The Iowa Hawkeyes figure to have another sticky, stingy defensive backfield.
Defensive coordinator Phil Parker, who doubles as Iowa’s secondary coach, has to be excited about the Hawkeyes returning 86 career starts in its defensive backfield, including 58 from a season ago.
Among those seasoned vets is defensive back Sebastian Castro. The 5-foot-11, 205 pound defensive back from Oak Lawn, Ill., returns as Iowa’s starting Cash. Castro started 13 games last season and has 21 career starts with the Hawkeyes.
As the 2024 college football season approaches, Pro Football Focus has taken note of Castro’s contributions to the Hawkeyes. PFF listed Castro as its “Flex” on its way-too-early 2024 All-America team.
Although Castro was overshadowed by Cooper DeJean on Iowa’s 2023 defense, he could be the better cornerback of the two.
Castro is just as versatile as DeJean, having played 137 snaps in the box last year. He earned a 91.2 PFF overall grade and a 91.2 PFF coverage grade, which both ranked third among cornerbacks. He also led Iowa in pass breakups (seven) and interceptions (three) last season. – Mitch Kaiser, Pro Football Focus.
Castro joins fellow Iowa defensive backs Jermari Harris, Deshaun Lee, Xavier Nwankpa and Quinn Schulte among the five Hawkeye returnees that started a season ago.
Castro tallied 67 tackles, 11 pass breakups, eight tackles for loss, three interceptions with one touchdown, one sack and one forced fumble last season.
The Richards High School product had a decision to make on his future and was one of multiple Iowa defensive stars that opted for a return to the black and gold.
“Well, it’s always kind of hard when you’re going through that transition of like, hey, you’re going to go out into the real world, whether you go into the NFL or whether you’re going to go to dental school like Quinn is going to do, and he had an opportunity to push that back so it gave him a reason that he could come back.
“But everybody has different philosophies or reasons why they want to go. I just thought that the connection that they all had and saw the opportunities here, what could they do this year, how can we be better than we were last year, and I think the connection is really good with these guys, the way they’ve been together so long and playing together. It’s hard to leave because once you leave, there’s no coming back,” Parker said of his defensive stars’ decisions to return.
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