High School

The day I knew Cooper DeJean was going to be a superstar

DeJean will play in the Super Bowl Sunday for the Philadelphia Eagles

Dana Becker

Cooper DeJean will look to help the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl on Sunday.
Cooper DeJean will look to help the Philadelphia Eagles win the Super Bowl on Sunday. / Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

It didn’t take very long for me to sit up and pay attention when I saw Cooper DeJean on the field at the 2019 Iowa state football championship semifinals.

DeJean, a junior for OABCIG - that is Odebolt-Arthur/Battle Creek/Ida Grove for those not familiar with the school - led his team to a perfect season up until that point. His numbers were gaudy and jumped off the page, but was he for real?

Well, DeJean was and still is to this very day.

In a classic with Algona, DeJean thrilled, completing 23 of 34 for 397 yards and four touchdowns. He also ran for 80 yards and a fifth touchdown while recording a team-high 12.5 tackles on defense. 

To put it in simple terms: it was the Cooper DeJean show.

DeJean and OABCIG had some excellent pieces around him, but what made them all better was his ability to rise up in clutch situations. 

Quick side note: upon preparing to cover the game that year, I learned that DeJean was a wide receiver as a freshman and sophomore in high school. The offense was a run-first, run-second, run-third base before head coach Larry Allen noticed it was time for a change. 

As a freshman, DeJean caught two passes for 22 yards and a score while rushing for 34 yards. The team threw for 589 yards and ran for 2,137. The next year, Kaden Ladwig would set the ground work for what was to become, throwing for over 3,000 and 32 TDs while running for 360 and 12 scores.

DeJean, as a sophomore, caught 66 passes for 1,023 yards and 12 touchdowns, running for another 59 and a TD. 

Cooper DeJean arrives on the scene

While leading OABCIG to a perfect season and state title, DeJean completed 60 percent of his passes for 3,546 yards and 42 touchdowns while running 134 times for 1,292 yards and 24 more trips to the end zone. 

All of that after being a wide receiver, and while recording 34 tackles on defense with five interceptions including two pick-6s. He also had a pair of punt returns for scores. 

The success carried right over to the following year, as the Falcons again went undefeated and won a state title. DeJean threw for 3,447 yards with 35 touchdowns, rushing for another 1,235 yards and 24 scores. 

On defense, he had 53.5 tackles with a sack, picked off three passes and had three returns for scores.

In the state championship vs. a Van Meter team that would become a juggernaut after the year, DeJean led two fourth-quarter scoring drives, racking up almost 400 yards of total offense and five touchdowns. 

Needless to say, it was quite evident that this was a superstar in the making. 

It wasn’t just football where DeJean thrived either. I’m sure by now you have seen his basketball highlights featuring numerous dunks. While leading OABCIG to 21 wins his senior season, DeJean averaged almost 26 points per game and eight rebounds, with many coaches telling me he could have gone Div. I in basketball if he wanted to.

DeJean also was a state champion on the track and hit .511 as a junior on the baseball diamond with six triples and 14 steals to go along with a 4-0 record and 42 strikeouts against just two earned runs allowed.

He would go on to thrive at the University of Iowa, becoming an All-American and award-winner for his defensive skills and talents in the return game. 

Now, we will all get to see him perform on the big stage of the Super Bowl this Sunday. But remember, DeJean was that small-town Iowa kid just living a dream like everybody else at one time in his career.

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Dana Becker
DANA BECKER

Dana Becker has been a sports writer in Iowa since 2000, writing for The Fort Dodge Messenger, Mason City Globe-Gazette, Cedar Rapids Gazette and others. Dana resides in northcentral Iowa and started as a writer with SB Live Sports in 2022 focused on the state of Iowa. Along with providing coverage of football and wrestling, Dana also spotlights cross country, swimming, basketball, track and field, soccer, tennis, golf, baseball and softball. He began writing for High School on SI in 2023.

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