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Rice University Athletics
DeJaun Cooper
12/18/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Dec. 18, 2006
DeJaun Cooper figures it should be no big deal that he cares enough about the other members of Lovett College that he has always stopped by their rooms to check in and see how things are going.
No big deal, except most college members probably were not expecting a visitor who stands 6-3 , weighs in at nearly 290 pounds and spends a sizeable part of his time engaged in the hand-to-hand combat that is the norm among college football linemen.
"I've always had that type of personality," Cooper says. "I've always had friends who were not athletes and didn't see any reason that would change when I came to Rice. At first, some people were a bit surprised to find a football player stopping by to talk, and to find that I was really interested to hear what was going on with them. But now, people come to me to talk and ask my advice about things, and that is great," Cooper added.
At any school, the combination of academics and athletics leaves little free time, but even with the workload at Rice, Cooper has made the time to be involved in as many additional activities as he can.
"You really miss the point of coming to a school like Rice if you shut yourself off from everything but class and practice," Cooper notes.
Cooper has done just the opposite. He had attended any number of events to expand his understanding of the experiences of others. He went to one hosted by a women's group to gain a better awareness of the issues of abused and harassed women. When a close friend announced to him that she was gay, he became involved in an event that hosted former NFL player Dave Kopay, who spoke about the experiences of being a gay man in pro football.
"Some people thought that was odd that I was hosting him and showing him around campus," Cooper said. "But what people might say has never bothered me. I was interested in what he had to say and how I could relate that to what my friend was going through."
Cooper has also found time to serve as a youth counselor, a mentor to new students, a powder puff football coach, and just about any other activity that has come up at Lovett during his career.
He has a number of friends who went to other schools to play football, and he finds them looking at his experience at Rice with some admiration.
"I think they like the freedom and the respect that the students here are shown," Cooper said. "I don't know that they feel like they could do some of the things I have done where they are."
He is DeJaun Cooper of Lovett College, and he is one of Tomorrow's Leaders
