By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa –  Iowa linebacker Josey Jewell deserved better.

That's my reaction to the all-Big Ten selections on defense, which were announced on Tuesday.

Making the Decorah native a second-team choice was wrong in so many ways, statistics just part of it.

But speaking of statistics, consider that Jewell finished the regular season with 114 tackles, five tackles for loss, ½ sack and eight pass break-ups in barely more than 11 games, while Ohio State’s Raekwon McMillan, a first-team choice, has 87 tackles, five tackles for loss, one sack and four pass break-ups.

Jewell made 27 more tackles than McMillan and had twice as many pass break-ups, and yet McMillan supposedly performed at a higher level because that’s what the people who made the picks are saying.

Call me a homer, but Jewell not being on the first-team defense is a joke. I understand that the selection process is highly subjective and that there are several elite linebackers in the Big Ten.

But I also watched Jewell perform this season and it’s hard to picture anybody playing middle linebacker much better than he did. He had a lapse against Penn State, but that was an outlier.

The good news is that senior cornerback Desmond King and senior defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson both got what they deserved as first-team selections. But it should have been a threesome from Iowa with Jewell joining them on the first team. 

At least, Jewell won’t have to worry about the one of the first-team all-Big Ten linebackers beating him out for the Butkus Award, which goes to the nation’s top collegiate linebacker.

Jewell is one of five finalists for the award, along with four linebackers from SEC schools.

So he’s considered one of the top five linebackers nationally, but no higher than fourth in the Big Ten behind the three first-team selections, who aren't ranked among the top five linebackers nationally.

Huh?

McMillan was joined on the first team by Wisconsin’s T.J. Watt and Michigan’s Jabrill Peppers. The coaches and the media saw it the same way as the same three linebackers made both teams.

Don’t get me wrong, all three first-team picks at linebacker are outstanding players and almost certainly will play in the NFL.

Peppers is a rare talent and one of the favorites to win the Heisman Trophy because of how he impacts a game in so many ways as a two-way player and a return specialist.

But is he really a linebacker in the true sense?

The 6-foot-1, 208-pound Peppers plays more like a big and physical defensive back who is allowed to roam the field and attack the line of scrimmage at his choosing, whereas the 6-2, 235-pound Jewell is the prototypical middle linebacker, a tackling machine who watches over the trenches.

You wonder if being left off the first team will motivate Jewell even more if that’s possible. He is human.

But he's also mature and focused on the right things.

My guess is Jewell would trade being first-team all-Big Ten for winning his first bowl game without hesitation because he also excels as a leader.

And that’s another reason he should be on the first team.