IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa senior linebacker Jack Campbell l has been named first-team All-America by The Associated Press, while senior defensive back Kaevon Merriweather and junior punter Tory Taylor were second-team AP All-America selections.
With the AP All-America team announcement, Campbell earns Consensus All-America status, as he was previously named a first team selection by Walter Camp and the Football Writers Association of America (FWAA). The Sporting News team will be announced Tuesday, while the fifth and final team used in the consensus voting, selected by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), will be announced Wednesday.
Campbell is the 29th Hawkeye to earn consensus All-America status, while two of those players (OL Calvin Jones and LB Larry Station) earned the distinction in two separate seasons. Iowa football has had a consensus All-American in four straight seasons for the first time in program history.
Along with the consensus All-America status, Campbell earned individual honors with two national awards last week. On Tuesday, Campbell was presented the William V. Campbell Trophy by the National Football Foundation before being presented the Butkus Award as the top linebacker in the nation on Thursday.
Campbell was previously 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) has led Iowa’s defense all season. He has totaled 118 tackles, which are 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.
Iowa has had a consensus first-team All-America selection each of the last four years (K Keith Duncan, 2019; DL Daviyon Nixon, 2020; OL Tyler Linderbaum, 2021), along with two selections (LB Josey Jewell, DB Joshua Jackson) in 2017.
Meriweather earned second-team All-America honors after starting every game and ranking second on the team with three interceptions. The Michigan native has 47 tackles and scored a defensive touchdown with a fumble return in Iowa’s win at Rutgers. He was named Big Ten Defensive Player of the Week for his play against the Scarlet Knights.
Merriweather also earned honorable mention All-Big Ten recognition and is a semifinalist for the Jason Whitten Collegiate Man of the Year.
Taylor, a native of Melbourne, Australia, earned his second All-America nod after being named a first-team All-American by the FWAA. He was also 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 on Saturday, Dec. 31 in Nashville (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.
