Where does Iowa football’s QB position stand after adding Hank Brown?

IOWA CITY — Tim Lester’s quarterback makeover is beginning to take shape.

Gone are Cade McNamara, Marco Lainez and James Resar — all players who committed while Brian Ferentz was in good standing as Iowa’s offensive coordinator. (Going farther back, the same can be said for Spencer Petras, Joe Labas and Deacon Hill in the 2023-24 portal cycle.)

Brendan Sullivan and Jackson Stratton — two players who arrived via the transfer portal during Lester’s tenure — are still in Iowa City. Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald have signed as incoming freshmen. Most recently, ex-Auburn quarterback Hank Brown has signed with the Hawkeyes via the transfer portal.

The result? A quarterback room entirely made up of players who signed with the Hawkeyes during Lester’s tenure as Iowa’s offensive coordinator.

“When we evaluate quarterbacks, it's 100 percent going to be working around who the offensive coordinator and the quarterbacks coach is, absolutely,“ said Tyler Barnes, Iowa football’s chief of staff/general manager, earlier this month. ”Styles are going to change. … Tim played the position at a high level. He's coached the position for a long time. He knows exactly what he's looking for and exactly what he wants, but he's also open-minded too.“

As for where those moves leave Iowa’s quarterback position about midway through the December transfer portal window, the Hawkeyes appear to be in decent shape.

Brendan Sullivan, who has one year of eligibility remaining, probably has the strongest case to make so far for starting in 2025. He completed 68.6 percent of his passes while throwing two touchdown passes and two interceptions and providing a mobile threat.

Sullivan did not play enough in 2024 to qualify for a national rank in passing efficiency — first because of being behind McNamara on the depth chart and later because of his injury — but if he did, his passer rating of 158.6 would have been 13th-best nationally.

Iowa’s other two options with past college football experience — Stratton and Brown — don’t have quite as strong resumes yet, but could potentially compete with Sullivan for opportunities.

Stratton completed 60 percent of passes while admirably filling in for the injured McNamara and Sullivan, but his 6.3 passing yards per attempt will not jump off the page. (Take out Kaleb Johnson’s impressive 72-yard touchdown reception where all 72 yards came after the catch, and that average would go down to 4.3.)

Brown had a great start against New Mexico this season, but the results were not as pretty a week later against Arkansas — 7-of-13 for 72 yards and three interceptions. He has plenty of time for improvement, though, as he has three years of eligibility remaining.

Iowa’s quarterback outlook largely depends, too, on whether the opportunity is there to add another player via the portal. Even with Brown’s commitment, the Hawkeyes will have only three quarterbacks on scholarship — him, Brendan Sullivan and Jimmy Sullivan. Iowa often carries five scholarship quarterbacks.

“We would be fools not to at least see what's available (at quarterback) and see what might be of interest, both ways,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said earlier this month, before Brown’s commitment.

Penn State quarterback transfer Beau Pribula could be a name to watch. Pribula, a former three-star recruit, completed 74.3 percent of his passes this year as Penn State’s No. 2 quarterback with throwing five touchdowns and one interception.

On3’s Pete Nakos reported that Iowa has been one of the early schools “to take note of with Pribula” along with Missouri and UCF. He also linked Iowa with former USC quarterback Miller Moss, though, and that never seemed to gain serious traction as Moss chose Louisville.

The idea of adding a upper-tier quarterback transfer — someone that presents a formidable threat to Iowa’s current options at the position — can sometimes be easier said than done.

Iowa’s NIL resources are finite, and other positional needs include defensive tackle and wide receiver. (In fact, quarterback is the only position the Hawkeyes have successfully addressed in the portal.)

Even with Lester’s improvements to the offense, the prospect of going to the place that ranked 109th out of 133 FBS teams in passing efficiency and 121st in passing yards per completion can have an obvious damper on interest.

Time will tell whether a room full of Lester-recruited quarterbacks can change that narrative.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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