A closer look: Iowa quarterbacks 2017

IOWA CITY — This isn't the first 'who's going to be the quarterback' rodeo for Iowa football under Kirk Ferentz.

Oh my goodness, it's not even close.

Junior Tyler Wiegers and sophomore Nathan Stanley are the contestants. Ferentz said this week an announcement will come Monday. This race was run last year, with Stanley beating out Wiegers to back up C.J. Beathard. Stanley passed on the redshirt and went on to throw nine passes.

'Coming out of camp a year ago, we thought Nathan had the edge,' Ferentz said. 'That's ancient history. That's 11 months ago.'

Leaning Stanley on this particular race, but it's close.

In lieu of a lot of tangible data on Stanley/Wiegers and instead of trotting out quotes like 'It's just going to come down to what we feel is best for the team and what gives us the best chance to win,' offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz said this week, let's check some super ancient QB battles from Ferentz's 19 years at Iowa and see how they worked.

If you're keeping count, Stanley or Wiegers is going to be QB No. 13 for Ferentz.

The early years

Iowa was just trying to re-establish itself as a program when Ferentz arrived in 1999. You could argue that the QB in 1999 and 2000 was going to be a test pilot.

The plane crashed for Scott Mullen, Randy Reiners and Kyle McCann. The Hawkeyes were 1-10 in '99. John Elway wasn't going to paint any prettier of a picture.

Jon Beutjer entered in 2000 and led the Hawkeyes to Ferentz's first Big Ten victory. Beutjer got into a fight with a teammate and eventually left the team before the 2001 season, when he fell to No. 3 on the depth chart, behind McCann and a guy named Brad Banks.

Ferentz and Ken O'Keefe, who was then offensive coordinator and is now quarterbacks coach, played all of these guys in the first two seasons. It didn't help Iowa in 1999-2000, but the major issues for those teams was line play (it got better).

The stakes were lower and that probably contributed to the instability at the position.

Did it work?

As well as could be expected.

Did it really work?

Ferentz's first game was Nebraska at Kinnick Stadium. McCann was sacked three times and hit a lot more.

'A couple times, I didn't think he was going to get back up,' Nebraska defensive end Kyle Vanden Bosch said. 'You've got to give the kid credit. He came back every time.'

Stakes raised

In 2001, Iowa's offensive line started to take root. McCann and Banks shared the QB position. They offered different skill sets, with McCann having an edge in knowledge and arm and Banks using his legs to keep opponents off balance.

Banks outplayed McCann at times. McCann picked up his game. Banks' performance and opportunities faded down the stretch. McCann led the Hawkeyes to an Alamo Bowl victory over Texas Tech.

At the end of 2001, McCann was the right choice. Playing Banks set the stage for 2002.

You remember Banks and 2002. He was the Heisman runner-up.

O'Keefe pulled the right strings.

Did it work?

Unqualified yes.

Did it really work?

Here's Ferentz on Banks from New York and the Heisman Trophy banquet. (By the way, Iowa spent $2,000 on Banks' Heisman campaign.)

'Quarterbacks have to be playmakers, how ever they do it. That's the bottom line,' Ferentz said. 'He wins with his feet, he wins with his arm. More importantly, it's what he's doing with his head. He does not put us in a bad position, I think during Big Ten play. What else can you ask of your quarterback?

'He's given us great leadership. The guys believe in Brad.'

All shapes and sizes

In 2003, Nathan Chandler became the second consecutive junior college transfer to win the QB spot. Chandler was a 6-7 giant who ran some option for Iowa. The Hawkeyes won 10 games, including the Outback Bowl.

Drew Tate isn't a 6-7 giant. For the Hawkeyes in 2004, he was a 6-footer who scrambled around and just made a ton of plays. Despite having the worst rush offense in the country, Tate and perhaps Ferentz's best defense led the Hawkeyes to a share of the Big Ten championship and a miracle victory over LSU in the Capital One Bowl.

Between Chandler and Tate's first season as starter, Iowa had a 20-5 record. Tate is the last Iowa QB to earn first-team all-Big Ten. The program was on point with QB.

Tate had a stronger year in 2005, but Iowa didn't win as much. Tate had two injuries in 2006 and struggled.

