After quiet arrival at Iowa, Cooper DeJean now showing everyone he is ‘rare player’

IOWA CITY — When Cooper DeJean first arrived on campus, fellow defensive back Jermari Harris initially “thought something was wrong with him.”

“When he first came in, he didn’t say a word,” Harris said. “But looking back on it, that’s just who he is.”

DeJean, now in his third year at Iowa, considers himself “more of an action-type guy” and has tried to “let my actions speak.”

His actions on Iowa’s defense and special teams units have not only spoken. They figuratively have been screaming.

DeJean has seven interceptions since the beginning of last season. No Power Five player has caught more interceptions during that time span.

His three interception returns for touchdowns in 2022 broke Iowa’s single-season record and tied the career record.

His 14.3 yards per punt return this season leads the Big Ten, with only three others averaging more than 4 yards per punt return.

Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz described DeJean as a “rare player.”

“It's hard to think of many guys in 25 years that can do things like he does, and he does them pretty consistently,“ Ferentz said.

Most recently, that was on display as DeJean returned an interception 41 yards to the Purdue 5-yard line. His teammates gave the playmaking star a hard time about not scoring a touchdown.

“I kept telling them, like, ‘I could use a couple blocks there,’” DeJean said in jest.

The week before, DeJean returned a punt 70 yards for a touchdown while making it look easy. (That was in addition to an interception in the back of the end zone earlier in the game.)

Harris described the punt return as “definitely the craziest play I’ve ever seen on the football field from another individual.”

"You rarely get to see that combination of athleticism, the mental toughness, the savvy that he has and the electricity he brings to our team,“ Harris said.

Along with blockers “making it easy on me,” DeJean attributed much of his punt return prowess to “just instincts.”

“Finding the gaps and when to hit them, when to not,” DeJean said.

The Odebolt native was not always in the spotlight.

DeJean’s recruitment was practically the definition of low-profile. His only other offers, according to 247Sports’ database, were North Dakota State, South Dakota State and Illinois State.

“For teams not to take a chance on him was kind of mystifying,” his OABCIG High School coach Larry Allen told The Gazette last year. “You would think somebody would have had the idea to offer him.”

When Iowa traveled to in-state rival Iowa State early in the 2021 season, the future star was not even on the Hawkeyes’ travel roster.

“He's a really good player, but he didn't walk in here like there's Cooper DeJean,” Ferentz said. “We thought he was pretty good; don't get me wrong. But I don't think anybody's writing about him when he came here.”

But DeJean is no longer under the radar.

Luke Fickell, who is in his first year as head coach at Wisconsin after six years in the American Athletic Conference with Cincinnati, raved about DeJean early in his weekly news conference.

“A very dynamic player that even the last couple years, not being in the league, I had seen and watched and heard a lot about,” Fickell said Monday.

Fickell especially took notice of DeJean’s performance in last year’s Music City Bowl performance, when he had a pick-6 and a 34-yard punt return.

“If you take shots on him and things like that, he can change a game,” Fickell said. “Obviously he did it in the bowl game. I think he’s the sole benefactor for that game being the way it was. He at least created a lot of those things.”

Draft prognosticators also have taken notice of DeJean’s talent, with his name surfacing as a potential first-round pick in next year’s draft.

ESPN’s Mel Kiper Jr. slotted DeJean as the 11th-best prospect in the 2024 draft class earlier this month, saying the Hawkeye “has the physical tools to be the top corner in this class.” Pro Football Focus ranked him as the 12th-best prospect in the 2024 draft class.

Life in the spotlight is not much different for DeJean.

“It’s still the same football game,” DeJean said. “I still go out and just try and do my job week in and week out to help this team and put them in the best situation to win.”

It did require the young DeJean to clarify some things with his grandmother, though. When the Kinnick Stadium crowd started doing the “Coooooooop!” chant, she thought those were boos.

“She didn’t take that too well,” DeJean said. “But I had to explain to her that that’s not what was happening there. It’s actually a good thing that they’re doing that.”

DeJean’s athleticism, combined with Iowa’s uninspiring offensive results, sparked speculation from fans and even opposing coaches about whether the star could be a contributor on both sides of the ball.

“I wouldn’t be surprised if we see him on offense,” Fickell said this week.

A cornerback-wide receiver combination has worked elsewhere, as Colorado star Travis Hunter showed before his injury. In the Buffs’ season opener at No. 17 TCU, Hunter had an interception on defense and 11 catches for 119 yards on offense.

Ferentz said playing DeJean on offense has been “a discussion and a thought,” but the 25th-year head coach has been reluctant to take it any further than the idea stage.

“In baseball, a couple weeks ago, I think I mentioned a guy getting pulled after seven innings throwing a no-hitter,” Ferentz said earlier this month. “If you did a pitch count on Cooper, he is getting a lot of snaps. I suppose you could do it, but you don’t want to compromise what we’ve got defensively right now.”

DeJean has taken 549 snaps so far this season, according to Pro Football Focus. If Iowa goes to the conference championship game and a bowl game, Ferentz’s star defensive player would be at pace to take 1,281 snaps. (For perspective, Jack Campbell played 1,121 snaps in Iowa’s 14-game 2021 season.)

DeJean played 102 snaps as a true freshman in 2021 and 1,001 snaps as a sophomore in 2022.

“I’ve grown a lot as a football player, even more as a person,” DeJean said. “Learning from Coach Ferentz and all the coaches each and every day and everything that they preach — the discipline that we have to have playing the game of football and in the game of life.”

As a result of that growth, the instinctively quiet DeJean is not-so-quiet on the football field — both with his voice and with his actions.

“I’ve gotten more and more comfortable being a vocal leader out on the field,” DeJean said. “It’s been a fun challenge to help these younger guys learn and come along and understand how to prepare throughout the season.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com