Kirk Ferentz considers using Cooper DeJean on offense

Iowa Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz knows that the Iowa offense is going to need to improve. However, with the injury to Cade McNamara, that’s only going to get harder. So, it may be time to look for new ideas.

One possible idea would be to have Cooper DeJean, a defensive back and special teams player, also play on the offensive side of the ball.

“That’s a discussion, a thought, and believe me we’ve all had that discussion,” Kirk Ferentz said. “You also got in baseball, I read about a guy getting pulled after seven innings, throwing a no-hitter. If you did a pitch count on Cooper, Cooper’s getting a lot of snaps. So, I suppose you could do it but you don’t want to compromise what we’ve got defensively right now. That’s a consideration. He’s been a pretty big factor on special teams. What I’d love, I wish he had five brothers, if they were quintuplets or whatever they’re called, that’d be great, but not the case.”

Cooper DeJean was a four-star recruit in the Class of 2021, according to the On3 Industry Rankings. He was considered the 14th-ranked athlete in that class. Last season, he was the Music Bowl MVP and came into 2023 as a preseason All-American. He had five interceptions in 2022 and already has one in 2023.

“You put him on any team in the country, he’d be unique and rare and he played that way last year. I mean, he had a fantastic year, and I think probably the most interesting part of the whole thing is I think he played five games three years ago. So, you could say we were stupid for doing that, but that’s just the way it worked. He just ascended as the year went on. So, we put him in there,” Ferentz said.

“Best play I remember was in the bowl game when he chased down that guy on that short pass, long run deal. To me, that spoke to who the guy is. Like, he came from that side of the field and chased him down to the other sidelines just inside the 10-yard line. So, that says a lot about the kind of guy he is and he just does things, I hate the word natural because there’s a connotation there that this guy just goes out and plays, a lot of the stuff he does is because he knows how to play. He’s smart, he studies, he’s in the right place”

Another key aspect of Cooper DeJean’s game is his returning ability. He has a career average of 15.2 yards per punt return and recently returned one for a touchdown.

“Then, some of the stuff on the punt return stuff, I helped him out a little on that. I gave him some tips on how to be a better return guy. In all seriousness, he does a lot of things very well, very smoothly and that’s pretty unusual. It’s unusual to have a guy with that kind of skillset he’s not the same as Micah Hyde but Micah was the same kind of player too. You talk about playing a guy two-ways, Micah could have been a great receiver in my opinion, but he was a pretty damn good defensive back too and a great return guy.”

Having Cooper DeJean play on the offensive side of the ball could be an interesting decision. Certainly, it would show a trend starting to develop among two-way players.

In the past, Kirk Ferentz has said there are “no magic answers” to fixing the Iowa offense. However, it’s hard to say that this wouldn’t have some kind of impact.

How Iowa could use Cooper DeJean like Travis Hunter

Cooper DeJean is clearly a special player and  Tom Kakert of HawkeyeReport.com  believes that he has the ability to become a two-way play in the same vein as Travis Hunter.

“He didn’t say no. He kind of smiled. I think he would love to try and do it, but it’s gotta be something that the coaches want to draw up. It’d be interesting to throw him back there in the Wildcat a little bit and see what he can do. Maybe put him at receiver,” Kakert said.

“He was a high school quarterback, as you might imagine playing 1A football in the state of Iowa, where your graduating class is probably about 50 kids in Ida Grove, Iowa. He had some phenomenal games in the state title games where he was the best player on defense. He made this miraculous game as an offensive player to win the game in the state title. He can do everything. So I’d love to see it. I just don’t see why you wouldn’t pull the trigger on this and see what he can do in small settings on offense. I don’t think anybody’s advocating for Travis Hunter kind of snaps where he’s playing 127-130 snaps, but you could throw him out there for a couple plays in a series every quarter, every half. I think that would be interesting because they need more guys on offense who can make plays.”