Iowa All-America LB Jack Campbell selected by Detroit Lions with 18th pick overall
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Jack Campbell became just the second Iowa linebacker under Kirk Ferentz to be selected in the first round of the NFL draft as the Detroit Lions picked Campbell 18th overall on Thursday.
Campbell was picked just minutes after the Green Bay Packers had selected Iowa third-year sophomore defensive lineman Lukas Van Ness with the 13th pick overall.
A native of Cedar Falls, Campbell was the 2022 Butkus Award winner, a three-year starter at Iowa, and the 13th Hawkeye to earn unanimous consensus All-America honors.
He joins Chad Greenway as the only Iowa linebackers under Kirk Ferentz to have been selected in the first round of the NFL draft.
Greenway was picked 17th overall by the Minnesota Vikings in the 2006 NFL draft, and he would go on to play 10 seasons for the Vikings, earning second-team All-Pro honors in 2012.
Campbell, who led the nation in tackles as a junior in 2021, is the 83rd Iowa player selected in the NFL draft under Kirk Ferentz.
This also marks just second time under Kirk Ferentz in which Iowa has had two players selected in the first round.
Tight ends T.J. Hockenson and Noah Fant were picked eighth and 20th overall by Detroit and Denver in 2019.
With the 18th overall pick in the 2023 @NFLDraft, the @Lions select @HawkeyeFootball LB Jack Campbell.
Campbell was named the 2022 Nagurski-Woodson Defensive Player of the Year as the Big Ten's Defensive MVP.#OnePride pic.twitter.com/Cz7XPxveqh
— Detroit Lions PR (@LionsPR) April 28, 2023