WNBA standout Caitlin Clark clapped back after a certain American football prospect suggested he could get the better of the basketball phenomenon on the court.

Caitlin Clark laid down the law to Cooper DeJean after her fellow Iowa alumnus suggested he could beat her in basketball.

American football prospect Cooper DeJean may find Caitlin Clark is a more difficult opponent to topple than he previously thought.

The NFL cornerback and punt returner encountered push-back from the WNBA Rookie of the Year after suggesting he’d have the better of Clark in a one-on-one basketball game. DeJean – who attended Iowa University at the same time as Clark – raised eyebrows earlier this year when he said he could best the Indiana Fever guard in her own field.

Cooper copped some flak when he told Yahoo! Sports in May: “I think I can [beat Clark one-on-one]. She’d probably score a few buckets on me, but I think I could pull it off.”

The confidence in which he delivered those comments – whether in jest or not – rubbed some critics up the wrong way. But fellow Iowa alumni Clark took the remark in her stride, as DeJean later revealed.

“She took a shot back at me,” he told American sportscaster Kay Adams earlier this year. “She texted me, and she said didn’t think that I could beat her. I’ll let her say that, but yeah, I mean, I think it’d be fun if we got to play each other.”

DeJean, 21, was later selected by the Philadelphia Eagles in the 2024 NFL Draft, though he was a special talent on the basketball court, too. The 1,832 career points he amassed at his high school, OA-BCIG, make him the third-highest points scorer in Iowa state history at that level.

DeJean gave up basketball in high school before being drafted by the Philadelphia Eagles.

And although the cornerback went on to say he had “nothing but respect” for Clark and all she’d accomplished, the WNBA breakout star had to defend her honour. DeJean spent his college years focusing on football and sprinting, and it appears the decision to leave basketball behind has paid dividends.

The first-year prospect is still in his rookie season at Lincoln Financial Field, though he’s yet to truly take flight as an Eagle. DeJean has registered seven solo tackles and three tackle assists across his last two games and is starting to play a bigger role in Philadelphia’s fortunes.

Compare that with Clark, who has become the new face of the WNBA and helped spark a revolutionary increase in interest around the league. And it seems the NCAA’s record all-time top points-scorer was only too happy to let DeJean know whom she felt ruled the roost between the two.