What Iowa football’s signings of Mark Gronowski, Sam Phillips mean for 2025 passing attack

IOWA CITY — Tim Lester left little ambiguity last month about his desire to land another quarterback via the transfer portal.

“We still don’t have enough (quarterbacks) in there,” Iowa’s offensive coordinator said ahead of the Music City Bowl. “I would like to have five to six. I think we’re at four or five right now. If the right person comes along that we think fits our culture and Iowa, then we’ll definitely go after them.”

Fast-forward a couple weeks, and Lester got his wish with Iowa’s signing of ex-South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski last week. He got some help at wide receiver, too, with the commitment of ex-Chattanooga wide receiver Sam Phillips later in the week.

Both are encouraging additions for an Iowa passing attack that ranked 104th in passing efficiency and 114th in passing yards per attempt. (Iowa respectably ranked 52nd in completion percentage, but nonetheless, the passing game can benefit from portal reinforcements.)

Gronowski’s 2024 production was a relative step back from what he accomplished in 2023 as he led South Dakota State to its second consecutive FCS national title. Even then, his 147.3 passer rating in 2024 was far better than Iowa’s 124.5.

Gronowski’s 8.1 passing yards per attempt far outpaces Iowa’s 6.6 passing yards per attempt. That was relatively low for Gronowski, too, after averaging 8.3, 8.3 and 10.0 passing yards per attempt in his first three seasons. The last time Iowa even exceeded seven yards per passing attempt was in 2019 — Nate Stanley’s last year as a Hawkeye.

Phillips was targeted 78 times and had 50 receptions — a reception rate of 64.1 percent — according to Pro Football Focus. More impressively, Phillips did not have any drops amid those 78 targets. Only nine other FBS or FCS receivers had 75-plus targets without any drops, per PFF.

Gronowski and Phillips’ 2024 results, while encouraging, are not a perfect harbinger of what they will accomplish at Iowa in 2025. Many variables exist, especially when talking about players who are going from the FCS level to FBS level.

Iowa wide receiver Seth Anderson — a former Charleston Southern standout — has been an example of FCS production not equivalently translating to an FBS team. In his last season at Charleston Southern, Anderson had 42 receptions for 612 yards in 10 games. In his two seasons so far at Iowa combined, he has 16 receptions for 206 yards in 22 games.

Even when a player transfers within the FBS level, success at one school does not necessarily guarantee future success at a player’s new school. Iowa learned that the hard way in 2023 and 2024 with ex-Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara.

In 2023, McNamara completed 51.1 percent of his passes while throwing four touchdowns and three interceptions until his season-ending knee injury in Week 5. Then in 2024, he had more turnovers (seven) than touchdowns (six) until his season-ending concussion in late October.

Gronowski’s upcoming surgery — the one Iowa announced at the end of the day on Friday — also poses a question mark.

Iowa has not released many specifics about the nature of the surgery or his preceding injury. Gronowski was playing through the “common football-related injury,” and Iowa’s medical staff has “confidence he will be fully rehabbed in time to participate in our summer program.”

Miami (Fla.) offensive coordinator Shannon Dawson planned to fly to visit Gronowski during his portal recruitment, according to a report by The Athletic’s Manny Navarro and Bruce Feldman, but the “trip was canceled after he heard Gronowski might need surgery.”

Iowa’s staff did not seem to have that same level of concern, though, as evident by the Hawkeyes’ continued pursuit (and eventual signing) of the injured quarterback.

“While he could have continued to play through the injury, Mark is choosing to have a procedure to address the issue, and we support him in his decision,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said in a statement when Iowa announced the upcoming surgery.

If all goes according to plan with Gronowski, Lester might finally have the quarterback situation that he was craving a few weeks earlier in Nashville.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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