Deshaun Lee hadn't even played, much less started a game for Iowa in his year-long tenure in Iowa City -- until Saturday. With starting cornerback Jermari Harris sidelined for the 2023 season opener against Utah State, Lee finally got his time to shine.
"For the last couple weeks I've been running with the ones," he said following the Hawkeyes' 24-14 win. "But the week of the game is when I actually found out I was going to start. I was ready for my number to be called, just preparing a lot and putting in a lot of work."
The Aggies knew it was Lee's first time starting too, and head coach and playcaller Blake Anderson targeted him early. The first two plays of the game for the Utah State offense were passes swung to the left side of the field in order to get their receiver in space and matched up with Lee. The Belleville, Michigan, native made back-to-back open-field tackles to help stall the Aggies' first possession.
"I'm happy they did [throw it at me early]. It woke me up a little bit," Lee laughed. "I finally made a play in a college game, so it was a lot of excitement."
Lee finished the day with six tackles, and though he didn't register a pass break-up or an interception, he did enough in the secondary to earn some recognition by one of his older teammates.
"I'm really proud of that dude," senior mike linebacker Jay Higgins said. "They obviously tried him with the vertical [route], and one play they rolled out to the field to try a long pass back. He stayed on it. That's a play that's not going to show up on the stat sheet, but in the defensive room -- when Coach (Phil) Parker is watching the defense and he sees a young DB stay patient and disciplined on a trick play -- that's all we can ask for."
"A young guy who understands the importance of reading your keys is great."
Higgins and Parker aren't the only seasoned Hawkeye vets who liked what they saw from Lee on Saturday, either.
"It was impressive -- his tackling and being where he should be to contain some of those things," Head Coach Kirk Ferentz said. "[His play] really may be as good a story as there was today, because you have a guy like Cade (McNamara) who has played. Deshaun hasn't really. So for him to step in there and do that, I thought he did a great job."
Lee has been in the mix with other young defensive backs like TJ Hall for that spot, and he rose to the top throughout camp.
"We've had good competition throughout August with those guys," Ferentz added. "For him to step up -- this has to be good for his confidence."
"It's just the consistency, and we felt like he was the most ready to be the starter today. Count him again for next week."
