IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa sophomore punter Tory Taylor is one of 10 punters named a semifinalist for the 2021 Ray Guy Award. The announcement was made Wednesday by the Augusta Sports Council and the Ray Guy Award.

Taylor has been recognized on the Ray’s 8 list following three games, including contests versus Iowa State, Penn State, and Wisconsin.

Through nine games Taylor is averaging 45.8 yards per punt, with a long of 69 yards. He has 17 punts of at least 50 yards and has placed 28 punts inside the opponent 20. Hawkeye opponents have just 14 returns for 52 yards, while 15 have resulted in a fair catch. Just nine Taylor punts have been touchbacks.

Taylor (6-foot-4, 231-pounds) is a sophomore and a native of Melbourne, Australia. He averaged 49 yards on seven punts at Wisconsin, with a long of 61 yards. Three of his punts were downed inside the Wisconsin 20, including the 11, 14, and 13-yard lines. The Badgers had just one return for six yards.

In Iowa’s win at Iowa State Taylor averaged 51.1 yards on eight punts, with a long of 69 yards. Five of his punts were downed inside the 20, while Iowa State had just one punt return. In the win over Penn State, he averaged 44.2 yards per punt, with six punts inside the 20 and five inside the 10.

Taylor was named a first-team midseason All-American by The Athletic. He was the Big Ten Conference Special Teams Player of the Week following Iowa’s 27-17 win at Iowa State.

Iowa hosts Minnesota on Saturday (2:40 p.m., BTN). Saturday’s contest is sold out. Iowa closes the home season the following Saturday, hosting Illinois on Senior Day (1 p.m., FS1).

IOWA CITY, Iowa — University of Iowa head men’s basketball coach Fran McCaffery announced on Wednesday that Josh Dix and Dasonte Bowen have signed a National Letter of Intent to attend the University of Iowa.

JOSH DIX
Guard, 6-foot-5, 190 pounds
Council Bluffs, Iowa (Abraham Lincoln High School)

“I am super excited to attend the University of Iowa next year to play basketball and for academics. Iowa has something good going with their basketball team and I want to be part of that and keep that tradition going.”

FRAN McCAFFERY ON JOSH DIX

“Josh is incredibly versatile. He can play multiple positions. He has a great frame. Josh is good with the ball in his hands finding people and getting to the rim. He’s physical defensively and is an excellent rebounder for his position. Josh is a winning player. We are really excited about him.”

DASONTE BOWEN
Guard, 6-foot-3, 165 pounds
Boston, Massachusetts (Brewster Academy)

“I am very excited to join the team and get to Iowa City. I love the coaching staff and the system Iowa plays. I look forward to getting after it with my new teammates.”

FRAN McCAFFERY ON DASONTE BOWEN

“Dasonte is creative and fearless on the basketball court. He has incredible vision and makes plays. Dasonte can step back and hit the three, but he is constantly attacking the defense. He can rebound and score a variety of ways. He is an incredibly unselfish player. We are excited to welcome him to the Hawkeye family.”

AMES, Iowa – Iowa State head coach T.J. Otzelberger announced Wednesday the signings of three preps to National Letters of Intent. This marks Otzelberger’s first signing day as head coach of the Cyclones.

The Cyclones signed Eli King (6-3 | Guard | Caledonia, Minn. | Caledonia HS),  Tamin Lipsey (6-2 | Guard |Ames, Iowa | Ames HS) and Demarion Watson (6-7 | Maple Grove, Minn. | Totino-Grace HS). King and Lipsey were teammates in AAU for D1 Minnesota, while Watson played for Team Sizzle.

“This class is all proven winners,” Otzelberger said. “They are all guys that are team oriented players. As you are looking for your first recruiting class, you want guys that have character and guys that are winners. As much as they have gifts and are talented basketball wise, those are really the things we are looking for. We are fortunate that from a character standpoint, a pride in Iowa State standpoint, as well as their talent, they fit. It’s going to be fun watching those guys play in Hilton Coliseum.”

The class is rated No. 26 nationally by 247sports and No. 36 by Rivals. 247 ranks it as the fourth-best Big 12 signing class.

AMES, Iowa – The Iowa State women’s basketball program and Head Coach Bill Fennelly announced Wednesday the signing of Shantavia Dawkins, who inked a National Letter of Intent to play for the Cyclones. Dawkins, who hails from Brampton, Ontario, Canada, becomes Iowa State’s third recruit from Canada, joining Bridget Carleton and current Cyclone Izzi Zingaro.

“We are excited to add Shantavia to the Iowa State family,” Fennelly said. “Shantavia comes out of a great program at Southwest Academy in Canada. She is explosive off the bounce and is a willing defender. We feel Shantavia can add to our guard court while giving us a different look at the position.”

Shantavia Dawkins is a 5-10 guard who averaged 15.5 points, 7.2 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 2.6 steals per game with Southwest Academy, earning OSBA All-District honors. She was named to Team Ontario and Biosteel All-Canadian in 2019.

Dawkins will compete for the Cyclones in 2022-23 as a freshman.