Iowa QB Brendan Sullivan is ‘true leader,’ his former Northwestern teammates, coach say

INDIANAPOLIS — If there are any hard feelings between Brendan Sullivan and his former school, the latter certainly did not show it Tuesday at Lucas Oil Stadium.

Northwestern Coach David Braun and all three of Northwestern’s players at the Big Ten’s football media days on Tuesday spoke glowingly of the ex-Wildcat quarterback.

“He’s an awesome individual,” Northwestern linebacker Xander Mueller said. “Really sad to see him go. He’s a great person and grew a lot in his time here.”

Northwestern wide receiver A.J. Henning said Sullivan is a “true leader” and a “guy who the guys in the locker room want to rally around.”

“He’s a good friend of mine,” Henning said. “Truly, on and off the field, he kind of welcomed me in during my time at Northwestern and took me in as a brother and a friend.”

Northwestern running back Cam Porter said Sullivan “is literally my best friend."

“That’s my boy,” Porter said. “I talk to him on a daily basis. … I’m so happy and excited for what he’s going to bring to Iowa.”

Porter described Sullivan as “probably the most competitive person I know.”

“If we’re playing a football game, to playing pickup basketball, the guy is trying to win,” Porter said. “I think that’s going to carry over to Iowa and help Iowa’s culture in general. … He’s going to help lead Iowa to some big games, except for when they play us.”

Similarly, the first word Braun used to describe Sullivan was “competitor.”

“Good quarterback, good arm, athletic, but I think one of the most redeeming qualities he has is he’s just competitive as all get out,“ Braun said.

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Sullivan’s big performance last year against Maryland — 16-for-23 for 265 yards, two touchdowns and no interceptions in a 33-27 win — quickly comes to mind for his former teammates and coach.

“That game, I think, just embodies everything he’s all about — competitive, team-first, awesome human,” Braun said.

Henning specifically remembers a play in that game where Sullivan scrambled, “directed me up the field and just launched one.”

“And I dove out and laid out for it and came up for the first down,” said Henning as he recounted the 34-yard completion. “So that was a special memory between me and him for sure.”

Braun also remembers how Sullivan handled some of the team’s not-as-fine moments, like a 17-9 loss to Nebraska the week before the memorable Maryland showing.

“Even after the Nebraska game, which was not our best performance offensively, just being with him after the game continues to just show that guy loves his team and loves to compete,” Braun said.

Sullivan started four games for the Wildcats in 2023 and appeared in another four games as a reserve behind ex-Cincinnati quarterback Ben Bryant. He completed 63.6 percent of his passes while throwing six touchdowns and two interceptions.

His skill set also included the ability to extend plays on his feet, racking up 160 rushing yards — a number that would have been much higher, had it not been for the 24 sacks that officially count as negative rushing plays.

“You always want a quarterback who can do that in an offense — to extend the play and make a bigger play,” Henning said. “I feel like a lot of the explosive plays come from broken plays that are scramble-drill-type plays.”

The Davison, Mich., native appeared, at least to those outside the program, to be Northwestern’s most likely option at quarterback going into spring practices. He decided after spring practices to enter the transfer portal, however.

Braun, like Sullivan did at last week’s media availability in Iowa City, opted not to go into specifics about why Sullivan entered the portal.

“As a program, we believe in having fully transparent conversations with our guys in terms of where we’re at,” Braun said.

Northwestern, Braun said, “did not want Sully to leave.”

“We were — I don't want to say disappointed — but we were sad to see him go,” Braun said. “Proud that he's leaving with his Northwestern degree. But I definitely understood based on the conversation that we had why Sully made the decision that he did.”

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