Deke Cooper

John Delvicchio "Deke" Cooper (born October 18, 1977) is an American former professional football player who was a safety in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Notre Dame Fighting Irish and was signed by the Arizona Cardinals as an undrafted free agent in 2000.

Early life Cooper attended North High School in Evansville, Indiana, where he reached the finals of the Indiana High School Athletic Association's State Championship Football Playoffs. Cooper was nominated for the 1995 Mr. Football Award. Cooper also played basketball and was a state meet qualifier in four events (300 Hurdles, Long Jump, High Jump, and 4x100 Relay) in Track and Field.

College career At the University of Notre Dame, Cooper played in 45 games with 25 starts and totaled 203 tackles, six interceptions, four fumble recoveries, seven forced fumbles and five passes defensed, returning one fumble for a touchdown. Cooper graduated from Notre Dame in 2000 with a degree in sociology. The Cardinals waived Cooper on September 2, 2001. In his first season with NFL game appearances, Cooper played in 10 games with two tackles for the Panthers in 2002. The Panthers waived Cooper on August 31, 2003. Cooper returned to a starting role in 2005, this time at strong safety. In 16 games with 12 starts, Cooper had 58 tackles, one interception, five passes defended, and one fumble recovery.

On March 26, 2007, he signed with the Panthers for the second time.

NFL career statistics Legend Bold Career high

Regular season Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck TFL Int Yds TD Lng PD FF FR Yds TD 2002 CAR 10 0 2 2 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2003 JAX 14 10 60 42 18 0.0 1 1 12 0 12 4 0 1 10 0 2004 JAX 16 0 38 34 4 1.0 0 1 0 0 0 2 2 0 0 0 2005 JAX 16 12 58 48 10 0.0 0 1 0 0 0 5 0 1 0 0 2006 SFO 1 0 1 1 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 2007 CAR 16 15 59 46 13 0.0 0 3 19 0 19 4 1 0 0 0 73 37 218 173 45 1.0 1 6 31 0 19 15 3 2 10 0

Playoffs Year Team Games Tackles Interceptions Fumbles GP GS Cmb Solo Ast Sck TFL Int Yds TD Lng PD FF FR Yds TD 2005 JAX 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 0 0.0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0

Personal life Cooper married Gwen Crisp in 2006. They have six children. After retiring from football, Cooper founded Future Leaders Christian Academy, a day care center in the Atlanta area.