Stepleton, an AFCA first team All-American, D3football.com second team All-American, and Cliff Harris Award Finalist, led the Iowa Conference and ranks third in NCAA Division III with 0.8 interceptions per game and nine total on the year. Two of Stepleton’s pick-offs resulted in touchdowns. He finished the season with nine total interceptions, a career-high 70 tackles, including 6.5 for a loss and 15 pass deflections.
He was twice the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week; first when he tied the school record with three interceptions against Loras and again when he had nine solo tackles and blocked a crucial game-tying FG attempt in the closing seconds against Central. Stepleton was second team all-conference in 2014. Stepleton follows Frank Weymiller in 2012 as the last Coe player to win the Defensive Player of the Year.
