By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – There seems to be one thing that Cooper DeJean doesn’t do very well as an Iowa football player, and that would be accepting praise.

The sophomore do-everything defensive back looked embarrassed and uncomfortable as he stood in the back of the press conference room at Kinnick Stadium following Saturday’s 24-10 victory over Wisconsin and listened as fellow Iowa defensive back Kaevon Merriweather raved about him.

DeJean had just played a major role in Iowa’s third consecutive victory by returning an interception 32 yards for a touchdown in the second quarter.

He also had 10 tackles and filled in for the injured Arland Bruce on punt returns.

DeJean’s 41-yard punt return late in the third quarter helped to set up Iowa’s third touchdown of the game.

He played cornerback exclusively in Saturday’s game, but he also has played the cash position this season, and he played some at safety during preseason practice.

“I think the ceiling for him is the sky and wherever he wants to take it,” Merriweather said of DeJean. “And I can’t wait to see where his game progresses when I leave here and to see where he can take it.

“He definitely is going to be a great player for Iowa football down the line.”

An argument could be made that DeJean is already a great player for Iowa.

He leads all the Iowa defensive backs and is ranked third on the team with 60 tackles. He also leads Iowa with four interceptions and plays on both the punt and punt return teams.

“There’s probably not a position on the perimeter he couldn’t play,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said of DeJean, whose only Power Five scholarship offer came from Iowa. “You’d have to change your offense if he was your quarterback. But I’m pretty sure he could be a pretty good running back, I know he could be a really good receiver, and you think about the four positions on defense in the back end plus the nickelback, the slot guy, so there’s five right there.”

Kirk Ferentz compared DeJean to former Iowa defensive backs Micah Hyde and Desmond King, both of whom were named the Big Ten Defensive Back of Year while at Iowa and now play in the NFL.

“It’s just an unusual skill set, if you will,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Micah Hyde is probably the closest thing maybe we had, maybe Desmond, but Micah is probably the better reach there.

“Then the most amazing part is he wasn’t recruited, especially in this day and age where there’s no secrets. On top of it, he’s a great young guy and just a great team member. Quite an effort tonight from him.”

DeJean was a multi-sport star in high school and Kirk Ferentz believes that has helped to make DeJean a better college football player.

“I’ll put a plug in for parents; being a multi-sport athlete, it seems like anybody who’s smart I talk to in football, they endorse that, the people in the NFL,” Kirk Ferentz said. “You can usually go back and trace that; like the good ball skill guys, they played stuff other than just football growing up. Sometimes they didn’t play football until later.

“But yeah, just going out and doing stuff is overlooked right now. Everybody is in this age of specialization and all that crazy stuff. Just let kids be kids and let them go out and play.”

DeJean’s humility was on display as he answered questions from the media after Saturday’s game. He was asked if he always has been real good at making plays in space.

“I think it goes back to when I was young, just playing around in the back yard, or whaever I was doing” DeJean said. “Just having that athletic ability. But yeah, I don’t really like talking about myself.”

DeJean doesn’t have to talk about himself because there are enough people to talk for him.

One member of the media even went as far to compare to DeJean to the legendary Nile Kinnick, who won Iowa’s only Heisman Trophy in 1939.

That might be a reach at this point, but the fact that somebody would even put DeJean in the same sentence as Nile Kinnick speaks volumes.

And DeJean is only sophomore.

Kirk Ferentz was asked after Saturday’s game if those outside of the program could truly appreciate and understand just how talented DeJean is as a football player.

“I’m not sure anybody could appreciate it, and why would you, but we do as coaches,” Kirk Ferentz said. “The other thing, he just makes it look easy, which is kind of amazing, too. Good players have a way of doing that sometimes, but it’s not easy. You’re talking about all the mental intricacies because he can play in the safety position for us, too.

“It’s all a positive. And then fielding punts in November is not easy, either, and he looked like he was under control the whole way there, It’s just some guys — I’m not saying you’re just born that way, but his whole development, his whole lifetime has just been playing ball and competing, and go back to that state championship game where it was ridiculous what he did, recovered an onside kick, scored. It’s just like somebody wrote a script on that stuff.”