North Pole High School seniors Caiden Olson and Devin Cooper-Jackson didn’t necessarily intend to play college football together. They didn’t even see themselves as football players a half decade ago, but that’s what they’ll be at Valley City State University (VCSU) next year after signing with the school in late February.
Both are planning on majoring in kinesiology once they get to Valley City, North Dakota. Cooper-Jackson wants to learn more about the human body to deal with injuries, and Olson intends to be a physical therapist or an athletic trainer.
Valley City State is part of the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), which is an alternative to the NCAA. The VCSU Vikings are joining the Frontier Conference beginning next academic year. The Vikings finished 3-7 last year and will begin their 2025 season on Aug. 30. North Pole head football coach Michael Hollett is a Valley City State alumni.
Both players met a Valley City State coach at the All Alaska Camp over the summer and kept in contact in the time since.
“Ever since then, that motivated me to keep pushing myself throughout practice, even when I was kind of injured,” Cooper-Jackson said by phone.
Olson wasn’t even planning on attending college, let alone playing collegiate football, entering this academic year. He grew up playing hockey, and still did for the Patriots this winter, and only began playing football in high school. Once his NHL dream began to seem long, Olson thought he’d go into the trades.
“I didn’t think about going to college until the beginning of the year, honestly,” Olson said. “I’ve kind of always been that kind of kid that was like ‘Oh I’m just going to the trades after school.’ I was all about like just jumping into the trades right after high school because my grandpa made good money being an electrician. I was like, ‘oh, you know, I’m just gonna follow his path, go do that.’
“But then I really fell in love with the game, because my freshman year was my very first year I ever played football, and I kind of just fell in love with it my sophomore year and it just pushed me to want to go to college. And then my senior year, when the camp happened and the coaches were really interested in me, it’s kind of when I realized that I want to play the next level.”
Olson and Cooper-Jackson were on a 2024 North Pole team that had the program’s most wins in a season since 2017 (seven). The Patriots defeated Lathrop in the Mayor’s Bowl, finished second in the Railbelt Conference with a 6-1 record and hosted a playoff game.
Olson was first-team all-state on offense, where he was a center, second-team all-state on defense as a lineman, and first-team all-Railbelt Conference on both ends. He’d been the Patriots’ starting center since his sophomore year.
“It’s always nice when you roll into a season and you know who your center is going to be and have solid confidence in that,” Hollett said at the signing. “When you watch his film, you see a kid that plays with a lot of passion and energy and also kind of a nastiness that you need your o-linemen to play with. It’s great film to turn on for anybody trying to figure out how to be an awesome o-lineman.”
Olson also tallied 25 tackles, including two tackles for loss, on defense this past season.
Cooper-Jackson was honorable mention all-Railbelt Conference. He rushed for 539 yards and seven touchdowns on 7.6 yards per carry in 2024 and had 190 additional all-purpose yards from receiving and kickoff returns. Cooper-Jackson posted 410 all-purpose yards in 2023.
“He’s infectious,” Hollett said of Cooper-Jackson. “He’s somebody that brings people around him. People love to be around DJ. He’s always got a smile on his face. He’s always working hard. He’s a great teammate, somebody that you want to be around. He brings joy to what you’re doing; it’s super fun to have DJ. We’re going to miss him next year for sure, miss his explosive ability, his ability to create plays, create magic.”
Cooper-Jackson didn’t grow up liking football because of the contact, but one of his coaches in middle school had him get tackled repeatedly in practice until he was OK with it. He had to overcome that fear of contact again his freshman year against bigger players, but once adrenaline kicked in, he ‘didn’t care.’ Adding mass helped as well.
Cooper-Jackson, who’s a long jumper and triple jumper at North Pole and plans to participate in track and field at VCSU as well, plans to begin at slot receiver and play a little bit of running back.
“So what they told me is that they’re okay with me playing slot receiver and a little bit of running back, but first they want to figure out what I’m really good at and then try to master that position first before I go and play another position,” Cooper-Jackson said.
Olson will play center or offensive guard at the collegiate level. He was intrigued by the idea of being near his extended family, which resides in Minnesota, and remaining in a colder climate.
“I got offered from a couple other colleges in like California, hot places, and I can barely stand the heat up here in the summer,” Olson said. “So, North Dakota, I’m probably more equipped to that than California. So that’s kind of how I made my decision.”
It wasn’t so long ago that they thought they’d be on different paths, but now Olson’s and Cooper-Jackson’s futures seem set to intertwine, at the same university, on the same team and in the same major.
