Iowa State’s Jeremiah Cooper and Iowa’s Sebastian Castro are among the 42 players named to the Jim Thorpe Award Preseason Watch List, the Oklahoma Sports Hall of Fame announced Wednesday.

Cooper is one of five Big 12 players to earn a spot on the list. He has now been named to three preseason watch lists, also earning a spot on the Nagurski Trophy and Lott Impact Trophy Watch Lists.

Cooper is a preseason All-Big 12 selection after earning first-team honors in 2023. He played and started 11 games last season and finished second in the Big 12 Conference and sixth nationally with five interceptions. Cooper tallied 45 tackles and ranked fourth nationally in passes defended per game (1.4).

Castro has also been named a 2024 Athlon preseason fourth-team All-American and second-team All-Big Ten selection. He was included on the Bronko Nagurski Watch List on Tuesday.

As a junior, Castro led the Hawkeyes with eight pass break-ups and three interceptions in 2023. Those totals ranked fourth and ninth in the Big Ten, respectively. He finished the year with 67 tackles (47 solo, 20 assists), including eight for a loss.

Former Hawkeye cornerbacks Cooper Dejean and Riley Moss were Thorpe Award semifinalists in 2023 and 2021, respectively. Desmond King won the Thorpe Award in 2015 and was a semifinalist the following season, while Josh Jackson was a finalist for the award in 2017.