Iowa Football Recruiting: Hawkeyes Land 2021 In-State Athlete Cooper DeJean

We’re in an interesting time in college football. Conferences across America have put all athletics on hold, including spring practice for football. Additionally, the NCAA has mandated a dead period for recruiting, meaning college coaches are not permitted to travel for in person visits with recruits and those same recruits are not permitted to visit campus at any colleges.

That doesn’t prevent coaches and players from continuing to have text and phone conversations, however. With no classes for high school students in most parts of the country and no visits to coordinate, trips to plan or practices to run, college coaches and recruits alike have more time than ever to focus on their recruiting.

That additional time to think about a landing spot has led to a decision for in-state prospect Cooper DeJean, who announced his commitment to the University of Iowa on Tuesday afternoon.

The Ida Grove product joins the Hawkeyes as a safety, though he is listed as an athlete on both Rivals and 247 Sports. That’s a good way to describe the 3-star prospect. At 6’2” and 195 pounds, DeJean has a lot of tools.

As a sophomore at OABCIG, DeJean racked up 1,023 receiving yards and 12 touchdowns on 66 catches (15.5 ypc) as a receiver on offense. He has good hands, especially if he indeed ends up at safety.

As a junior, DeJean slid over to play quarterback for OABCIG. To say the transition was seamless is a bit of an understatement. DeJean finished second in the state with 3,546 passing yards and 42 touchdown. He also ran for 1,292 yards and 24 touchdowns for a total of 4,838 combined yards and 66 touchdowns.

As a defender, DeJean shows good instincts and quickly diagnoses plays. He’s very good in run support and shows a penchant for hitting. He jumps off the screen in highlights as a more physically gifted player than his competition, often running past, around and over his opponents. That’s what you hope to see out of a division 1 prospect in small school Iowa football.

DeJean chose Iowa over offers from Illinois State, UNI, South Dakota State and North Dakota State, as well as interest from Iowa State, Nebraska and others. He becomes the eighth overall commitment for Iowa in the class of 2021. He’s Iowa’s first defensive back in the class, but the sixth commit on the defensive side of the ball.

Welcome aboard Cooper DeJean!

Cooper DeJean

Position: Safety
Height: 6’2”
Weight: 195
Hometown: Ida Grove, IA (OABCIG)
Stars: 247 Sports - 3; Rivals - 3