Iowa football 2024 winter position breakdown: Quarterback

IOWA CITY — Iowa football’s quarterback production has not exactly been a work of art in recent years.

Iowa ranked 129th out of 130 teams nationally in completion percentage in 2023, 111th in 2022 and 114th in 2021. The Hawkeyes’ team passer rating was not any better — 130th in 2023, 120th in 2022 and 117th in 2021.

Here is an early look at the position as the Hawkeyes seek improved results in the passing game in 2024:

Who’s gone

Joe Labas transferred to Central Michigan after the 2023 season. Labas went 14-of-24 with one touchdown in the 2022 Music City Bowl — his only game action in his three seasons in Iowa City.

Who’s back

Cade McNamara will return for his second and final season at Iowa. The Michigan transfer completed 51.1 percent of his passes and threw four touchdowns versus three interceptions before suffering a season-ending knee injury. A quad injury from August hampered McNamara in the five games he could play.

Deacon Hill, the Wisconsin transfer who stepped in last year for McNamara, completed 48.6 percent of his passes while throwing five touchdowns and eight interceptions.

Marco Lainez appeared in one game — the Citrus Bowl on Jan. 1 — as a true freshman. He was 2-of-7 throwing the ball, but he scrambled for 51 yards to give the Hawkeyes a short-lived spark during an otherwise-gloomy, 35-0, loss.

Walk-on Tommy Poholsky, meanwhile, will be a redshirt freshman. His late father Tom was a quarterback for Iowa and a team captain in 1989.

Who’s joining the mix

Incoming freshman James Resar comes from Jacksonville, Fla., with a four-star rating from 247Sports. The 6-foot-4 quarterback is especially fast, running a 10.67-second 100-meter dash in high school. For those not fluent in track numbers, it would be comparable to running the length of a football field at about 21 miles per hour.

Iowa did not add anyone at quarterback during the first transfer portal window. The Hawkeyes’ high scholarship count could make it difficult to add quarterback depth in the spring.

Way-too-early two deep projections

If/when McNamara is healthy, he is expected to be Iowa’s clear QB1. The competition for the top spot behind McNamara could be interesting during spring practices and fall camp.

Outlook

The quarterback position is perhaps the biggest wild card for the Hawkeyes in 2024.

McNamara’s health and new offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s impact are among the crucial question marks ahead of the 2024 season.

McNamara has not had a fully healthy season since 2021, when he completed a career-high 64.2 percent of his passes while throwing 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. The 2023 season, meanwhile, exposed Iowa’s lack of depth at the position behind McNamara.

If Lester can revamp Iowa’s offense and McNamara can return to his 2021 form, the metaphorical ceiling will be very high for this position and the Hawkeyes as a whole in 2024.

But the last few years have shown that those are both big ifs.

Editor’s note: This is the fourth of a nine-part series breaking down where each Iowa football position group stands at this point in the offseason.

Iowa football offseason winter position breakdowns

• Special teams

• Tight ends

• Defensive line

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com