By Blake Dowson
With the summer coming to an end soon and fall camp starting up in less than a week for almost all college football teams, the preseason watch lists are winding down.
Iowa’s standout cornerback Desmond King got one more piece of the action on Tuesday, being named to Phil Steele’s preseason first-team All-American team.
None of the awards watch lists King was named to this summer were surprising. He was a consensus All-American last season and is one of the top returning players in the country this season. In fact, he is the first Thorpe Award winner to ever return to school the following season.
Regardless, the sheer number of lists his name landed on is a lot to take in. He was honored in some capacity by nine different awards or lists this summer: Bednarik Award watch list, Nagurski Trophy watch list, Jim Thorpe Award watch list, Paul Hornung Award watch list, Walter Camp Player of the Year watch list, Big Ten preseason honors list, Athlon Sport’s preseason first-team All-American, Big Ten preseason first-team all-conference, and now the nod from Steele.
King was actually listed three separate places on the Big Ten preseason all-conference list. He was listed as the first-team cornerback (expectedly) and was also listed as the second-team punt returner and third-team kick returner.
It doesn’t seem likely that King puts up the same huge numbers that he did last season, because quarterbacks simply won’t throw his way as often as they did last season.
But if he does put up the same numbers (and say, returns a kick or two for touchdowns) and earns consensus All-American status again, his name will be permanently placed alongside the likes of Nile Kinnick on the press box inside the stadium named after Kinnick.