How Iowa’s precarious QB depth, injury against UCLA could impact Brendan Sullivan’s running in future

IOWA CITY — Tim Lester used the analogy of a child touching a hot stove as he talked with his quarterbacks.

“They want to touch the stove, and you slap their hand and say, ‘Don’t touch the stove, it’s hot,’” the first-year Iowa offensive coordinator said. “And then what do they do? They reach again. And you’re like, ‘Hey don’t touch the stove, it’s hot.’ And eventually they need to burn themselves.”

Replace a child’s desire to touch the hot stove with quarterback Brendan Sullivan’s desire to run, and the analogy could be applicable to the 2024 Hawkeyes.

Sullivan’s willingness to run — and not only run, but do so with fearless abandon — came with its benefits for the Hawkeyes. He had 40 rushing yards against Northwestern and 58 rushing yards against Wisconsin. He also gave opposing defenses something to worry about other than star running back Kaleb Johnson.

But the UCLA loss serves as a cautionary tale when Sullivan gets too close to the figurative stove or, in this case, the literal 200-some-pound linebacker. It cost Iowa a drive when UCLA’s Kain Medrano ripped the ball away from Sullivan for a fumble.

It was especially costly when Sullivan took multiple big hits in last Friday’s loss to UCLA before eventually exiting the game with an ankle injury.

“We had him in designed runs maybe three times in the game,” Lester said. “I think he had nine carries — or six times that I didn’t want him running, taking unnecessary hits. And things like this can happen when you’re not progressing or you rely on your athletic ability instead of being a quarterback first.”

The play where Sullivan ended up throwing his second interception was another example of him taking an “unnecessary hit.” Sullivan already had spent significant time in the medical tent before that hit; he did not see any more game action after the hit.

“The guy’s open, and he’s stressing out and feeling pressure that wasn’t there,” Lester said. “And he ended up getting out and didn’t see the guy that hit him on the side, which is unfortunate.”

Sullivan’s bonus as a mobile quarterback is “icing on the cake,” Lester said, “but first things first.”

“My biggest concern with any quarterback that’s playing is that you go through your progressions,” Lester said. “I do not want to make it backyard football, drop back and run around.”

Even before Sullivan’s exit from the UCLA game, quarterback depth — something that appeared to be a luxury earlier in the year — has become a major question mark as injuries add up quickly.

Cade McNamara, Iowa’s starter for its first eight games, has been out as he recovers from a concussion. Sullivan now has his ankle injury, which head coach Kirk Ferentz described on Friday as a “sprain.” Third-teamer Marco Lainez needed surgery on his hand, and true freshman James Resar moved to wide receiver (and also has been hurt).

Lester said he thinks McNamara is “getting close,” and Sullivan underwent “imaging” on his ankle. There are “a whole lot of ‘I don’t knows’ right now,” though.

In the meantime, that leaves Iowa with Jackson Stratton as the team’s last healthy quarterback. After that, true freshman walk-on Kyler Gerardy has been seen working with the quarterbacks. Other former high school quarterbacks on Iowa’s roster include running back Max White and defensive back Zach Lutmer.

Ferentz said last month you “don’t want to harness the guy back or throttle him down too much,” but also recognized the value of self-preservation for Sullivan at a position that suddenly does not have much depth.

“I’d be fine if (Sullivan) slides,” Ferentz said a couple weeks ago. “If he’s going to run the ball, slide. I’m fine with that. If we had 10 quarterbacks, I’d still ask him to do that. There’s a difference between running backs, fullbacks and quarterbacks in my mind when they run the football.”

With Iowa’s precarious quarterback depth, it’s no wonder Lester said “you try to keep him on the edges” when Sullivan runs.

“A lot of times on the edges, you can protect yourself better,” Lester said.

Of course, even when running on the edges, Sullivan has sometimes braced for contact rather than running out of bounds. The big hit while running on Sullivan’s penultimate drive and the first-half fumble both happened when he was near the sideline.

“He learned from it,” Lester said. “We had a great meeting yesterday. I met with him again last night, and so hopefully this is a great moment for him to see it, learn from it.”

Lester was once the college quarterback who figuratively burned his hand on the stove when he was a freshman at Western Michigan in 1996.

“We started off 0-9,” Lester said. “I got hit too much. I held the ball too — I did everything wrong. … We did a lot of learning, and my body somehow made it through that year.”

Now, Lester is optimistic about the quarterback who got burned almost three decades after he did.

“I’m excited about his growth from this point on,” Lester said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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