Editor’s note: This is the 10^th and final part of a series ranking the top 10 Iowa football players at each position on offense, defense, kicker and punter.

 

Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Whenever a punter takes the field, it usually means the offense has failed to achieve its goal of scoring a touchdown, or at least making a field goal.

It means most likely a change in possession and a new challenge for the defense.

And one way to help any defense is to have a reliable punter that is capable of shifting field position.

The Iowa football team been fortunate to have had some reliable punters over the decades and here are my top 10 in program history.

And while picking the No.1 punter was a no-brainer, deciding who should fill the other nine spots in a particular order was extremely difficult because it often came down to a body of work versus a level of performance.

10. Gary Kostrubala, 1984-86 – The Illinois native handled Iowa’s punting duties for most of three seasons under Hayden Fry and had a 39.9 career average.

He finished his career with 5,712 yards on 143 punts to rank seventh on Iowa’s all-time list for punting yards.

He also excelled in the discus and shot put for the Iowa track and field team, surpassing 200 yards in the discus.

9. Michael Sleep-Dalton, 2019 – One of two Australia natives to make the top 10, he came to Iowa from Arizona State as a graduate student and would have a key impact in his only season as a Hawkeye.

He averaged 41.7 yards on 58 punts, with a long of 63 yards, recorded 10 puints of 50 yards or more, with 23 punts inside the 20 and just four touchbacks.

He also made honorable mention All-Big Ten in 2019.

8. Ron Coluzzi, 2016 – The Naperville, Illinois native made the most of his one season as Iowa’s punter after having transferred from Central Michigan.

He punted 71 times for a 41.1 average during the 2016 season, made third-team All-Big Ten and was named Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week against Rutgers.

Fourteen of his 71 punts traveled beyond 50 yards and 36 led to fair catches, while 24 were downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

7. David Bradley, 2001-04 – A former high school quarterback from San Diego, he handled the punting duties in each of his four seasons as a Hawkeye, and he averaged more than 40 yards per punt in each of his last two seasons.

He averaged 39.5 yards for his career and he dropped 20 of his 54 punts inside the 20 during the 2002 seasons. Opponents averaged just 4.3 yards on the 31 punts they returned in 2002.

He finished his career with 9,452 punting yards to rank third on Iowa’s all-time list.

6. Jason Baker, 1997-2000 – The Fort Wayne, Indiana native was recruited to Iowa by Hayden Fry, but then played his last two seasons under Kirk Ferentz.

Baker left as Iowa’s all-time leader in punts and punting yards, with 272 punts for a program-record 11,304 yards. He was named special teams MVP of the 1997 Sun Bowl for his performance in Iowa’s loss against Arizona State after having punted eight times for 391 yards.

5. Ryan Donahue, 2007-10 – The Evergreen Park, Illinois native is one of just two Iowa punters to have punted for more than 10,000 yards in college.

Donahue punted 251 times as a Hawkeye, averaging 41.9 yards per punt, and he also handled punting duties for all 51 games in his career.

He ranked third in the Big Ten, and 15th in the nation with 44.6 average in 2010 as Iowa’s opponents only averaged 3.9 yards on 21 returns in 2010. He also has five of the longest 14 punts in school history, covering 82 (second), 76 (fifth), 73, twice (10th) and 71 (14th) yards, and he made second-team All-Big Ten in 2009 .

He twice made second-team All-Big Ten in 2008 and 2009 and was also one of three finalists for the Ray Guy Award in 2010.

4. Nile Kinnick, 1937-39 – Iowa’s only Heisman Trophy winner still holds the program record for most punts in a single game (16) and for most punting yards in a single game (731), both of which came against Notre Dame in 1939.

Kinnick led the nation in punting as a sophomore in 1937, punting 70 times for a 43.0 average. He also made first-team All-Big Ten that season as a punter, and third-team All-America, for an Iowa team that finished 1-7.

This marks the third top-10 list that Kinnick has made in this series. He was also ranked first at running back and second at defensive back.

3. Tory Taylor, 2020-present – Iowa special teams coordinator LeVar Woods traveled nearly 10,000 miles to recruit Taylor in his hometown of Melbourne, Australia, and it was well worth the time, money and effort.

Because in just two seasons, Taylor has gone from never having punted in a football game to now being ranked among the top punters in college football.

Taylor set an Iowa single-season record for punting yards with 3,688 yards (80 punts, 46.1 average) in 2021. He also averaged 46.1 yards per punt last season with 39 of his 80 punts downed inside the opponent’s 20-yard line.

In 2020, he ranked third in the Big Ten and 20th nationally with a 44.1 average as 18 of his 40 punts were downed inside the 20 and nine inside the 10, with one touchback, 20 fair catches and just six returns for 31 yards.

He was named the Big Ten Punter of the Year as a freshman in 2020, but he only earned honorable mention All-Big Ten as a sophomore despite having increased his punting average by two yards from the previous season.

Iowa won the Big Ten West Division last season, and 10 games overall, despite having an offense that finished the season ranked 121^st nationally.

Iowa compensated for its sputtering offense with Taylor’s booming punts that often shifted field position, and with a top-notch defense.

Taylor has punted 120 times over two seasons for a 45.4 average.

He would almost certainly climb to second on this list with another All-Big season.

2. Nick Gallery, 1993-96 – The older brother of former Iowa All-America offensive lineman Robert Gallery averaged more than 45 yards per punt in his junior and senior seasons, which in both cases led the conference and was good enough to earn first team all-Big Ten honors both seasons.

He was the only player on Iowa’s 1995 team to make first-team All-Big Ten. He also made second-team All-Big Ten as a freshman in 1993.

He earned All-Big Ten recognition in three of his four seasons and is one of just two punters on this list to have twice made first-team All-Big Ten.

He punted 179 times as a Hawkeye and finished with a 42.9 career average.

1. Reggie Roby, 1979-82 – This was by far the easiest decision of all the No. 1 rankings at each position, a no-brainer.

The Waterloo native made punting a glamour position as a Hawkeye because of how well he did it. Fans used to show up early for Iowa games just to watch him punt in pre-game warm-ups.

The ball just sounded different coming off Roby’s powerful right leg.

He earned consensus All-America honors as a junior in 1981, and first-team All-America as a senior in 1982.

He is the only punter in program history to be named a consensus All-American.

Iowa won a share of the 1981 Big Ten title and played in the Rose Bowl that season for the first time in 23 years largely because of Roby’s punting and because of a rock-solid defense.

Roby helped lay the foundation under Hayden Fry as a member of Fry’s first recruiting class in 1979. Fry said landing Roby was one of the biggest keys to rebuilding the program.

In 1981, Roby broke a 32-year old NCAA record for punting average in a season (49.8), and he twice led the nation in punting.

He also twice made first-team All-Big Ten and punted for nearly four-and-a-half miles as a Hawkeye.

He would go on to be an All-Pro punter in the NFL.

His career average of 45.4 yards ranks among college football’s best and is still a school record.

Roby also handled kick-off duties and would routinely kick the ball through the uprights at Iowa, a total of 26 times. He was 28-34 for PAT’s and was 11–27 in FG attempts, mostly from long range.

Roby passed away in 2005 from an apparent heart attack at the age of just 43.

Also considered: Eric Guthrie, Dillon Kidd