Beathard a front-runner in Iowa and beyond

It took 13 games, but C.J. Beathard finally paused in a moment of semi-confusion.

Luckily for Iowa, it didn't count for anything. But on a Monday afternoon teleconference in advance of the Big Ten championship, the Iowa quarterback was asked for an opening statement.

'You want me to make opening comments?' Beathard said.

That's kind of what 2015 has been about for the junior. Last year at this time, Beathard was the backup quarterback and an ominous transfer rumor. Then, during Iowa's bowl prep for the TaxSlayer, he again found himself in competition with Jake Rudock for the starting job.

Beathard was named starter in January. His opening comments? A 12-0 season (Iowa's first perfect regular season since 1922), a 13-0 record as the No. 4 Hawkeyes' starter (never been done at Iowa), a Big Ten West Division title (never been done at Iowa) and a berth opposite No. 5 Michigan State (11-1) in the Big Ten championship game Saturday at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis.

And, yes, that's never been done at Iowa, either.

During its defensive all-conference unveiling Monday night, the Big Ten Network polled fans for their B1G offensive player of the year. Beathard was the runaway winner with 47 percent of the vote. Michigan State fans must've been playing bingo (QB Connor Cook got 23 percent). Ohio State fans must've been doing College Football Playoff math (RB Ezekiel Elliott finished with 20 percent).

The fact that Beathard is a name in a poll for Big Ten offensive player of the year on the Big Ten Network is quite the whiplash turnaround from December 2014.

Last December, Beathard couldn't win the Iowa starting QB poll. This December, MSU defensive end Shilique Calhoun talked about making Beathard's life miserable in the Big Ten championship game, which, for all intents and purposes, is a play-in game for the CFP final four.

'It's going to be important for our defense to create havoc in the backfield and make him distressed and take him out of his comfort zone,' said Calhoun, who's sixth in the Big Ten with 8.5 sacks. 'I think with him, that's how the offense runs. He calls the shots, gets everyone lined up and he pretty much takes over the team.'

When it became clear Beathard wasn't going to overtake Rudock and wasn't going to see much if any playing time late last season, the media engagements with him were few and far between. One of the last came in late October after wide receiver Derrick Willies left the team with five games remaining on the schedule.

Beathard never sounded like a guy who was leaving town.

'I'm all right with it,' he said at the time about being the backup. 'It can be frustrating at times, I just have to keep the faith that it's all going to work out. You have to be positive and make the most out of every opportunity you have. . . . Every day you're living, it's a good day.'

Then on Dec. 22, the subject of transferring came up in an interview with The Tennessean, the newspaper of Beathard's hometown Nashville. It kind of sounded as if the parachute was packed.

'He's really hoping he doesn't have to transfer,' his father, Casey, told The Tennessean. 'I said (to him), 'Hopefully it'll be obvious in this game, one way or the other.''

As it turned out, the books were reopened at Iowa quarterback. December was an evaluation period. It was tense with Beathard and Rudock, who was ending his second season as Iowa's starter. For two seasons, Beathard was the second chair, which works in everything in life except quarterback.

'I had to show them (coaches) that I was ready,' said Beathard, who finished the regular season with 14 touchdown passes and just three interceptions. 'I had to stay consistent, take care of the ball. I had to show I could read coverages and get the ball out of my hand quick.'

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz's first impressions of Beathard when he arrived from Battle Ground Academy (Franklin, Tenn.) in 2012 was live arm and escape-ability, kind of what you're shooting for out of a quarterback. 'He came here with those two things,' Ferentz said.

What needed shining was maturity, Ferentz said. What did Beathard get yelled at for as a young QB?

'There were different things, it's a big step going from high school to college, especially the way our offense works,' Beathard said. 'The quarterback does a lot at the line of scrimmage. You have to know when you're hot (read blitzes) and get the ball out of your hands, when to take hits and all of that kind of stuff.

'It's tough. Your mind is going 100 miles an hour when you get here. It slows down as you get older.'

Beathard said offensive coordinator Greg Davis harped on video study with him, learning coverages and defenses. And now you're going to hear a word that you might not like, but has been a helpful element to moving Iowa's offense this season. It's a word, however, that probably illustrates Beathard's maturation as much as anything.

'Getting the ball to the checkdowns,' Beathard said. 'When guys aren't open, checkdowns can make big plays, too.'

With the maturity box checked off as much as it could be checked off for a new Big Ten starting QB in January (who played in basically 1 1/2 games), Ferentz made the call to go with Beathard. Now, Ferentz's go-to descriptors for the junior are 'poise and toughness.'

'We felt that C.J. was the best fit for the football team,' he said. 'I think the thing we've noticed since that time, not only did he accept that responsibility, he embraced it. His confidence has grown. I think his leadership, I don't think, I know, his leadership traits have taken off.'

Maybe this showed during Monday's teleconference. Beathard was asked if he'd give Rudock, now the starter at Michigan as a graduate transfer, a call or text and pick his brain on Michigan State. That was a tense, all-or-nothing competition between the two last December. Maybe it's the kind of thing where they shook hands at the end of the day and said good luck.

Or maybe not. Yes, probably not.

'Nah, nah, I haven't really talked to him much lately,' Beathard said. 'I don't really talk to him at all. I haven't talked to him since the season started, honestly. That's pretty much it.'

Do you feel like you might talk to him this week?

(Clears throat.)

'I don't know,' he said. 'I'm not sure. I wasn't necessarily planning on it, but maybe I will.'

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