IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior linebacker Jack Campbell and junior punter Tory Taylor have been named first-team All-America by the Football Writers Association of America. The FWAA All-America selections were announced Friday morning.
Earlier this week Campbell received the William V. Campbell Trophy, presented by the National Football Foundation, and was named the recipient of the Butkus Award, awarded annually to the top linebacker in the nation.
Campbell was also named the Nagurski-Wooden Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year and the Butkus-Fitzgerald Big Ten Linebacker of the Year and he earned first-team All-Big Ten honors for the second consecutive season. He was named a semifinalist for the Bednarik and Rotary Lombardi awards.
Campbell (6-foot-5, 246-pounds) was the leader of Iowa’s defense throughout the season. He has totaled 118 tackles, which rank second in the Big Ten and tied for 13th nationally. The Cedar Falls, Iowa, native also recorded two interceptions, one recovered fumble and one forced fumble, along with 3.5 tackles for loss. He has 295 career tackles to rank 19th in program history.
Taylor, a native of Melbourne, Australia, was a first-team All-Big Ten selection by the conference media and third team by Big Ten coaches. Taylor handled all punting duties throughout the season, averaging 45.1 yards on 74 punts, with a long of 70 yards. Taylor has placed 32 punts inside the 20 with just 11 touchbacks. He has 22 punts of 50 yards or more, while opponents are averaging just 3.7 yards on 18 returns.
Taylor was named the Big Ten Special Team Player of the Week following his performance in wins over South Dakota State and Rutgers). Taylor in three seasons has averaged 45.3 yards on 194 punts, with 89 punts inside the 20 (45.8 percent) and 58 punts of 50 yards or more.
Iowa (7-5, 5-4) will face Kentucky in the TransPerfect Music City Bowl in Nashville on Dec. 31 (11 a.m. CT, ESPN). The Hawkeyes earned their 20th bowl invite over the past 24 seasons under Moon Family head football coach Kirk Ferentz.
