Iowa football winter position breakdown: Quarterbacks

IOWA CITY — As the Iowa football team prepares for 2022, the biggest question will be at quarterback.

After the Hawkeyes completed just 55 percent of their passes in 2021 — that ranked 11th in the Big Ten — in an offense that includes plenty of high-percentage passing schemes, they’ll surely be looking for better results next season.

Here’s how the position looks at this stage of the offseason in the latest part of The Gazette’s winter position breakdown series:

Who’s gone

Iowa’s lone departure at quarterback was Deuce Hogan, who transferred to Kentucky. The high-profile recruit, who also considered Georgia, Baylor and a host of other Power Five schools, was a major get for the Hawkeyes when he committed in June 2018.

The hype didn’t translate into results in Iowa City.

In his two years on campus, he attempted one pass — a 2-yard completion to Max Cooper in garbage time against Maryland. Ferentz joked later in the season about not making the trip to Nebraska if Hogan had to be the starting quarterback, a comment he later said he regretted making.

Who’s back

The two quarterbacks who saw significant snaps in 2021 — Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla — are expected to return for 2022.

Both quarterbacks saw some highs and lows in 2021.

A fan who watched Petras in the first six games might not totally recognize the Petras who showed up in the second half of the season.

Through the first six games, Petras had nine touchdowns and only two interceptions. His completion percentage — 60.7 percent — wasn’t spectacular, but it was serviceable.

After that, he had one touchdown and seven interceptions while completing 52.5 percent of his throws.

Padilla, who saw the bulk of his playing time in November and December, didn’t have good stats on paper, but other indicators suggest his performances were better than the traditional stats show.

His completion percentage was 48.7, and he had two touchdowns versus two interceptions.

Receivers dropped passes from Padilla at a higher rate, however, and the sophomore from Greenwood Village, Colo., was more likely to throw the ball away rather than taking a sack.

Padilla had the slightly better adjusted completion percentage, which Pro Football Focus measures by counting passes that were on target but dropped as completions, at 71.6 percent. Petras was at 67 percent despite a nearly identical average depth of throws.

The wild card returning at quarterback is Joey Labas. He worked mostly with the scout team as a freshman and left a good impression on his teammates and coaches.

"He’s definitely done some surprising things that you would be like, ‘Wow,’” safety Kaevon Merriweather said in December. ”I’ve seen him throw like a sidearm — like Patrick Mahomes — pass and completed it.”

Ferentz said before the team’s trip to the Citrus Bowl that Labas has been doing a “good job,” but he caught himself before being too complimentary.

“I better quit talking about quarterbacks in the press,” Ferentz said.

Who’s joining the mix

Carson May, a four-star recruit according to Rivals from Jones, Okla., will be Iowa’s scholarship quarterback from the 2022 recruiting class. As in most years, it would take a lot for a true freshman to end up starting in Iowa’s system.

Padilla said before the Citrus Bowl it takes a “year, year-and-a-half to kind of learn the intricacies” of Iowa’s offensive system.

Way-too-early two-deep projections

All three quarterbacks have a lot of development time between now and September, so the order of this projection could change several times before the start of 2022.

Outlook

The level of production Iowa got from Petras and Padilla in 2021 won’t cut it in 2022 with what appears to be a more grueling schedule.

While I have Padilla as my projected starter at this point, he’s far from a lock at the position. It could just as well be Petras if the 6-foot-5 hurler rediscovers the groove he was in for the first half of 2021.

Labas can’t be ruled out either after impressing teammates and coaches with his work on the scout team.

Comments: (319) 398-8394; john.steppe@thegazette.com