Iowa football: Which four Hawks make up Mount Rushmore?
By Andrew Wade
Tim Dwight
Tim Dwight was an explosive return man and a great wide receiver for the Iowa football program in the late 1990s. During his tenure, the Iowa football team won 24 games and finished the season ranked in the top-25 twice. It is not a small coincidence that those wins coincided with Dwight’s superb career as an All-American returner.
Although diminutive in stature (5’8” 185 pounds), Dwight was lightning fast and also competed on the track team where he was the Big Ten champion in the 100 meters, 4×400 meter, and 4×100 meter relays.
In his Iowa football career, Dwight had over 2,000 total return yards and 5 touchdowns while averaging 15.7 yards per punt return and 20.7 yards per kick return in his career. His senior year was the most impressive as he averaged 28.6 yards per kick return and 19.3 yards per punt return in route to his second All-American honors.
His 1,051 career punt return yards ranks 6th best in the Big Ten and his 15.7 yards per punt return average ranks 6th all-time in the NCAA. Moreover, his 5 career punt return touchdowns rank 2nd in the Big Ten and 16th in the NCAA.
The Big Ten considered Tim Dwight’s career with the Hawks so impressive they named the Specialist of the Year Award after him and Nebraska’s Johnny Rodgers.
He was also a standout wide receiver pulling in 127 receptions (9th best all-time in Iowa football history) for 2,075 receiving yards (4th best) and 21 receiving touchdowns (2nd best).
After his Hawkeye’s career, Dwight went on to have a distinguished 10-year NFL career where he scored 27 total touchdowns.
This was the toughest selection for our Iowa football Mount Rushmore but how Dwight impacted the return game and the offense for the Hawkeyes was too much to not include him on this list.