Iowa punter Tory Taylor wants to play football professionally someday.  Just not this year or next.

At a Hawkeye football media availability session Tuesday, Taylor said he intends to return to the University of Iowa for another year.

“Yeah, I’ll be coming back,” Taylor said. “. . . There’s still a lot of things I need to improve on. I’ve had 67 or 68 punts, and I think there’s 10 or 15 of them that I would really like back. There’s a lot for me to work on and improve on.

“That’s what I think is the most exciting,” Taylor added. “It’s not just me. It’s for other guys as well. We’ve got a really young team that’s still developing.”

By the time the 2022 college football season ends, Taylor will be 25. Despite that, Taylor said he doesn’t feel rushed to go pro, noting that punters in the National Football League play well past their 30th birthdays.

“The NFL’s not going anywhere,” Taylor said. “It’s not going to be going anywhere whether I’m 28 or whether I’m 32. Until they give me the call like, ‘Hey, you’re not good enough anymore’ or ‘Oh, that’s it, that’s that.’ I really don’t think of that sort of stuff . . .  That’s not anything I can be worrying about now.

“It’s just the little things now that will stack up,” Taylor added. “The NFL is not going to define me or anything like that. If anything, I’d get such great satisfaction for me and my family if I got my degree first.”

This season is Taylor’s second at Iowa. Though, he still has three years of eligibility left.

The Australian punter could play for the Hawkeyes in 2022, 2023, and 2024. He has two years of regular collegiate eligibility remaining, which would get him through the 2022 and 2023 seasons. 

Because Taylor played in 2020, he also has the additional year of eligibility the NCAA extended to all its athletes last year because of COVID-19 in his back pocket. That extra season of eligibility would allow him to suit up in the Black and Gold again in 2024.

While Taylor does have three years of collegiate eligibility remaining, it seems unlikely that he will stay at the UI until 2024.

“He’s so fresh,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said of Taylor. “Going to Purdue last year, that was his first football game and everything was kinda new to him. I think he’s really enjoying the ride right now. 

“We talked over the break, the bye week, and that was kind of my sense — that he’s fixed on coming back one more time, and then that’ll probably be it,” Ferentz added. “He’s just been not only a really good player on the team, but just such a positive addition to our football team because he really appreciates each and every day.

Taylor has punted 67 times this season. He’s downed 32 of those kicks inside the 20-yard line.

Taylor has averaged about 46 yards per punt this year, and his longest boot of the season went 69 yards before it came to rest.

On his career, Taylor has punted 107 times in 19 games. The average distance each of Taylor’s kicks have traveled is 45.2 yards. Taylor has downed 50 punts inside the 20-yard line during his time in the Black and Gold.