OABCIG athlete Cooper DeJean recently wrapped up one of the most dominant prep football careers with a second straight state title. We caught up with his coach, Larry Allen, and talked to him about this future Hawkeye now!
Q: How would you describe him overall as a football player?
ALLEN: He is pretty dynamic. He is good with the ball in his hands. He stresses the defense at all times. When on the defensive side of things, he just has such a great understanding of what the offense is going to do and reacts so quickly to things.
Q: What do you feel are his main strengths at this point?
ALLEN: I think it is his vision. When he is running the ball, he sees things and is able to react and anticipate. When he drops back as a passer, he has the same kind of vision. He keeps his eyes down field and anticipates where guys will be at.
Q: What areas is he going to continue working on?
ALLEN: I think he would just continue to get stronger, continue with his agility, and just continue to grow his knowledge base of football.
Q: When did you know he had a chance to be a special player?
ALLEN: In middle school, you could see he was a good player. When he was a freshman, he played a little in the second half of the season as a receiver on varsity and you could see it there. We didn’t want to rush him into varsity. As a sophomore, he started and was a first team all stater at receiver.
Q: What separates him from his peers to get the type of attention and honors that he has received?
ALLEN: He is just such a humble guy. You never would know he has the talent that he does because he doesn’t tell you that. He takes care of it on the field. It is one thing that I see in him that is different than other athletes. He just handles himself a little bit different.
Q: Where does he project out at the college level position wise?
ALLEN: I think they envision him as a safety. He may transition to a linebacker, depending on how he develops. His ball skills are phenomenal. If they would need a receiver, I think he can step into that role as well.
Q: Why did he pick the Hawkeyes in the end?
ALLEN: I think it started when he was little with his grandparents being Hawkeye fans. He had such a good relationship with their coaches during recruiting. LeVar Woods has done a great job keeping in touch with him. He has stayed in touch and built that relationship up.
Q: How was it working with the Iowa staff during the recruiting process?
ALLEN: Great. They were very professional. It was an experience getting that level of coaches coming through. We were thrilled to be a part of it.
Q: How hard will it be to replace a player like him?
ALLEN: It won’t be done by one kid. Every year, you have kids that graduate and the program will need to fill the sport. It will be much more challenging with all the things he did on offense, defense, punt returns, kick returns, and leadership as much as anything. We have to find kids that will be able to step up and assume those roles.
Q: How would you describe him overall as a football player?
ALLEN: He is pretty dynamic. He is good with the ball in his hands. He stresses the defense at all times. When on the defensive side of things, he just has such a great understanding of what the offense is going to do and reacts so quickly to things.
Q: What do you feel are his main strengths at this point?
ALLEN: I think it is his vision. When he is running the ball, he sees things and is able to react and anticipate. When he drops back as a passer, he has the same kind of vision. He keeps his eyes down field and anticipates where guys will be at.
Q: What areas is he going to continue working on?
ALLEN: I think he would just continue to get stronger, continue with his agility, and just continue to grow his knowledge base of football.
Q: When did you know he had a chance to be a special player?
ALLEN: In middle school, you could see he was a good player. When he was a freshman, he played a little in the second half of the season as a receiver on varsity and you could see it there. We didn’t want to rush him into varsity. As a sophomore, he started and was a first team all stater at receiver.
Q: What separates him from his peers to get the type of attention and honors that he has received?
ALLEN: He is just such a humble guy. You never would know he has the talent that he does because he doesn’t tell you that. He takes care of it on the field. It is one thing that I see in him that is different than other athletes. He just handles himself a little bit different.
Q: Where does he project out at the college level position wise?
ALLEN: I think they envision him as a safety. He may transition to a linebacker, depending on how he develops. His ball skills are phenomenal. If they would need a receiver, I think he can step into that role as well.
Q: Why did he pick the Hawkeyes in the end?
ALLEN: I think it started when he was little with his grandparents being Hawkeye fans. He had such a good relationship with their coaches during recruiting. LeVar Woods has done a great job keeping in touch with him. He has stayed in touch and built that relationship up.
Q: How was it working with the Iowa staff during the recruiting process?
ALLEN: Great. They were very professional. It was an experience getting that level of coaches coming through. We were thrilled to be a part of it.
Q: How hard will it be to replace a player like him?
ALLEN: It won’t be done by one kid. Every year, you have kids that graduate and the program will need to fill the sport. It will be much more challenging with all the things he did on offense, defense, punt returns, kick returns, and leadership as much as anything. We have to find kids that will be able to step up and assume those roles.
