Marco Lainez shows athleticism in Hawkeye debut, still has ‘some things to learn’

ORLANDO — After a brutal first three-plus quarters, the fans wearing black and gold on the west side of Camping World Stadium finally had something to cheer about.

The raucous ovation from the Iowa fan contingent was not because of a scoring play or turnover forced, but rather the sight of backup quarterback Marco Lainez taking the field.

Lainez then gave the fans more to cheer about. His first play as a Hawkeye was a 10-yard scramble for a first down. On that same drive, he had gains of 16 yards and 12 yards on the ground. He also improbably ran for 16 yards on a fourth-and-15 to keep the drive alive.

Despite playing for less than one full quarter, Lainez led the team by a wide margin with 51 rushing yards while averaging 8.5 yards per carry. If excluding Lainez’s one sack, his rushing average would jump to 11.4 yards.

As much as Lainez’s mobile plays excited fans, his passing numbers were not phenomenal. He went 2-of-7 for 4 yards.

“He has some things to learn,” Ferentz said. “All this will be a good experience for him, something to draw upon.”

Monday’s loss was the first time Lainez has seen game action at the college level.

Lainez has “practiced well,” Ferentz said. But the true freshman quarterback did not have a high volume of work yet with the first or second-team offenses until he passed Joe Labas for the No. 2 reps ahead of the Nov. 4 Northwestern game.

“It is hard to practice three quarterbacks,” Ferentz said. “He certainly got work as the season went on, but he still has a lot of learning to do, a lot of time in front of him and all those types of things.”

Iowa’s defense has plenty of familiarity with Lainez’s skill set from his time as a scout team quarterback before supplanting Labas as the unofficial QB2.

“When he decides he’s about to go run, he can do it,” linebacker Nick Jackson said. “He can do it fast, too. … He’s a special player, and I’m excited for him.”

Linebacker Jay Higgins said Lainez is a “playmaker for sure.”

“Coming out of high school, you get to practice against Iowa’s defense as a young guy,” Higgins said. “Obviously we’re going to make you work. But the playmaking ability was always there.”

Higgins also has taken note of what Lainez brings away from the practice fields.

“He’s one of those natural-born leaders,” Higgins said. “I feel like we do a pretty good job of recruiting quarterbacks who aren’t douchebags outside the field.”

As Lainez gets high marks in practice, the quarterback Iowa fans have seen on game days has struggled.

Deacon Hill completed only 48.6 percent of his passes this season while throwing five touchdowns and eight interceptions. He also fumbled the ball 11 times.

“Deacon is the starting quarterback,” offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz said last week in Orlando. “Deacon has played really good football for us.”

Brian Ferentz told reporters that he expected Hill to “go the distance” against Tennessee. However, Kirk Ferentz said after Monday’s loss that the staff “came into the game considering” giving Lainez some snaps.

"He basically started with us in August, so the improvement he has made — it has been really impressive,“ Kirk Ferentz said. ”He’s a great young guy. Great attitude.“

Kirk Ferentz started Hill because he “gave us our best chance to win,” but the 25th-year head coach changed course in the fourth quarter and put Lainez in the game.

“At some point, you just felt like making a change would be the best thing,” Ferentz said. “That is what drives every personnel decision.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com