CHARLOTTE, N.C. – For the second consecutive year Iowa Western has a national student-athlete of the year.
Iowa Western Football defensive end Jackson Filer was announced today by the NJCAA as the 2022-23 David Rowlands Male Student-Athlete of the Year. This is the first time an Iowa Western male athlete has won the award. Filer follows IWCC Volleyball setter Yadhira Anchante as a national award winner with Anchante taking home the 2021-22 Betty Jo Graber Female Student-Athlete of the Year Award last season.
During the 2022 season, the Des Moines native led the nation in tackles for loss (28) and sacks (15.5), breaking the school record for both along the way. He also set the IWCC mark for career sacks (27), career TFLs (46), career fumble recoveries (5), career forced fumbles (5), and TFLs in a single game (5). Filer is also second and third all-time for sacks in a game with four vs Independence and three versus Iowa Central.
Filer helped anchor a defensive unit that led the nation in scoring defense (10.6ppg), yards per game (185.0), rushing yards per game (40.9), and sacks (56).
In addition to the Rowlands Award, Filer was named the 2022 NJCAA Defensive Player of the Year, the 2022-23 ICCAC Male Athlete of the Year, and he was a finalist for the 2022 Walter Jones Trophy.
A captain of the 2022 NJCAA Football national champions, Filer earned first-team NJCAA All-American honors and first-team ICCAC All-Region and All-Conference accolades.
Filer will be honored during the NJCAA Foundation Awards event, held on Thursday, June 8 at the Hilton Charlotte University Place at 6:30 PM ET. The event will recognize the NJCAA Male and Female Student-Athletes of the Year, the Lea Plarski Award winner, the Champion Award winners, and the Difference Maker Award winner, in addition to the 2023 class of the NJCAA Hall of Fame.
About the NJCAA David Rowlands Award
Launched at the start of the 1992-93 academic year in conjunction with the Betty Jo Graber Award, the David Rowlands Award annually honors the superior athletic achievements of a male student-athlete. The award is named after former NJCAA Region 4 Men's Director and Truman College (Ill.) athletic director David Rowlands who was a member of the NJCAA Board of Directors from 1972-88. Rowlands, who was elected to the NJCAA Baseball Coaches Association Hall of Fame in 1989, was the chair of the Division I baseball committee and was an active member of the national committees on gymnastics, golf and eligibility. Greatly respected by his peers and colleagues, he was the perfect model of hard work, discipline, ethics and excellence in two-year college athletics. The David Rowlands Award honors his passion and commitment to the NJCAA and annually recognizes a student-athlete that best exhibits these traits.
Past winners can be found here.
