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Iowa

Dakin and Stevens named to watch lists

On3 imageby: Tom Kakert08/01/25HawkeyeReport
Drew Stevens(1)
Drew Stevens hit a game winner for Iowa. (Photo; Dennis Scheidt)

University of Iowa sophomore punter Rhys Dakin has been named to the 2025 Ray Guy Award Watch List, while senior place-kicker Drew Stevens has been named to the Lou Groza Award Watch List. The announcements were made Friday by the Augusta Sports Council and Palm Beach County Sports Commission.

The Ray Guy Award is presented to the nation’s top collegiate punter, while the Lou Groza Award goes to the country’s best place kicker.

Dakin (6-foot-4, 223 pounds) earned Freshman All-America honors Football Writers Association of America and was recognized on the all-conference second team in 2024.

The native of Melbourne, Australia, averaged 44.1 yards on 64 punts, which ranked fourth in the Big Ten and 24th nationally. Thirty-three of his punts were fair caught, 29 were downed inside the 20 and 16 traveled 50+ yards. Only five of his punts were touchbacks.

Established in 2000, the Ray Guy Award is named after College and Pro Football Hall of Fame inductee Ray Guy. The recipient of the 2025 Ray Guy Award will be announced in December. Former Hawkeye Tory Taylor won the award in 2023 — and was a semifinalist in 2020 and 2021 — while Ryan Donahue was a finalist in 2010.

Stevens (6-foot-1, 205 pounds) was a semifinalist for the award in 2022 and 2023. He is the third Hawkeye to be a two-time Groza Award semifinalist; Nate Kaeding won the award in 2002 and was a finalist in 2003, while Mike Meyer was a semifinalist in 2011 and 2012. Iowa has had a Groza Award semifinalist four of the last six seasons: Keith Duncan (2019), Caleb Shudak (2021) and Stevens (2022 and 2023).

The native of North Augusta, South Carolina, ranks seventh in school history scoring (245), converting 54-of-67 field goals and 83-of-84 PATs. His 54 field goals are fourth most in program history. Stevens enters his senior season having made a school-record eight field goals of 50 yards or more. He has twice been successful with career-long 54-yard field goals (Northwestern, 2022; Maryland, 2024). Stevens was a third-team all-conference selection in 2024, scoring 100 points (20-of-23 FG; 40-of-40 PAT).

Semifinalists for the award will be announced on Nov. 18. From this list, a panel of FBS head coaches, SIDs, media members, former Groza finalists, and current NFL kickers select the top three finalists, announced on Nov. 25. The national winner will be announced on Dec. 12.

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