Iowa QB Mark Gronowski is ‘gloves off’ in summer workouts, can have more ‘freedom’ in Tim Lester’s 2025 offense

IOWA CITY — Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski’s progression seems to be taking another step forward after recovering from offseason shoulder surgery in the spring.

Offensive coordinator Tim Lester does not know about Gronowski’s current ability to do a two-minute drill or team drills “with the defensive line trying to get at him” — things Iowa football cannot do at this point in the NCAA calendar anyway.

“But as far as what we’re able to do in the summer — drop back, throw the ball, throw routes on air, do some individual — everything we’re able to do in the summer, he’s gloves off,” Lester said this week on The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast. “He’s ready to go. And it was fun to have him out there. … Hear his cadence and let him do some things.”

Lester said the Hawkeyes have a “good plan in place for him to get more and more comfortable” with the recognition that he “can’t overthrow his arm.”

“He’s played a lot of college football games, so understanding scheme and blitzes and protections — he understands all that,” Lester said. “Him and the receivers — really all our quarterbacks and all our receivers — just spending time to continue to get on the same page will be imperative. And that’s kind of the plan for this next two-month cycle before we get going.”

This week’s positive update follows a similar timeline as past comments from head coach Kirk Ferentz and Gronowski himself. Ferentz said in a statement in January that Iowa’s sports medicine team “has confidence he will be fully rehabbed in time to participate in our summer program.” Gronowski then told reporters in April he will “hopefully be back June 1, 100 percent.”

Gronowski generated some excitement ahead of Iowa’s open spring practice when he threw back and forth with fellow quarterback Jackson Stratton (albeit not in pads and not participating in the rest of the practice). But he was mainly limited to getting “a lot of good mental reps” in the spring.

“There’s been multiple times in spring where he was like, ‘Hey, if I saw that, I’d love to slide the line and check that,’” Lester said. “And I’d be like, ‘Please! I’d be fine with that. If you want to do that, if that’s what pops into your mind right there, then do it.’”

The South Dakota State transfer approaches his lone season as a Hawkeye with 55 career starts and two FCS national titles. His 49 wins as a starting quarterback tied an FCS record. He won the FCS Walter Payton Award as the division’s top offensive player in 2023 and was a finalist for the award again in 2024.

That gives Lester a lot to work with in his second season running his Shanahan-style offense at Iowa after the Hawkeyes’ injury-derailed passing attack ranked 104th in team passing efficiency in Lester’s first year.

“When you have a veteran quarterback in this system, there’s a lot of freedom,” Lester said. “Freedom that I haven’t always given everybody, especially last year. … Not only do you have to be ready, the O-line has to be ready if you want to make changes, and the wideouts have to be ready. And in no way, shape or form were we even close to being able to truly take the gloves off offensively.”

Tune into this week’s episode of The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast for John Steppe’s full conversation with Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.