Barrett is back at Iowa State and with a preseason honor
College Achievers is back for another school year.
So is Dylan Barrett, a redshirt senior offensive lineman at Iowa State University. He’s a product of St. Charles East High School, where he was an Illinois High School Football Coaches Association Class 8A all-state pick as a senior.
Starting eight games at left guard in 2024 (he missed six with injury), the 6-foot-5, 325-pounder helped the Cyclones win a program-record 11 games last season, including a barnburner 42-41 victory over Miami in the Pop Tarts Bowl. Iowa State finished the season with a No. 15 ranking.
Barrett, who transferred from Wisconsin before the 2024 season and twice was Academic All-Big Ten, has been named to the watch list for the Rimington Trophy, which honors the top collegiate center in the nation. Last year as a redshirt junior, he helped Iowa State’s ground game score 27 touchdowns, fourth in program history, and helped set a program mark for points scored in a season with 435.
Earlier this year he also was named to the National Football Foundation’s Hampshire Honor Society, which recognizes athletics, academics, service and character. And he’s joined on the Cyclones roster by “little” brother Austin Barrett, a 6-6, 320-pound redshirt junior offensive lineman who transferred in from Indiana.
Also receiving notice
Daniel Sobkowicz (Rolling Meadows), a senior receiver at Illinois State, was named to the 30-man Stats Perform watch list for the Walter Payton Award, for the top offensive player among Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) teams.
A two-time second-team selection in the Missouri Valley Football Conference, last season the 6-foot-3 Sobkowicz caught 80 passes for 1,108 yards and 9 touchdowns. He was the first Redbird to top 1,000 yards receiving since 2016.
Entering his fourth season at Illinois State as a starting wideout, Sobkowicz ranks sixth in program history in yards receiving at 2,418, is tied for fourth in receiving touchdowns with 22, and is fourth in receptions with 179.
Fast start
On a header off a corner kick in the 36th minute, Northern Illinois University junior forward Tyra King (Metea Valley) scored the lone goal in the Huskies’ second soccer game of the season, 1-0 over DePaul. Her first goal of the season broke a four-game winless streak against DePaul dating to 2005.
King earned all-Midwest second team honors in 2024 and was named to the Freshman Mid-American Conference Team in 2023. She led NIU with 8 goals, 5 assists and 21 points last year as a sophomore.
One last time
The news arrived after College Achievers closed shop for the 2024-25 school year — Illinois Wesleyan’s Lauren Huber (Glenbard East), who graduated with a degree in biology, was named the College Conference of Illinois-Wisconsin women’s student-athlete of the year.
Huber was an All-American in two sports, basketball and track and field. Last season she broke Illinois Wesleyan’s basketball scoring record that had stood nearly 30 years. Competing in track for the first time since she won the CCIW heptathlon in 2022, this past spring she placed fourth in Division III in the multisport event, first-team All-America.
Earning Academic All-America honors her last two years in school, Huber was a campus leader, volunteer and fundraiser for numerous causes. Within her academic focus, she worked as an emergency medical technician and volunteered in hospice care and emergency rooms.
Know of a college student-athlete doing good things on and off the field of play? Send your College Achiever candidates to doberhelman@dailyherald.com.