Iowa football: Geno Stone is the best safety in the Big Ten

People seem to be sleeping on Iowa football player Geno Stone this offseason, but he is quite possibly the best safety in the entire Big Ten.

Losing a player of Amani Hooker’s caliber is never easy, but when you have a guy like Geno Stone stepping up, it does soften the blow for the Iowa football team.

Last season, Hooker’s ability to play a dimebacker role was as much of a reason for his eventual transition to there as was Stone’s emergence at the safety position. He essentially forced Phil Parker’s hand and made them switch to a 4-2-5 defense because he was too talented to not be on the field.

Then, Stone went out and picked off opposing quarterbacks four times which got people noticing. He also added in 39 tackles and 7 passes defended. For that effort, he was named Honorable Mention All-Big Ten despite starting just 8 games.

Coming into 2019, he is the leader of the Iowa football team’s secondary, and in regards to the Big Ten, he faces a bit of competition for the title of best safety. The Big Ten returns three safeties from their All-Big Ten teams last year (Josh Metellus, Antoine Brooks Jr, and David Dowell).

Before we head into Stone’s true junior season though, I want to make a declaration that he is already the best safety in the Big Ten.

We already know that in Phil Parker’s defense, if you can’t tackle, you can’t play, especially as a secondary player so let’s assume Stone’s tackling skills are above average to stay the least. As a strong safety, what really stands out is his coverage ability.

Last season, according to PFF, Stone forced the highest incompletion percentage of any Big Ten safety, and it wasn’t even close.

In another analysis performed by Pro Football Focus, Stone allowed a ridiculously low 58.3 passer rating to opposing quarterbacks.

Basically, suffice it to say, the guy is a great coverage safety.

Fortunately, some media folks are paying attention. Athlon Sports named Stone Preseason Second Team All-Big Ten this offseason, which is exciting, but I have grander thoughts.

I think he could be the next Iowa football player to win the Tatum-Woodson Defensive Back of the Year.