Enter Jake Christensen in 2007. He was another 6-footer. He never found his footing, struggling with accuracy (completing just 53 percent of his passes, lowest number during the Ferentz era) and throwing on the run. Christensen was a 4-star recruit. It should've worked, but it didn't. The offense was a slog (averaging 18.5 points a game, 111th in the nation) and the season followed right along with it (6-6 and no bowl game).

In 2008, Ferentz and O'Keefe could've waited for Christensen to get it. He was a big-time recruit from the Chicago area. The last stand was at Pitt. Ferentz stuck with Christensen despite Ricky Stanzi leading Iowa to points in the first half.

Stanzi started the next week against Northwestern and didn't stop starting until his ankle exploded against Northwestern in 2009. He of course returned and helped Iowa win the Orange Bowl later that season.

Christensen didn't work, but the plug got pulled early in 2008, when Iowa found a QB who just knew how to win. With Stanzi, Iowa won 28 games and three bowl games (Outback, Orange and Insight).

The James Vandenberg chapter is short and, you could argue, incomplete. He had the third-best season in Iowa QB history in 2011 (237 of 404 for 3,022 yards, 25 TDs and seven interceptions).

This is where O'Keefe departed. Greg Davis took over as Iowa's offensive coordinator in 2012. The transition was more like a crash landing. Vandenberg ended up throwing just seven TD passes in 2012.

Did it work?

Yes and then no and then yes again.

Did it really work?

Well, the Stanzi vs. Christensen cost Iowa the 2008 Pitt game and you could probably argue the Northwestern game the next week. Here's Ferentz in 2008 talking why Stanzi over Christensen.

'I know I took a little bit of a lashing for my 'gut feeling,' but I can't share everything I observe or everything I think,' Ferentz said. 'I'm just not comfortable doing that. There are certain things that are for me and our coaches to visit with and think about.

'There are certain things that don't need to be talked about with everybody. Again, it's not like there's something diabolic or something gurgling or going on, it's nothing like that at all. I don't feel like I need to share everything I think to everybody at all times.'

Rudock and Beathard and that did work, right?

Fresher in your minds is Jake Rudock and C.J. Beathard.

Rudock won the job in 2013 and again in 2014. He seemed headed to three-year starter status. He didn't quite get there.

For whatever reason — Beathard's dad, Casey, did hint at transferring in an interview with their hometown Nashville, Tenn., newspaper, but no one has ever admitted that had any effect — Ferentz decided to make quarterback an open competition in December 2014.

In a hapless TaxSlayer Bowl against Tennessee, Beathard played a lot and Rudock didn't. Before the end of January 2015, Beathard was named starter. It was a January news conference. Ferentz doesn't do those. Rudock eventually transferred.

History shows this worked for everyone. Beathard helped Iowa to 12-2 in 2015 and is now a San Francisco 49er. Rudock moved on to Michigan and threw for 3,017 yards and 20 TDs. He's a Detroit Lion.

Did Iowa leave any games on the table during this? Maybe one or two. The indecision looked clunky. All of the sudden your two-year starter is out? The pieces did, ultimately, end up in the right places.

Did it work?

Qualified yes.

Did it really work?

The qualification? What took so long?

Now here in 2017, Stanley and Wiegers are in by all accounts a tight situation. O'Keefe is back. He returned as QB coach in February. Brian Ferentz is the new offensive coordinator.

Did it work?

C'mon.

Did it really work?

Is it football yet?

THE DEPTH CHART

1. Nathan Stanley, so., 6-5, 235; 1. Tyler Wiegers, jr., 6-4, 225; 3. Ryan Boyle, so., 6-1, 208; 4. Peyton Mansell, fr., 6-3, 210; 5. Ryan Schmidt, so., 6-5, 235; 6. Tommy Herion, fr., 6-1, 185

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What if Nathan Stanley and Tyler Wiegers get hurt? QB probably would be Ryan Boyle

.

Boyle has had kind of a wild ride in the last year. Seeing C.J. Beathard

seated as the unquestioned starter in 2016 and sensing opportunity at wide receiver, Boyle switched positions late last spring. He wasn't able to hook into the rotation. He told coaches he wanted to move back to QB and made that move in the spring.

Boyle has been in the offense longer than true freshman Peyton Mansell

. This order held up through the Aug. 12 open scrimmage.

