Punting is winning is a common phrase that you will hear in Iowa City during football season. The phrase was born from Head Coach Kirk Ferentz's conservative play style and propensity for using the punting game to set up the defense.
The Hawkeyes lean on their special teams to keep them in games and flip the field to allow the defense to have great field position.
Former Iowa punter Tory Taylor embodied the perfect Iowa punter with his big leg and ability to pin opposing offenses into poor starting positions. Taylor was so dynamic that the Chicago Bears selected him with the No. 122 overall pick in the fourth round of the 2024 NFL Draft.
After Taylor went to the NFL, another Australian punter, Rhys Dakin, succeeded him and had a solid freshman season last year.
Another staple of the Iowa kicking game, Drew Stevens, had a solid season last year for the Iowa special teams.
Before the 2025-2026 season begins, Dakin and Stevens were named to preseason award watchlists
Rhys Dakin, punter (Ray Guy Award)
🏆 @Rhys_dak1n ➡️ 𝐑𝐚𝐲 𝐆𝐮𝐲 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭@RayGuyAward x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/pSFiTBB0Al
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) August 1, 2025
Ahead of the 2025-2026 season, Dakin was named to the Ray Guy Award watch list. The Ray Guy Award is presented annually to the best punter in college football.
Before joining the Hawkeyes ahead of the 2024-2025 season, Dakin grew up in Melbourne, Australia playing basketball and Australian rules football.
During his first season for the Hawkeyes, Dakin was named an All-Big Ten Second Team selection after accumulating 2,822 punting yards on 64 punts (44.1 yard average).
The 64 punts ranked No. 1 in the Big Ten and the total yards ranked No. 2 in the Big Ten and No. 8 nationally.
Drew Stevens, place kicker (Lou Groza Award)
🏆 @DrewTS7 ➡️ 𝐋𝐨𝐮 𝐆𝐫𝐨𝐳𝐚 𝐀𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐋𝐢𝐬𝐭@LouGrozaAward x #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/mxhEGEt7cw
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) August 1, 2025
Iowa kicker Drew Stevens has been a solid contributor for the special teams unit since he arrived on campus in 2022. Before the start of the 2025-2026 season, Stevens was named to the Lou Groza Award watch list.
The Lou Groza Award is given annually to the best place kicker in college football.
After a down year in 2023, Stevens returned to form last season, handling the place-kicking duties in all 13 games. Stevens scored 100 points, including making 20 of 23 field goal attempts.
His 87-percent made field goal percentage ranked No. 4 in the Big Ten.
If the Hawkeyes' offense struggles again this season, Dakin and Stevens will be called upon on multiple occasions to keep Iowa in the game.