Hawkeye defensive end Deontae Craig lives life with purpose, but also with a smile

IOWA CITY — Iowa defensive end Deontae Craig wears pink Crocs in public, watches “SpongeBob SquarePants” and has a 105-pound dog with its own Instagram account.

That’s his fun side, one side of a terrific football player who has several. Craig also attended a military school for four years, was Iowa’s student representative at last month’s Black Student-Athlete Summit in Los Angeles, and enters his senior season as one of the faces and voices of his team.

“He has the ability to communicate and connect with people,” Iowa defensive line coach Kelvin Bell said. “He breaks down doors. He has an infectious smile. He brings leadership to the (defensive line) room.

“He’s a guy I check on to get the pulse of the room.”

On the field, Craig is a proven commodity. He wasn’t a starter as a sophomore, yet his 10 tackles for losses (6.5 of them were quarterback sacks) were second on the Hawkeyes despite taking moe than 100 fewer snaps than the starters.

He started every game last season for one of the nation’s best defenses. Iowa’s veteran defensive line will be talented this season. Craig is as much a reason as anyone.

“He’s confident in who he is,” said Hawkeye defensive tackle Yahya Black. “That’s always great to have.

“The man has a great personality and you can’t take that away from him.”

Craig didn’t start taking on new challenges in a new environment when he arrived at Iowa. He spent ninth-grade through high school graduation at Culver (Ind.) Military Academy, a boarding school about 75 miles from his Fort Wayne home.

“It was hard at first,” he said. “You’re a 13-, 14-year-old kid moving away from home. Our school represented 48 states and 39 different countries.

“They’re yelling at you. You’ve got to remember peoples’ ranks, you’ve got to remember the order of their rank. You’ve got to square corners. Your bed’s always got to be made, your room’s always got to be perfect.

“It’s a lot, but it’s similar to being on a college football team. If you take all the experiences and learn from them and use them the right way, it’ll benefit you down the road.”

Culver’s basketball teams with Craig did well. The school isn’t known for its football. Craig’s first love was basketball, and he tweets far more about hoops than football. However, “basketball didn’t work out and I’m lucky enough that football did.”

Craig attracted offers from Michigan, Notre Dame and Ohio State, but his final choice was between Indiana and Iowa.

“Iowa was one of the first schools that reached out to me in the recruiting process, but one of the last that extended me a scholarship offer,” he said. “Coach Bell was very instrumental in that. He told me from the jump that they don’t want to offer guys they haven’t met in person.

“In early May of my junior year he came and watched one of our spring basketball workouts. Before he even introduced himself to me, the first thing he said was ‘You now have a scholarship offer from the University of Iowa.’”

Craig said he didn’t get wrapped up in whether a program was a national football power or not.

“Transparency and honesty is something I value a lot because my dad (Deon Craig, a U.S. Army veteran) is that way,” he said. “I’ve grown up around full transparency, no sugarcoating, my whole life.

“You’ve got to be smart. A lot of big-name schools, it’s fancy and all, but the grass isn’t always greener.”

Craig came to Iowa in 2020 in the COVID-19 summer, amid the turmoil surrounding the program relating to racial issues.

“He did not waver,” Bell said.

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At least one college team tried to get Craig to leave Iowa to join it in January. Again, he did not waver.

In May, Craig went with three UI athletics administrators to that Los Angeles summit.

“It was a lot of Black minds in one space,” he said, “conversating about all kinds of topics — life after sports, NIL, Black love — anything you could think of was discussed.

“I was very fortunate to be one of the recipients to go out there. It was the first time in my life where I had been surrounded by all-Black excellence in an educational space. It was a great four days.”

He wears the pink sandals in public, he cops to liking the Hash-Slinging Slasher in SpongeBob. He calls his dog, Kobie, his best friend. He created an Instagram page (@lil_kobie) for the 105-pounds-and-growing Cane Corso.

“Give him a follow,” Craig said.

Craig is unafraid to be himself, and unafraid to be more. In May, he was given the UI’s Center for Inclusive Academic Excellence Student Leadership Award.

Give Craig a follow, too.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com