Cotton and Meyer earn spots on CFPA Watch List

July 1, 2013

IOWA CITY, Iowa – University of Iowa student-athletes Jordan Cotton and Mike Meyer have been named to the 2013 College Football Performance Awards Special Teams Watch List, the CFPA recently announced. Cotton earned a spot on the 2013 CFPA Kickoff Returner Trophy Watch list, while Meyer was named to the Placekicker Trophy Watch List.

“Congratulations to Jordan Cotton and Mike Meyer on earning spots on the 2013 CFPA Watch List,” said CFPA Executive Director Brad Smith. “Both players are elite special teams performers for Iowa.”

Cotton, a senior from Mount Pleasant, Iowa, led the Big Ten and ranked 14th nationally last season with a 28.2-yard average on 19 kickoff returns. He was named Kick Returner of the Week by the CFPA for his performance against Penn State, in which he returned a kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. That return ties as 10th longest in school history.

Meyer, a Dubuque, Iowa native, was named one of 20 semifinalists for the 2012 Lou Groza Award for the second straight season. The senior’s 81 consecutive made PATs broke the previous school record of 60, set by former Lou Groza Award winner Nate Kaeding. On the year Meyer was 17-21 on field goal attempts, with a season long of 50 yards. Meyer earned honorable mention All-Big Ten honors by both league coaches and media. He ranks fifth in career scoring with 235 points.

All CFPA recipients are selected exclusively based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams. All players are eligible for awards at their respective positions; players are not preemptively eliminated from consideration. More than 130 CFPA recipients have signed professional contracts, and twenty-one have been first-round NFL Draft selections.

Former Hawkeye defensive lineman Adrian Clayborn earned the CFPA National Defensive Player of the Year Trophy in 2009.

The full list of 2013 CFPA recipients will be announced on January 8, 2014.