Iowa football’s spring transfer portal shopping likely complete after filling 2 needs

WEST DES MOINES — Kirk Ferentz, perhaps by accident, broke some recruiting news this week.

As he answered a question about ex-Northwestern quarterback Brendan Sullivan committing to Iowa (without mentioning Sullivan by name), he mentioned the Hawkeye football team “added two players that are going to be good additions to our team.”

Two.

At that point, Sullivan was the only scholarship player from the portal to commit to Iowa. Asked specifically about wide receiver, Ferentz said “we’ve pretty much addressed that now.”

“I guess it’s not out yet, but yeah, I think we’re in good shape there,” Ferentz said.

Then came the news that ex-Northwestern wide receiver Jacob Gill had committed to Iowa. Sullivan and Gill — teammates for three years in Evanston — give the Hawkeyes answers at two key positional needs.

Incumbent starting quarterback Cade McNamara is expected to be healthy going into fall camp after recovering from last year’s season-ending knee injury, which required surgery. But Sullivan offers the Hawkeyes a contingency plan — notably, a contingency plan with much more experience than the typical QB2 has going into fall camp.

Gill, meanwhile, adds to a receiving corps that has experienced serious attrition in recent years. Seth Anderson and Kaleb Brown were the only non-freshmen on scholarship during spring practices. Walk-on Kaden Wetjen likely will have a significant role as well, but that still leaves plenty of opportunity for someone like Gill.

The Raleigh, N.C., native had 15 catches for 184 yards in his first two seasons before assuming a smaller role in his third year with Northwestern.

“We’re really pleased with the way things have gone,” Ferentz said of the portal.

Iowa’s portal activity is now likely wrapped up until next winter. Most of the top players in the portal already have found new homes in the two-plus weeks since the spring transfer window closed.

“There’s a position or two we’d be interested in, but then the market has to cooperate with that,” Ferentz said. “What you don’t want to do, I don’t think, is fabricate a prospect, make one out of one that isn’t.”

In other words, Ferentz does not recruit someone out of the transfer portal “unless we’ve had a good reason to recruit a guy.”

Even if Iowa desired to be more aggressive in the portal, its tight scholarship situation would be a major obstacle. The Hawkeyes already had 87 players under scholarship before Sullivan and Gill joined the mix.

Unless four players decide to leave the team (all while the portal is not open), the Hawkeyes may need to pull a few players’ scholarships. (NIL income via Iowa’s Swarm Collective or other sources could potentially soften the financial blow of losing a scholarship, if not entirely offset the cost, however.)

Iowa’s transfer portal haul of two scholarship players — Sullivan and Gill — and walk-on center Cade Borud is relatively small when looking across the Big Ten. Half of 18 teams had at least 10 transfer additions, according to the On3 database, and 15 had at least five players added.

Iowa’s relative lack of portal additions correlates with its relative lack of portal departures. The Hawkeyes are tied with Nebraska for fewest transfer losses in the Big Ten, according to the On3 database.

Retaining the core of a team while supplementing with additions like linebacker Nick Jackson and offensive lineman Rusty Feth, for example, is the “ideal way to work in the system,” Ferentz believes.

“We’re not looking to build a team through (the portal),” Ferentz said.

As for complementing your existing pieces with two players from a nearby Big Ten school — “any time you can add players that maybe have experience in the conference, that’s a good thing.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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