Jackson, O'Brien Earn Iowa’s B1G Outstanding Sportsmanship Award

IOWA CITY, Iowa -- Nick Jackson (football) and Alix O'Brien (swimming and diving) have been selected as Iowa’s 2025 Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award winners. The duo were chosen from Iowa’s list of 2024-25 Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winners, which had a representative from each varsity sport.

Jackson finished his collegiate career with 555 tackles, second most in FBS history. He is the all-time leader in NCAA history with 73 college football games played. The Atlanta native recorded 26 career 10+ tackle games and four 100+ tackle seasons.

An honorable mention all-conference and Academic All-Big Ten selection, Jackson started all 13 games in 2024. He amassed 91 tackles, including five for loss (2.5 sacks), one interception, seven pass break-ups and five quarterback pressures in his final season with the Hawkeyes.

O’Brien and the Hawkeyes finished the 2025 season with a 5-3 record, including wins over rivals Iowa State, Nebraska and UNI. Iowa also took down conference foes Illinois and Rutgers. The Apple Valley, Minnesota, native led the Hawkeyes throughout her career in the 500, 1,000 and 1,650 freestyle races. She was one of two team captains during the season.

O’Brien leaves the program ranked seventh all-time in school history in the 1,000 free (9:59.10) and ninth all-time in the 500 free (4:48.53) and 1,650 free (16:40.07). All three of those times were accomplished during her senior season. She was a C finalist in the 1,650 free at the Big Ten Championships in 2024, placing 22nd overall. As a sophomore, she was a a two-time finalist at the Big Ten meet, placing 22nd in the 1,650 free and 12th on the 800-free relay team. O’Brien concluded her career as a Dean’s List student, Academic All-Big Ten honoree and letterwinner.

The Big Ten first awarded the Outstanding Sportsmanship honor in 2003. The student-athletes chosen were individuals who have distinguished themselves through sportsmanship and ethical behavior, were in good academic standing and demonstrated good citizenship outside of the sports-competition setting.

Following is a list of Iowa’s past Big Ten Outstanding Sportsmanship Award Winners:

Year	Men’s Award Winner	Women’s Award Winner
2003	Stuart Waters, Men’s Tennis	Kristin Johnson, Softball
2004	Nate Kaeding, Football	Laura Chipman, Softball
2005	Joe Johnston, Wrestling	Jennifer Skolaski, Swimming & Diving
2006	Adam Haluska, Men’s Basketball	Liz Grajewski, Women’s Gymnastics
2007	Adam Haluska, Men’s Basketball	Kara Zappone, Field Hockey
2008	Bart van Monsjou, Men’s Tennis	Brittany Keyes, Rowing
2009	Christian Bierich, Men’s Tennis	Wendy Ausdemore, Women’s Basketball
2010	A.J. Edds, Football	Laura Cilek, Women’s Golf
2011	Chris Brant, Men’s Golf	Kelsey Cermak, Women’s Basketball
2012	Matt Gatens, Men’s Basketball	Betsy Flood, Women’s Track & Field
2013	Eric May, Men’s Basketball	Mareike Schrulle, Women’s Cross Country
2014	James Morris, Football	Theairra Taylor, Women’s Basketball
2015	Mark Weisman, Football	Melissa Dixon, Women’s Basketball
2016	Drew Ott, Football	Amy Ihm, Women’s Golf
2017	Nicholas Baer, Men’s Basketball	Sophie Plasteras, Field Hockey
2018	Spencer Lee, Wrestling	Hannah Stewart, Women’s Basketball
2019	Alex Marinelli, Wrestling	Hannah Stewart, Women’s Basketball
2020	Connor McCaffery, Men’s Basketball	Makenzie Meyer, Women’s Basketball
2021	Mehki Sargent, Football	Kate Martin, Women’s Basketball
2022	Patrick McCaffery, Men’s Basketball	Bailey Ortega, Volleyball
2023	Kaevon Merriweather, Football	Jordan Amelon, Women’s Golf
2024	Jay Higgins, Football	Kate Martin, Women’s Basketball
2025	Nick Jackson, Football	Alix O'Brien, Women’s Swimming & Diving