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Eagles notebook: “COOOOOOOPPPPPP!!!!” originally appeared on NBC Sports Philadelphia
The first time he heard it, Cooper DeJean was pretty confused.
He was still just a sophomore at Iowa when the fans in Iowa City began a chant that followed him the rest of his college career: “COOOOOOOPPPPPP!!!!”
“The first time they did it in college, I thought they were booing me,” DeJean said this week, “and then I figured it out.”
So when he heard the same chant at the Linc on Sunday, he knew what it was immediately. It was an acknowledgement from the loyal Eagles fans watching the 28-23 win over the Jaguars.
“Yeah, it was cool,” DeJean said.
Eagles fans began chanting his name for his first punt return but it wasn’t very loud. Those chants got louder with each punt after and were very loud when he forced a turnover on downs with a pass breakup on 4th-and-1.
Safety Reed Blankenship grew up as a fan of the Alabama Crimson Tide, so he remembers hearing “COOOP!!!” chants for Amari Cooper. When asked about hearing those chants for DeJean, Blankenship said it was, “freaking sick.”
“I figured they would catch on eventually, but to see it was cool,” Blankenship said. “It was quiet the first time and then they said, ‘Let’s roll with it.’ It’s cool”
DeJean, 21, has been an impressive rookie. The 40th overall pick began the season as a backup but has been the top nickel corner for the last four games in addition to picking up punt return responsibilities after Britain Covey suffered a shoulder injury in Week 3.
This season, DeJean has 9 punt returns for 102 yards (11.3) and has been even better as a nickel corner. DeJean has been targeted 18 times and has given up 12 passes for 74 yards. He also has stops on 4th-and-short in back-to-back weeks.
So he’s giving fans a reason to chant his name as loud as they can.
DeJean was impressed by how synched up fans were able to get when they chanted his name for the first few times. But many of those same…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/eagles-notebook-cooooooopppppp-120000499.html
Author : NBC Sports Philadelphia
Publish date : 2024-11-09 12:00:00
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