Iowa football linebacker Jestin Jacobs enters transfer portal

The junior linebacker missed most of the 2022 season with an injury.

Grace Smith

Iowa linebacker Jestin Jacobs makes a tackle during a football game between Iowa and Kent State at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, Sept. 18, 2021. The Hawkeyes defeated the Golden Flashes with a score of 30-7.

Austin Hanson, Pregame Editor
December 6, 2022

Hawkeye football linebacker Jestin Jacobs has entered the transfer portal. The junior missed 10 games in 2022 with an undisclosed injury.

Jacobs played both Leo and cash in defensive coordinator Phil Parker’s defense. He recorded six tackles and a pass deflection in two games this season.

Jacobs played in all 14 of the Hawkeyes’ games in 2021, recording 53 tackles, an interception, and three deflections. If middle and outside linebackers Jack Campbell and Seth Benson leave Iowa for the 2023 NFL Draft, the Hawkeyes would lose all three of their Week 1 starters at linebacker in one offseason.

Senior Jay Higgins and juniors Cooper DeJean and Sebastian Castro — all of whom are expected to return to Iowa for the 2023 season — filled in at linebacker while Jacobs was injured this season.

Jacobs is the second Hawkeye defender to enter the transfer portal. Defensive back Reggie Bracy did so Monday afternoon.

Jacobs is the seventh known Iowa player to test the portal. Wide receivers Keagan Johnson and Arland Bruce, backup quarterback Alex Padilla, offensive lineman Josh Volk, and running back Gavin Williams announced their intent to enter the portal last week.

None of the Hawkeyes in the portal have officially announced where they will enroll ahead of the 2023 season. Players that enter the portal are allowed to return to the school they attempted to transfer from.