Iowa football: Geno Stone should be frontrunner for B1G DB of the Year
By Andrew Wade
The Iowa football team’s defense was outstanding Saturday, and it was led by Geno Stone who should be considered a frontrunner for Big Ten DB of the Year.
The Tatum-Woodson Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year award has been around for eight seasons, and in four of those seasons, an Iowa football player has won the award including three of the last four.
Personally, I feel like Geno Stone is about to make it four of the last five and three in a row at the conclusion of the 2019 season because he has been phenomenal in five games for the Iowa football team thus far, including in the defenses’ dominant performance against Michigan.
No, he’s not leading the conference in tackles or interceptions, but his production goes way beyond the statistical nature.
It’s the stuff that doesn’t show up on the stat sheet, like the instincts to sniff out the option play against Michigan and turn a possible 10 to 15-yard run into a 1-yard run because he flew to the ball. Or even his fantastic open-field tackling, a crucial skill for a strong safety. And although he doesn’t have the interception numbers that Josh Jackson or Desmond King did in the seasons they won the Big Ten Defensive Back of the Year award, he does possess great ball skills.
In fact, last season, as a part-time starter, he led the Iowa football team in interceptions.
Just see below for the highlights of Stone versus Michigan, which also in my opinion, should have put Stone on the national radar and more specifically the Big Ten’s radar (if he wasn’t already).
You see him making plays in coverage and the run game and considering he is playing for one of the best defenses in the nation. As it stands today, the Iowa football team’s defense ranks 12th in passing defense, 11th in rushing defense, and 3rd in scoring defense.
And with his current stat line of 20 tackles, 1 tackle for a loss, 1 interception, and 1 pass defended extrapolated out to a full season, Stone could finish with 50 tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 2-3 interceptions, and 2-3 passes defended. Although not quite the same, these numbers are comparable to Hooker’s award-winning season last year.
Next. Three reasons to be frustrated by the loss in Ann Arbor. dark
If Stone keeps it up, I see no reason why he can’t beat out some of the bigger names such as Michigan’s Josh Metellus and Lavert Hill, Ohio State’s Jeffrey Okudah and Michigan State’s Josiah Scott.