IOWA CITY, Iowa – In many ways Brandon Snyder already fits the description of a standout safety for the Iowa football team.

For starters, he was lightly recruited in high school and ultimately chose to be a preferred walk-on at Iowa.

He also grew up in Iowa and was a multi-sport star in high school, playing as many as five sports during one calendar year at West Lyon High School in northwest Iowa.

Some of Iowa best safeties under Kirk Ferentz, players such as Tyler Sash, Brett Greenwood and Derek Pagel, came from similar backgrounds. They also grew up in Iowa and were multi-sport stars in high school before finding a home in the secondary for the Iowa football team.

“I would say for me, it just kept everything fresh”, Snyder said of playing multiple sports in high school. “When I got here, it was actually the first time I had committed to one sport.

“So just playing everything, it makes you more well-rounded. You learn different things in every sport.”

Playing multiple sports also helped the 6-foot-1, 210-pound Synder avoid being burned out before he even started college.

“When I came here, it wasn’t like I was tired of playing one sport,” he said.

Assuming he keeps his starting position at free safety, Snyder will add another similarity to the aforementioned players, all of whom started at either free safety or strong safety while at Iowa.

Snyder has been listed as the starting free safety throughout spring practice. He is trying fill the void left by departed senior Jordan Lomax, who started all 14 games at free safety last season.

Snyder credits Lomax for having a huge influence on him as a football player and as a person.

“I can’t thank Jordan enough for what he’s done for me,” Snyder said. “He’s a second coach to me. He’s a brother to me. He taught me the ins-and -outs of the defense. I mean he taught me everything.

“The knowledge he has and just the way he plays, he’s been an awesome guy to learn from. It’s just been sweet to learn everything he’s been throwing my way.”

After being redshirted in 2014, Snyder appeared in 13 games last season as a redshirt freshman, mostly on special teams. He has three seasons of eligibility remaining.

“Anytime you have a year with our coaching staff preparing you more and more, you’re obviously going to be more prepared to step into that role,” Snyder said. “Every day, you show up and you learn something new. It’s never the same.

“So just spending another year and growing mentally just as much as physically, has been so beneficial to me this year, especially in spring ball in these first few weeks.”

Snyder has played both safety positions and was pushing for a starting spot at strong safety last spring before losing the job to Miles Taylor in a hotly contested battle.

Taylor would go on to start 13 games at strong safety last season and is listed as the starter at that position this spring.

“I know both of the (safety positions)," Snyder said. "Spending time with the defense, you’re able to play both. That’s kind of how it is. I did play strong safety for a while. So I can play both. Sometimes, we can just interchange.

"So the more knowledge you have, the better football player you can be."