Iowa Hawkeye Athletics Week in Review

ICYMI: News from Iowa City for Aug. 14-20, 2023

Iowa DB Cooper DeJean (right) shares a laugh with BTN's Dave Revsine during Big Ten Football Media Day on July 26, 2023 at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis. (Rob Howe/HawkeyeNation.com)

IOWA CITY, Iowa - Iowa Football has made noise this summer with student-athletes being named to watch lists for postseason awards. The run included a pair of Hawkeye defenders this past week. 

Nick Jackson, a transfer linebacker from Virginia, showed up on the Lombardi Award Watch List on Tuesday. He landed on the Butkus Award Watch List earlier this month. 

Former Hawkeyes Tyler Linderbaum (2021) and Adrian Clayborn ('10) were finalists for the Lombardi. Jack Campbell ('22), Brandon Scherff ('14), Robert Gallery ('03), Jared DeVries ('98), Mike Devlin ('92) and Jeff Drost ('86) were semifinalists from Iowa.

Semifinalists for the Lombardi Award will be announced Nov. 1, while the four finalists will be unveiled Nov. 15. The winner of the Lombardi Award will be announced on Dec. 6.

Junior defensive back Cooper DeJean was added to another watch list. The Bednarik Award included him on its watch list, which was released Monday. 

Nagurski Trophy (defensive player of the year), Jim Thorpe Award (defensive back), and Paul Hornung Award (versatility) also put DeJean on their watch lists. The Hawkeyes have had eight Bednarik semifinalists for the award since '05, including Jack Campbell last season and Daviyon Nixon in '20. 

Hoops in Cali 

The inaugural Rady Children’s Invitational released its matchups Thursday. The Iowa men's basketball team will meet up with Oklahoma on Nov. 23 at LionTree Arena on the campus of UC San Diego in La Jolla, Calif. 

Seton Hall and USC will play in the other game. The winners and losers from the opening contests will then face off the following day. 

Soccer Stories

Iowa soccer goalkeeper Macy Enneking, forward Meike Ingles and defender Samantha Cary were named Big Ten Players to Watch. The conference made the announcement on Tuesday. 

The Hawkeyes then opened their season with a 1-0 victory at Florida Gulf Coast on Thursday. Ingles scored the contest's loan goal. 

Sunday night, Iowa improved to 2-0 with a 2-0 victory against visiting Kansas City. Elle Otto and Josie Durr scored goals for the winners. Goalie Macy Enneking remained un-scored upon this season. 

Softball Adds Staff

Iowa softball named Miranda Miller as its director of operations, head coach Renee Gillispie announced Monday. Miller previously served as the women’s soccer director of operations at the University of Oklahoma. 

The Hawkeyes also released their fall schedule on Friday. In-state rivals Iowa State, UNI and Drake all appeared on the slate. 

Smart Cookies

A trio of Iowa women’s gymnasts were named Women’s Collegiate Gymnastics Association Scholastic All-America Award recipients. The announcement came from the WCGA on Tuesday.

Freshmen Gianna Masella and Kaia Vanney along with junior Allison Zuhlke were recognized. Vanney, a health studies major, was one of 223 student-athletes in the nation who received a 4.00 GPA. Masella is carrying a 3.83 GPA while majoring in dentistry and Zuhlke has a 3.70 cumulative GPA in enterprise leadership.

Men's Golf Adds

Men’s golf welcomed sophomore transfer Cale Leonard for the  upcoming season. Leonard, an Iowa native, came to the Hawkeyes from Drake University.

Leonard qualified for the U.S. Amateur this summer. As an Ottumwa High senior in '21-22, he won the individual 4A Iowa State Championship.