Iowa football still has clear ‘1, 2 and a 3’ at QB despite Deacon Hill’s early hardship

IOWA CITY — Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill’s shaky first few games in the spotlight has not shaken the confidence — or at least the public confidence — of his head coach.

“Right now, it’s clear we have a one, two and a three,” Kirk Ferentz said of his quarterbacks during his Tuesday news conference.

Ferentz’s public show of confidence is despite Hill completing a mere 27-of-70 passes this season, which equates to a 38.6 percent completion rate.

“I’m not even aware of those stats, quite frankly,” Ferentz said. “We didn’t turn it over the other night. I know that. He had something to do with that.”

Asked how to improve Hill’s underwhelming completion percentage, Ferentz said to “throw it more accurately and catch it better, and protect better.”

Iowa’s alternatives in the quarterback room include Joe Labas, who went 14-of-24 and did not turn the ball over in his Music City Bowl start despite limited opportunities to work with Iowa’s first- and second-team players during the regular season. Iowa won the game, 21-0.

Ferentz did not “want to put a gauge” on how much separation is there between Hill and Labas.

This is not the first time in recent history Ferentz stuck with a struggling quarterback.

Ferentz remained loyal to Spencer Petras last year when Petras completed 54 percent of his passes while throwing two touchdowns and three interceptions through the first six games.

When Iowa made a change midway through the seventh game of the season, Alex Padilla went 5-of-10 with one interception against No. 2 Ohio State. Padilla later went 16-of-33 with one touchdown and one interception against Nebraska after taking over for the then-injured Petras.

“When Petras got knocked out, we saw maybe why we were playing Petras,” Ferentz said. “Offense is a team thing, takes a lot to go together to make it work.”

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