PHILADELPHIA – It would have been easy for Cooper DeJean to let the moment get too big for him. He’s just 21 years old, the youngest player on the Eagles team that gets younger every year, and he’s not two months younger than the next youngest player, Jeremiah Trotter Jr.

DeJean won’t turn 22 until Feb. 8, shortly after Trotter reaches his “mature” age on Dec. 24. But the rookie from Iowa has made a big impact on the defense since being inserted into the starting lineup following the bye week. .

“It’s crazy to even think about a 21-year-old playing against grown men,” DeJean said. “But I think just growing up, I feel like my parents helped me mature from a young age. “They taught me how to work hard, how to stay humble, and coming from a small town, I feel like those are things you have to have, especially when you have such big dreams.”

The Eagles showed his age when they drafted him in the second round, trading two premium picks to NFC East rival Washington to move up to 40th overall.

So how did someone so young and looking even younger like DeJean get to where he is today?

Born in South Dakota, DeJean and his family moved to Ida Grove, Iowa, a small town of barely 1,000 people where cattle were king and there were no traffic lights, only stop and yield signs.

His family nurtured his big dreams by keeping him and his two brothers busy with chores and chores towards becoming a football standout.

“Our parents knew that we really loved sports, so they pushed us hard to study those things because they knew that was what we loved,” DeJean said. “Those are the things they pushed us to work hard on. “They knew we had dreams, and if you want to achieve them, you won’t get there without working hard.”

Occasionally, he would go over to a friend’s house to help feed his cattle, but other than that, the jobs he did were the kind of work any average young teenager would do, like mowing the lawn, washing dishes, and more. He attended the University of Iowa, which helped his game grow even more.

He played all three secondary positions during his years with the Hawkeyes and was a unanimous All-American in his senior season. He was also a finalist for the Bronco Nagurski (best linebacker in the nation) and Jim Thorpe (best DB in the country) awards. He was the Big Ten’s Defensive Player of the Year with 41 tackles (26 solo) and two interceptions.

During his career, he made 120 tackles (85 solo) and 20 passes defended, three of which were returned for touchdowns, in 30 games, 24 of which were starts.

Maybe it’s a coincidence that the Eagles are 2-0 with DeJean as the starter after the Eagles’ bye week. He has 10 tackles with half a sack and a quarterback hit heading into Sunday’s game against the Bengals in Cincinnati (1 p.m./CBS).

“He’s very coachable,” Eagles defensive coordinator Vic Fangio said. “I’ve got a good attitude to play. I think that’s one of his strengths and he’s going to get better. And I think the more he plays and the more experienced he becomes, you try to expose him to as many things as possible in practice, but obviously with low-repetition training he can do that all the time.” You cannot succeed in time.

“But I think he will learn; There will be no repeat offenders. If he makes a mistake on something new, it will stay in his memory bank and it won’t happen again.”

DeJean still has things to work on at the slot position, like man-to-man reporting. He did a good job, especially with the zone defense that Fangio used against the Giants.

“I need to continue to get better at my techniques, especially covering men,” he said. “That’s something I’m trying to work on and really try to gather the information that the offense is giving us.

“The more reps I get, the more I start to understand what the offense is trying to do to us, understand the areas where it can hurt us in certain areas, and start thinking about it play by play. The more comfortable you get out there, the more you can think about it.”

So far, so good. Especially for a player who is only 21 years old.

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