches that he makes during practice are what I call freakish. You know what I mean? One-handers behind and all this stuff. You say I’m sure he can play multiple positions, but he is definitely mature enough, a hard worker. Always in the film room or always working.”

There isn’t a skill position on the team that DeJean couldn’t play on offense or defense, Ferentz said. But his previous shifting from cornerback to cash was difficult enough.

“I’m not sure anybody could appreciate it — and why would you — but we do as coaches,” Ferentz said. “The other thing, he just makes it look easy, which is kind of amazing, too.

“Good players have a way of doing that sometimes, but it’s not easy. You’re talking about all the mental intricacies because he can play in the safety position for us, too.”

DeJean works out daily on the return units, but he filled in for Arland Bruce IV against Wisconsin and compiled 82 yards on four returns. DeJean’s 114 total yards exceeded Iowa’s offensive total until late in the fourth quarter.

GO DEEPER

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With two games left in the regular season, DeJean has a chance to help Iowa (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) reach its second straight Big Ten title game. He’s enough of a difference maker — as he proved against the Badgers — that he could help make it happen. For a second-year player from the middle of nowhere Iowa, that would really be getting somewhere.

(Photo: Matthew Holst / Getty Images)