Oct 10, 2020; Ames, Iowa, USA; Iowa State Cyclones running back Breece Hall (28) runs the ball against the Texas Tech Red Raiders at Jack Trice Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Brian Powers-USA TODAY Sports.
Breece Hall is officially Iowa State’s fourth consensus All-American.
The Cyclones’ sophomore running back from Wichita, Kan. earned the distinction on Wednesday when he was named a first-team All-American by the Football Writer’s Association of America.
Hall was joined on the first-team by the Cyclones’ star defensive end JaQuan Bailey. Bailey joins former linebacker Joel Lanning as the only Cyclone defenders to ever be FWAA All-Americans.
Hall and Bailey are the eighth and ninth Cyclones to be FWAA All-Americans.
Hall, who finished sixth in the Heisman Trophy voting and a finalist for the Doak Walker Award, was spectacular during his second season in Ames, tallying 1,436 rushing yards, 19 rushing touchdowns and a pair of receiving scores. His 21 total touchdowns tied the school-record set by Troy Davis in 1996.
This selection allows him to join an exclusive club of Cyclones to earn consensus All-American honors with the other members being Ed Bock (1938), Mike Busch (1989) and Davis (1995-96). He can become the program’s first unanimous All-American if he is on the Walter Camp Family Foundation and American Football Coaches Association teams, set to be released later this week, in addition to his first-team honors from the FWAA, Associated Press and The Sporting News.
Davis narrowly missed earning unanimous distinction in both 1995 and 1996 by being left off of one consensus selector in each season.
The All-American nod is the culmination of a career that has seen Bailey become one of the most disruptive defensive players to ever wear an Iowa State uniform. He’s the program’s all-time leader in sacks (25.5) and tackles for loss (44.5) and will tie former offensive lineman Julian Good-Jones’ school-record for career starts in Saturday’s Fiesta Bowl matchup against Oregon.
Bailey’s 25.5 career sacks are the eight-most in the history of the Big 12 Conference.