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IOWA CITY – Even though he’s only a sophomore, Tyler Sash long ago stopped being viewed as a young player by Kirk Ferentz.

In truth, Iowa’s head football coach has begun to start thinking about Sash as one of the best strong safeties ever to play for the Hawkeyes.

“He’s just a good football player,” Ferentz said. “He fits the mold of the guys we’ve had. We’ve been very fortunate. We’ve had a lot of good safeties play here.  And he’s working his way up on that list. It helps to have good safeties when you’re trying to play good defense.”

Iowa has two good safeties this season in Sash and former Pleasant Valley star Brett Greenwood, but Sash is emerging as perhaps the Hawkeyes’ best bet for national post-season honors. He was named this week as a semifinalist for the Jim Thorpe Award, which goes to the top defensive back in the nation.

He also has begun to etch his name in the school record books.

With four games to go in his sophomore season, Sash already holds Iowa’s career record for interception return yardage. With an 86-yard runback for a touchdown last week, he pushed his two-year total to 350.

Earlier this season, he tied the single-game interception record by picking off three passes against Iowa State.

And both the single-season and career interception marks are within reach. With six interceptions this fall, he is only two away from the season mark of eight, shared by Lou King of the 1981 Rose Bowl team and the legendary Nile Kinnick, in his Heisman Trophy season of 1939. With 11 picks in his career, Sash  is well ahead of a pace that would get him the Iowa record of 18, shared by Kinnick and 1980s star Devon Mitchell.

Sash, who graduated from Oskaloosa High School, doesn’t have any sort of profound explanation for the large number of interceptions.

“I just try to be around the ball,” he said earlier this season.

Ferentz said Sash is vastly improved over last fall, when he sometimes was tentative and unsure of himself. It took him a season to get fully acclimated, just as it did with Greenwood.

Now Sash is earning rave reviews not only from Ferentz and other coaches but from his teammates.

“Tyler is a guy who goes out and always is in the right position and just makes plays,” Iowa quarterback Ricky Stanzi said.