The statistics tell the story of Jeremiah Cooper’s career. A former three-star recruit, Cooper stepped into a starting role as a true freshman at Iowa State in 2022 and recorded 32 tackles. He followed that with 45 stops in 2023 and 48 in 2024, adding seven interceptions across that span and emerging as one of the Big 12’s most productive safeties.
But just two weeks before fall camp in 2025, Cooper was converted to an emergency cornerback as injuries hit the Cyclones hard. He allowed only five receptions on 14 targets and snagged an interception, but three games into the season, an ACL injury abruptly ended a senior campaign that began with preseason All-Big 12 recognition and NFL draft momentum.
“There’ve been very hard days, but I’m forever gonna be grateful for this injury,” Cooper said Wednesday. “I know it sounds crazy, but I’ve learned so much about myself, and I just got to keep going.”
Cooper has put a positive spin on the experience, viewing it as “a bump in the road.” He’s put his trust in the medical staffs at Iowa State and Penn State to get him back healthy, and he expects to be fully ready for the start of the season, making a return to his natural position of safety.
“If you want to get to where you want to go, it’s not going to be easy,” he said. “If you think it’s gonna be easy, I don’t know what to tell you.”
While his time playing cornerback was brief — less than 200 snaps — Cooper learned more about the technical side of covering receivers. He plans to carry those lessons into his final collegiate season, which will take place at a new school but still under head coach Matt Campbell and position coach Deon Broomfield.
“I’m going wherever he goes no matter what. Coach Campbell changed my life with the four years I was at Iowa State, not just as a player but as a man,” Cooper said. “That’s all I can ask for as a coach and as a leader.”
Instead of taking his talents to the draft, Cooper is in State College rehabbing his ACL alongside linebacker Tony Rojas, who sustained the same injury at around the same time last season.
The two have spent long hours together in the training room, reaching benchmarks together as they recover for one last college season that they weren’t expecting to be around for.
“It makes me feel a little bit better knowing that I got somebody going through the same thing as me,” Cooper said. “He’s a dog too, so he’s gonna be back on that field as well real soon.”
When the moment comes, Cooper “can’t wait” to take the field at Beaver Stadium for the first time. He experienced a taste of what the gameday environment looks like during Penn State’s outdoor hockey game, which he attended with a group of teammates.
When rehab is done and he returns to action, he describes himself as someone who creates plays, not just for himself but for teammates. That’s evidenced by his five interceptions in 2022 and 30 career pass break-ups — tied for sixth among returning players nationally,
“Just my play-making ability and how smart I am on the field. I think that’s what brought me this far, my knowledge of the game,” Cooper said. “I grew so much in the film room from freshman year to now, and it just slows everything down. It helps your teammates, you see something on the field, you communicate quick with your teammates, and that’s all they need to make a play.”
