Iowa football pair honored by Phil Steele as preseason All-Americans

After a fantastic sophomore season, Iowa cornerback Cooper DeJean made Phil Steele’s second-team defense. Behind first-team members Kool-Aid McKinstry of Alabama and Kalen King of Penn State, DeJean is joined on the second team by Notre Dame‘s Benjamin Morrison.

DeJean was a first-team All-Big Ten member last year by the league’s media after finishing second in the Big Ten with five interceptions. He set a single-season record with three interception return touchdowns in 2022. DeJean is PFF’s second highest-ranked returning cornerback in the nation behind King.

The Hawkeyes did have a first-team preseason All-American in punter Tory Taylor.

Taylor got plenty of action trying to flip the field for Iowa and its lackluster offense last season. He set the Hawkeyes’ single-season record for 3,725 yards in punting, which was almost 200 more yards than the second-place punter in college football a year ago. – Cody Nagel, 247Sports.

Last year, Taylor was named a first-team All-American by the Football Writer’s Association of America, Phil Steele and Pro Football Focus. He was also named a second-team All-American by the Associated Press. He was a first-team All-Big Ten member by the league’s media and Phil Steele.

But then puzzlingly, Taylor was a second-team All-Big Ten choice by the Associated Press and a third-team All-Big Ten selection by the league’s coaches. He somehow also wasn’t a finalist for the Ray Guy Award, which is crazy.

Anyone who watched Iowa football last year would tell you that Taylor was at times one of Iowa’s best players. His great punts pinned opposing teams near their own goal line, and honestly helped contribute just as much to Iowa’s point total as the passing attack. So much of Iowa’s success was because of this punter and he absolutely deserves national recognition.

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