Big Ten 2015 Defensive Back of the Year Desmond King Returning to Iowa for Senior Year
Written by Ryan Wright
Twitter: @HogManInLA
The Iowa Hawkeyes gave their fan base a season to remember in 2015 posting a 12-2 overall record, best in school history, winning the Big Ten West Division with an 8-0 record. The final two games of the season did not go as planned with a last minute 16-13 loss to then- No. 5 Michigan State in the Big Ten Championship Game and a tough 45-16 Rose Bowl defeat handed out by Pac-12 Champion Stanford but help is on the way for the 2016 giving promise for another thrilling year.
Iowa landed five players on the All-Big Ten Defensive Teams placing linebacker Josey Jewell and kicker Marshall Koehn on the second team and safety Jordan Lomax and defensive lineman Nate Meier on the third team. The key player in the secondary was junior cornerback Desmond King, a first team All-Big Ten selection. Lucky for Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz and staff, as announced on Thursday, King will return for his senior season bypassing an opportunity for NFL riches.
King, a former high school running back from East English Village (Detroit, MI), did a little bit of everything for the Hawkeyes in 2015 coming up with 72 tackles, a tackle for a loss, 13 pass breakups, defended 21 passes, and came up with a Big Ten leading eight interceptions tallying 118 return yards. The year King turned in for Iowa was not lost nationally winning the Jim Thorpe Award as the top defensive back in college football. King was just the seventh player in Big Ten history to win the award since its inception in 1986.
Iowa will get leading tackler Josey Jewell and his 126 stops, 7.5 tackles for a loss, three sacks, and four picks back but most replace fellow linebacker Cole Fisher and his 116 tackles. Safety Jordan Lomax has used up his college eligibility but a potential saving grace could be coming back in defensive end Drew Ott. Ott suffered a season ending knee injury playing in just six games collecting 7.5 tackles for a loss and a team-high, at the time of his injury, five sacks. If the NCAA grants Ott another year, Iowa’s defense could be as stingy and nasty in 2016 as seen in 2015 finishing as the No. 22 ranked overall defense allowing just 341 total yards per game.
King’s return to Iowa had to be a tough decision, mock NFL draft speculation had King as a potential first to second round selection. With King’s return, Iowa also keeps their top punt returner, 17 attempts for 241 yards, and top kick returner, 29 attempts for 708 yards.
Photo credit: hawkcentral.com; No. 14 Desmond King is back!