One of the most productive defensive backs from the 2023 college football season, where does Iowa State’s Jeremiah Cooper rank in the 2025 NFL Draft with his scouting report?
As his production implies, Cooper is a playmaker through and through.
Jeremiah Cooper’s Draft Profile and Measurements
- Height: 6’0″
- Weight: 185 pounds
- Position: Safety
- School: Iowa State
- Current Year: Junior
Some players just have that turnover gene. Cooper qualifies.
Part of Cooper’s playmaking ability comes from having a background as a former wide receiver. Cooper played both ways in high school, and across his high school career at Andress High in El Paso, he racked up 78 catches for 1,493 yards and seven touchdowns.
Cooper could play the ball — everyone knew it — but that skill was even more potent on defense. As a high school senior, Cooper snared nine interceptions — a figure that placed second in the state of Texas — and returned five for TDs. He nearly matched his career TD output at WR in one year as a defensive back.
Shockingly enough, Cooper was only a three-star recruit in the 2022 cycle, but Iowa State’s Matt Campbell saw his potential. As a true freshman, Cooper played nine games, racking up 32 tackles, a half-tackle for loss, and a pass breakup. As a true sophomore, he truly emerged.
In 2023, Cooper earned first-team All-Big 12 honors while accumulating 45 tackles, 1.5 TFLs, and a forced fumble — and his most prolific production came through the air. In coverage, he snagged five INTs and ten PBUs, returning one pick for a score.
Cooper is only a true junior who’ll just barely be 21 years old by the time the 2025 NFL Draft concludes. And already, he could be one of the best safety prospects in the class.
Cooper’s Scouting Report
Strengths
- Uber-explosive, fast-striding accelerator with near-elite closing speed on the attack.
- Possesses the long speed to cover swathing ranges overtop and close gaps in pursuit.
- Twitched-up, fleet-footed short-area mover with impressive calibration quickness.
- Has the hip fluidity to execute 180-degree transitions and blanket multi-layered routes.
- Snappy hip transitions, elite corrective twitch, and searing recovery speed mesh well.
- Can recognize drag routes and crossers and trigger early, surging downhill with zeal.
- Has good depth discipline, and can square up and shuffle with receivers before breaking.
- Quick processing, route recognition skills allow him to hawk in front of ill-fated passes.
- Shows off superb spatial awareness and route IQ and can stay on his assignments.
- Effectively varies his hip leverage and alignment in zone coverage based on routes.
- Flashes instant reaction to stimulus against out-breaking routes in off-man coverage.
- Former WR with elite ball skills, made more potent by body control and hand strength.
- Is a willing support participant who can use his speed to knife through blocking looks.
- Can square up and overset blockers, then shift inside and engage the ball as runners pass.
- Unique coverage framework enables him to play single-high, two-high, or off-man slot.
Weaknesses
- Is around average size overall with a leaner, lighter-than-average frame.
- Isn’t overly physical, and wins more often with mobility, at times avoiding contact.
- Occasionally fails to recognize corner routes going unencumbered and pass off his man.
- Sometimes incorrectly carries vertical routes when he should trigger on corner WRs.
- On occasion, can be baited into turning his hips prematurely, losing hip leverage.
- Can be re-routed by overlapping routes and pick WRs if not careful with positioning.
- Sometimes drops and rolls when engaging runners, failing to wrap up as a tackler.
- Playing most often from deeper alignments, is not overly engaged in run support.
- With lighter frame, can be easily outmuscled by tight ends blocking in space.
- Doesn’t have the mass or strength to consistently halt solo runners in space.
- Missed time with injuries in both 2022 and 2023, drawing durability into question.
Current Draft Projection and Summary
Entering the 2025 NFL Draft, Jeremiah Cooper grades out as a potential top-50 prospect. He’s one of the top safety prospects past Georgia’s Malaki Starks, and particularly for teams that need a high-level coverage safety with versatility and playmaking ability, he fits well.
Cooper’s early success and production, in and of itself, is a testament to his natural instincts for the position, and his unique playmaking feel. And on tape, a deeper natural ability for coverage play shows up, and provides a source of excitement.
Athletically, Cooper passes the eye test. He has elite explosive capacity and near-elite range on the back end, and he’s a twitched-up athlete with rapid foot speed in close quarters. Beyond that, he’s extremely fluid, and can make high-difficulty hip transitions with ease.
Cooper channels his all-encompassing mobility framework through an impressive variety of coverage alignments. He can play single-high, two-high, or even man the slot in off-man with his short-area agility. And in all of these roles, he showcases promising route recognition, reaction quickness, hip leverage IQ, and technical variability.
There are select situations still where Cooper’s processing and zone communication can improve, but overall, he’s a phenomenal coverage safety prospect. The bigger questions lie in the support phase, where Cooper is underweight, only moderately physical, and at times easy to displace.
Nevertheless, as an intermediate and deep safety with single-high and two-high capabilities, as well as off-man nickel utility, Cooper has the high-level physical tools, coverage variability, and playmaking instincts to be an impact starter at his peak in the NFL.
