Oct. 15, 2007
IOWA-ILLINOIS GAME CENTRAL
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IOWA CITY — University of Iowa senior football linebacker Mike Humpal has been named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week. It’s the first time the Hawkeye linebacker has earned the weekly honor. The announcement came today from the Big Ten office.
Humpal, a 6-3, 242-pounder from New Hampton, IA, had a career game in Iowa’s win over nationally-ranked Illinois last Saturday. Humpal had a career-best 18 tackles and 2.5 tackles for loss, including his first career sack. He recovered a fumble, for the second straight week, to spearhead an Iowa defensive effort that limited Illinois to a pair of field goals in the 10-6 triumph.
Humpal has recorded double-digit tackles in his last three outings. His previous best outing was 13 tackles against Indiana on Sept. 29th. He is Iowa’s leading tackler on the year with 73. Iowa’s second leading tackler is defensive back Adam Shada with 47 stops. Humpal also has five tackles for loss (13 yards) and two interceptions.
Illinois, which entered the game averaging 30.2 points and 261.2 rushing yards per contest, was held to just two field goals and 137 yards on the ground.
The last Iowa player to win Defensive Player of the Week honors was defensive tackle Mitch King, against Wisconsin, during the 2005 season. Defensive end Ken Iwebema was named Special Teams Player of the Week, earlier this year, for his efforts against Syracuse.
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