Josh Jackson earns his first national award, and made the Big Ten’s First-Team defense.

By Adam Hensley
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Hawkeye defensive back Josh Jackson won the Jack Tatum Award on Tuesday, the Touchdown Club of Columbus announced.

Jackson for the national lead with 7 interceptions this season. The Corinth, Texas, native leads the country with 25 passes defended and ties for second with 2 interceptions returned for touchdowns and 18 pass breakups. He ranks third with 163 interception-return yards.

The junior cornerback’s interception count stands as the fourth-best single-season performance in school history. Jackson and Desmond King are the only Hawkeyes to have intercepted 7 or more passes in a season since 1982.

Jackson is a finalist for the Jim Thorpe Award as well.

Big Ten announces all-conference defense

The Big Ten released its all-conference teams for defense on Tuesday, with four Hawkeyes making the top-three teams.

On the coaches’ teams, linebacker Josey Jewell and Jackson made the first team. Jewell, a Decorah, Iowa, native, has 125 tackles so far this season and stands as only the third player in Iowa history to record three 115-tackle seasons. He also has 4 sacks, 2 interceptions, and a forced fumble.

Defensive linemen Nathan Bazata and Anthony Nelson made the honorable mention list along with linebacker Ben Niemann.

Bazata has 42 tackles this season, including 6.5 for a loss and 3 sacks. Nelson led the Hawkeyes with 6 sacks, and his 8 tackles for a loss are the third-most on the team. Niemann ranks third on the team with 76 tackles and fourth with 6 tackles for a loss.

On the media’s teams, Jewell and Jackson earned first-team spots. Nelson had a spot on the third-team list.

Bazata and Niemann were honorable mentions.

The Big Ten will release the offensive teams today and its individual conference awards on Thursday.