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What Brendan Sullivan’s arrival means for Iowa’s quarterback position
Cade McNamara remains QB1 despite addition of experienced ex-Northwestern quarterback via transfer portal
IOWA CITY — Brendan Sullivan was not necessarily a lock to be QB1 in Northwestern when he entered the transfer portal.
“The depth chart isn’t set,” Northwestern Coach David Braun later told the Rivals-affiliated outlet Wildcat Report in reference to Sullivan’s status as presumptive starter.
The alternatives were not great, though. One quarterback struggled mightily when given opportunities in 2021 and 2022, and another two options lacked significant game experience.
Braun did mention the importance of being “honest about our exploration for a potential guy in the transfer portal” to the Rivals-affiliated recruiting website in that same interview. However, Sullivan’s resume certainly seems better than that of Northwestern’s portal addition, Mike Wright — who has completed 55.2 percent of his passes during his time at Vanderbilt and then Mississippi State.
The Wildcats’ loss is the Hawkeyes’ gain, though, as Sullivan committed to Iowa last week via the transfer portal. Sullivan’s addition addresses a major need for the Tim Lester-led offense at quarterback.
Cade McNamara still is QB1
Cade McNamara still is clearly the Hawkeyes’ top option at quarterback going into the 2024 season although Sullivan could create some competition at the position in fall camp.
“If (Cade is) healthy, he’s our starter,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday evening. “There’s no delusion there. … There’s no reason to think he won’t be healthy in August, so that’s how we’re starting out. That’s pretty much the way it is. And then if somebody can beat him out, great, that means somebody is doing well.”
Insurance policy given Cade McNamara’s injury history
Given McNamara’s injury history — back-to-back- years with season-ending injuries — Sullivan will at the very least be a valuable insurance policy for the Hawkeyes.
The last time McNamara went through a season unscathed was 2021 — three years ago and when he was working behind a Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line.
Even when McNamara was healthy enough to be on the field, he had a career-low 51.1 percent completion rate and four touchdowns versus three interceptions. A preseason quad injury “threw a monkey wrench into things,” as Ferentz described it, but the numbers were uninspiring nonetheless.
Had Iowa not landed a quarterback commitment via the transfer portal, the most experienced alternative to McNamara would be Marco Lainez — the redshirt freshman with 12 career dropbacks at the collegiate level.
Sullivan, on the other hand, has 283 career dropbacks, according to Pro Football Focus.
It’s a level of experience that is rare for someone who could be Iowa’s second-string quarterback in the fall. Iowa’s 2023 backup quarterbacks Joe Labas and Deacon Hill had a combined 26 career dropbacks at this time last year. At this time two years ago, Alex Padilla had 125 career dropbacks as the presumed No. 2 quarterback going into the 2022 season.
Brendan Sullivan’s skill set
Along with Sullivan’s experience — he has started eight games and appeared as a reserve in another four — he has been more efficient than what Iowa has seen at the QB position in recent years.
Sullivan completed 68.4 percent of his passes in his Northwestern career while throwing 10 touchdowns and five interceptions. Iowa, on the contrary, has completed only 51.9 percent of its passes since the start of the 2022 season while throwing more interceptions than touchdowns.
In his two games against Iowa, Sullivan went a combined 35-for-49 (71.4 percent) while throwing three touchdowns versus one interception. During those same two seasons, opposing quarterbacks completed only 57.3 percent of passes against Iowa’s highly-touted defense.
Perhaps one of the more intriguing aspects of Sullivan’s game, though, is his ability to extend plays with his feet. Sullivan’s 160 official rushing yards last season were skewed by the 24 sacks he took behind an offensive line that had just lost NFL first-rounder Peter Skoronski.
Sullivan scrambled for 203 yards on 27 attempts last season, per PFF. All of Iowa’s quarterbacks scrambled for a combined 112 yards in 2023, and almost half of that came from Lainez when the Citrus Bowl was well out of reach.
Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com
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