IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Big Ten Conference feels the same about Josey Jewell as Iowa fans do.

Jewell was named the winner of the Big Ten Butkus-Fitzgerald Linebacker of the Year, which goes to the conference's top linebacker.

The senior from Decorah led the Big Ten with an average of 11.4 tackles per game and has started 42 games as a Hawkeye. His 426 tackles rank fifth in program history.

Thew 6-foot-2, 236-pound Jewell also has the distinction of being the only three-time captain for Iowa during Kirk Ferentz's 19 seasons as head coach.

“The one fact I can give you that to me says it all: He will be our first three-time captain, and we've never had that,” Ferentz said. “It's not like he campaigned for it. That was Josey being Josey.”

Jewell was recently named the winner of the 2017 Jack Lambert Award, which is given to the nation's top collegiate linebacker, and is one of five finalists for the Bronko Nagurski Trophy.

Jewell was a two-star recruit in high school who picked Iowa over Northern Iowa and Division III Luther College, which is located in his hometown. Iowa was the only school from a Power 5 conference to offer Jewell a scholarship. And the offer came late in the recruiting process