‘You can’t get that anywhere else’: Hawkeyes’ Jay Higgins, Deontae Craig share love of dogs off the field

Perhaps there are no two players that are going to take on bigger roles in 2023 than Jay Higgins and Deontae Craig. Both players filling voids at key positions — and both expected to rise as leaders of a defense with perpetually lofty expectations. Both came home to the same apartment every night.

Things got shaken up at home base in January when Craig made a trip three hours away from Iowa City to Mason City, Illinois. The destination: Redwood Cane Corsos — and Craig brought back a puppy named Kobie.

“It’s a match made in heaven for sure.” Craig said.

Kobie is only a few months old but already weighs 50 pounds and will eventually account for twice as much. And he has a friend: Jay Higgins’ 1-year-old dachshund Romeo, who isn’t quite as high-maintenance, according to Higgins.

“Long hair dachshund, small dog, low maintenance,” Higgins’ described his dog. “Deontae Craig has a Cane Corso who’s five months — probably 50 pounds. Barks really deep, uses the bathroom like a horse.”

While Higgins may prefer a lower maintenance dog, his miniature dachshund and Craig’s golitah-sized puppy seem to get along just fine.

“They still play, wrestle — run around chasing each other all day. It’s funny, it makes for good memories,” Deontae Craig said.

The good news for Jay is he, Craig, Nick Jackson and Kyler Fisher are moving into a house together with a fenced-in backyard. Jackson, being the new man on campus, won’t be far from his new teammates. And that’s by design.

Higgins has taken charge of being the new voice of the Iowa defense. And he’s been intricate in his approach to getting new teammates caught up to speed.

“Every summer we start over from the basics,” Higgins said. “We talk about what it means to be on the Iowa defense, what an Iowa defensive player looks like. How to finish plays. What Coach Parker’s six seconds of hell looks like.”

Higgins has made himself available to watch film, and be an extension of Parker off the field.

“I know the meetings like the back of my hand,” Higgins declared. “I just feel like getting the guys together, going over anything we can in the summer, just learning football together is going to help us come game week.”

But football aside, Craig and Higgins have been living together since their freshman year at Iowa. Both deciding to invest in dogs in their Iowa City homes, and they both agree their dogs are helping them off the field.

“I don’t want to get too deep but when I go home Romeo doesn’t care if I messed up a check or gave up a tackle. He doesn’t care if I didn’t slide in front of the two tight ends — he just doesn’t care,” Higgins said. “Growing up as an athlete, sometimes your worth is how good you’re playing on the field. When I go home to Romeo he doesn’t care about football, and that’s why I got a dog because he’s always happy to see me and you really can’t get that anywhere else.”

“He’s always happy whether I have the best day or the worst day ever, I know when I come he’s going to be jumping on me and wagging his tail,” Deontae Craig added.

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