ETC.

— Nathan Stanley

didn't run a wing-T offense at Menomonie (Wis.) High School. Just to be clear. It was a prostyle offense, much like Iowa's.

'I think maybe there are some overlaying concepts between what I ran in high school and the wing-T, there definitely is,' Stanley said. 'A lot of the downhill, power lead stuff is pretty similar.'

Still, simply calling plays from under center helped Stanley's preparedness last season as a true freshman. That seems like a little thing, but so few high school QBs play under center now with the pistol and spread offenses that dominate.

Of course, this isn't a knife fight. It's a competition, but not a knife fight.

'We take it pretty lightheartedly,' Stanley said. 'We always try to help each other see things maybe we didn't see in a certain play. We make each other better, but we're still great friends off the field.'

Stanley listed footwork and quicker decision making as his main focus.

— As a fourth-year junior, Tyler Wiegers

is Iowa's oldest QB. Now, that's a relative term, but as far as his football biological clock, he can hear it.

'A little bit, I haven't tried to think too much about it,' Wiegers said. 'There's a lot of stuff you can do to stay focused on the now and keep moving forward.'

How do you deal with a bad rep?

'That's football, that's life, that's anything,' Wiegers said. 'You have to take the bad moments and move them aside. You can't do anything about them anymore. You need to try to do something positive after that. Everybody has to deal with that at some point. It's how you respond to it.'

Wiegers did lose out to Stanley last year. Does he look at this as a career reset?

'Not necessarily,' Wiegers said. 'It's another chance to learn. You've got to put in the work, come out everyday and take coaching. It's exciting from that point of view. You're getting new coaching, new stuff to apply to your game.'

— Quarterbacks coach Ken O'Keefe

is obviously a voice in this, a major voice and maybe the one actually making the decision.

On Iowa's media day Aug. 5, he gave quick hits on what the QBs had done early in camp.

On Wiegers: 'No. 1 intangible is great leader and a great communicator. He's doing everything he can to help everyone in the room succeed. His work ethic is beyond reproach. He's done a lot of things to improve his reaction and quickness in the pass game.'

On Stanley: 'In his own quiet way, he's shown a lot of leadership also. He probably has the strongest arm. Because he's the biggest guy, he needs to work the hardest on his feet. It's as simple as that. Big guy syndrome sometimes, especially for young guys. And he's sharp. He knows what we're asking.'

On Ryan Boyle

: 'Ryan's command of the offense is much better. He's delivering the ball on time probably better than he ever has.'

On Peyton Mansell

: 'Peyton is like every freshman. We threw him in the river and he's trying to swim upstream a little bit and find out where the rest of the playbook is. He's just whacking away at everything.'

QBs under Ferentz

2016 — C.J. Beathard 170 of 301 for 1,929 yards, 56.5 percent completions, 17 TDs, 10 INTs, 122.32 efficiency

2015 — C.J. Beathard 223 of 362 for 2,809 yards, 61.6 percent completions, 17 TDs 5 INTs, 139.52 efficiency

2014 — Jake Rudock 213 of 34 for 2436 yards, 61.7 percent completions, 16 TDs, 5 INTs, 133.46 efficiency

2013 — Jake Rudock 204 of 346 for 2,383 yards, 59 percent completions, 18 TDs, 13 INTs, 126.47 efficiency

2012 — James Vandenberg 223 of 389 for 2,249 yards, 57.3 percent completions, 7 TDs, 8 INTs, 107.72 efficiency

2011 — James Vandenberg 237 of 404 for 3,022

yards, 58.7 percent completions, 25 TDs, 7 INTs, 138.44 efficiency

2010 — Ricky Stanzi 221 of 345 for 3,004 yards, 64.1 percent completions, 25 TDs, 6 INTs, 157.63

efficiency

2009 — Ricky Stanzi 171 of 304 for 2,417 yards, 56.3 percent completions, 15 TDs, 15

INTs, 131.62 efficiency

2008 — Ricky Stanzi 150 of 254 for 1,956 yards, 59.1 percent completions, 14 TDs, 9 INTs, 134.35 efficiency

2007 — Jake Christensen 198 of 370 for 2,269 yards, 53.5 percent completions, 17 TDs, 6 INTs, 116.94 efficiency

2006 — Drew Tate 207 of 352 for 2,623 yards, 58.8 percent completions, 18 TDs, 13 INTs, 130.89 efficiency

2005 — Drew Tate 219 of 352 for 2,828 yards, 62.2 percent completions, 22 TDs, 7 INTs, 146.35 efficiency

2004 — Drew Tate 233 of 375 for 2,786 yards, 62.1 percent completions, 20 TDs, 14 INTs, 134.67 efficiency

2003 — Nathan Chandler 165 of 307 for 2,040 yards, 53.7 percent completions, 18 TDs, 10 INTs, 122.40 efficiency

2002 — Brad Banks 170 of 294 for 2,575 yards, 57.8 percent completions, 26

TDs, 5 INTs, 157.12 efficiency

2001 — Kyle McCann 167 of 252 for 2,028 yards, 66.3

percent completions, 16 TDs, 11 INTs, 146.09 efficiency

2000 — Trio II 230 of 404

for 2,580 yards, 56.9 percent completions, 16 TDs, 11 INTs, 118.20 efficiency

1999 — Trio I 202 of 376 for 2,275 yards, 53.7 percent completions, 6 TDs, 9 INTs, 105.03 efficiency

Trio I — Kyle McCann, Randy Reiners, Scott Mullen

Trio II — McCann, Mullen, Jon Beutjer

Bold = high marks for this time period

Ferentz-era running backs — top seasons

1. Shonn Greene — 307 carries for 1,850 yards, 20 TDs (2008)

2. Marcus Coker — 281 carries for 1,384 yards, 15 TDs (2011)

3. Fred Russell — 282 carries for 1,355 yards, 7 TDs (2003)

4. Albert Young — 249 carries for 1,334 yards, 8 TDs (2005)

5. Russell — 220 carries for 1,264 yards, 9 TDs (2002)

6. Ladell Betts — 232 carries for 1,090 yards, 5 TDs (2000)

7. Akrum Wadley — 168 carries for 1081 yards, 10 TDs (2016)

8. LeShun Daniels — 213 carries for 1058 yards, 10 TDs (2016)

9. Betts — 222 carries for 1,060 yards, 10 TDs (2001)

10. Jordan Canzeri — 183 carries for 984 yards, 12 TDs (2015)

11. Mark Weisman — 226 carries for 974 yards, 8 TDs (2013)

12. Young — 206 carries for 968 yards, 6 TDs (2007)

13. Adam Robinson — 203 carries for 941 yards, 10 TDs (2010)

14. Betts — 189 carries for 857 yards, 5 TDs (1999)

15. Robinson — 181 carries for 834 yards, 5 TDs (2009)

16. Weisman — 159 carries for 815 yards, 8 TDs (2012)

17. Weisman — 231 carries for 812 yards, 16 TDs (2014)

18. Young — 178 carries for 779 yards, 7 TDs (2006)

19. Jermelle Lewis — 123 carries for 709 yards, 8 TDs (2002)

TOP CAREER RUSHERS IN KF ERA

1. Ladell Betts — 831 carries for 3,686 yards, 25 TDs (1998-01)

2. Albert Young — 660 carries for 3,173 yards, 23 TDs (2004-07)

3. Fred Russell — 514 carries for 2,760 yards, 17 TDs (2001-03)

4. Mark Weisman — 600 carries for 2,601 yards, 32 TDs (2012-14)

5. Shonn Greene — 347 carries for 2,107 yards, 22 TDs (2005-06, '08)

6. Marcus Coker — 395 carries for 2,006 yards, 18 TDs (2010-11)

7. Jordan Canzeri — 390 carries for 2,073 yards, 14 TDs (2011-15)

8. LeShun Daniels — 409 carries for 1,895 yards, 19 TDs (2013-16)

9. Adam Robinson — 384 carries for 1,775 yards, 15 TDs (2009-10)

10. Akrum Wadley — 284 carries for 1,763 yards, 18 TDs (2014-16)

11. Damian Sims 279 carries for 1,504 yards, 13 TDs (2004-07)

12. Jermelle Lewis 226 carries for 1,150 yards, 10 TDs (2002-04)

13. Damon Bullock 257 carries for 1,000 yards, 4 TDs (2011-13)

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com