3 and Out: Iowa QB C.J. Beathard kept his head during what amounted to a three-year tryout

1. Beathard's three-year tryout — Sometime in early January 2015, Kirk Ferentz gave C.J. Beathard the call he'd been wanting for three years.

Coming off a disappointing 7-6 season, the Iowa head coach and his staff took a deep dive into the quarterback position. Jake Rudock was a two-year starter and headed into his senior year. Beathard was in, what felt like to him, terminal tryout mode. He fought for the starting quarterback job for three seasons, but didn't show enough to get over the hump against Rudock.

For Beathard, it wasn't personal, but he admitted this week during Iowa's Outback Bowl prep that it did wear on him.

'I had to learn to channel my frustrations,' Beathard said. 'I had to learn to calm down, because it was frustrating. I know how it is when you're battling. I battled Jake for almost three years. It's tough. You have bad days and good days. Finally emerging as the guy, looking back on it, it did prepare me to be a better player.'

Beathard probably wasn't in the competition in 2012. Then, Iowa had senior quarterback James Vandenberg. But Rudock, then a redshirt freshman, and Beathard were in the bullpen right next to each other. Yes, team first and all of that, but they were sizing up each other. They knew what was ahead.

And Rudock beat Beathard for those first two years. For two years, Beathard pushed a rock up the hill only to have it roll over the top of him and back down.

'Jake and I had a good relationship off the field, but on the field, it was kind of like, you want to be the guy,' Beathard said. 'You see him make a big play you cheer for him, but at the same time, now I need to go make a big play. It was a weird, tricky situation, but it made me a better quarterback in the long run.'

Do quarterback competitions divide teams? Let's not be innocents here. There is that potential. While this was going on — for two seasons — everyone said the right stuff.

This week, tight end George Kittle, a senior who's close friends with Beathard, said, of course, he wanted Beathard to win the job. The why he wanted that was the compelling part.

'I have nothing but respect for both guys,' Kittle said. 'Jake was a great guy when he was here. He did incredible things at Michigan.'

But ...

'I've been a C.J. fan since I got here,' Kittle said. 'I've wanted him to play since he was a true freshman, back when we were lighting up our defense on scout team. I was so happy that he finally got his chance. He won his first 13 games, that's not a bad record to start with.'

And ...

'Both guys were very mature about it,' Kittle said. 'You could tell not playing killed C.J., but he wasn't making it bigger than the team. All he wanted was what was best for the team. A lot of guys couldn't handle that.'

Beathard threw 27 passes his redshirt freshman season in 2013. As a sophomore, he replaced Rudock after an injury at Pitt and led a second-half comeback victory. Beathard started the next week at Purdue and won. And then he didn't throw another meaningful pass until the TaxSlayer Bowl.

This is when it got a little ugly. This is when a story in the Tennessean, Beathard's hometown newspaper, quoted Beathard's dad, Casey, that a transfer could've been brewing.

Head coach Kirk Ferentz and offensive coordinator Greg Davis said the TaxSlayer practices were an open competition at quarterback. Yes, Beathard had heard this before, but this time it really was.

Beathard's long wait was almost over. Quarterbacks have different clocks than other positions. You already kind of see that with Iowa's true freshman Nathan Stanley, who played this season and is the likely front-runner for the job in 2017.

For quarterbacks, two years on the bench is a lifetime.

'C.J. cares about the team,' Kittle said. 'C.J. loves nothing more, other than maybe his daughter (Lyla, who was born just more than a week ago), than this team. It's awesome to be out on the field with a guy who cares about everyone who touches the field with him. All he wants to do is win. It's awesome to play for a dude who cares so much about the game.'

Ferentz called Beathard on his cell in early January 2015.

Beathard was named the starter. Rudock graduated from Iowa and transferred to Michigan, where he threw for 3,017 yards and 20 TD passes before being drafted in the sixth round by the Detroit Lions. Beathard led Iowa to a 12-0 regular season and its first Rose Bowl in 25 years. Going into Monday's Outback Bowl, Beathard has 21 career victories, tied for third all-time among Iowa QBs.

In the end, it worked for everyone. That seldom happens in football.

2. Say goodbye to the Outback Bowl, for a while anyway — This is Iowa's fifth Outback Bowl. Ferentz's 2003, 2005, 2008, 2013 and now 2016 teams have played at Raymond James Stadium in Tampa. This probably won't happen again for at least five years.

When the Big Ten went to a tiered system after the 2013 season for its bowl tie-ins, Big Ten Commissioner Jim Delany hammered the point that a team returning to the same bowl or region for five or six consecutive years was just tired.

The Big Ten's tiered system is simple. After the Rose Bowl, sometimes the Orange Bowl and the College Football Playoff, it's the Citrus Bowl, Outback and Holiday Bowls. Then, it's TaxSlayer/Music City (sharing a tie-in for three more years), Foster Farms (San Francisco) and Pinstripe. Lower tiers include Heart of Dallas/Armed Forces (sharing a tie-in) and the Detroit bowl.

How it works is a little more vague, but Delany made it clear repeat visits need to be spaced out.

So, the likelihood of a Florida bowl game for Iowa in the next couple of seasons goes down for 'at least a year or two,' Iowa athletics director Gary Barta said when Iowa was picked for the Outback.

'It's trying to create the best win-win for the bowls and the teams in the conference,' Barta said. '... Trying to rotate it so there isn't fan apathy, that was the goal, that was the principle and, so far, I think it's worked well.'

3. Will an early signing period help Iowa's recruiting? — It won't be a panacea. Iowa always will have a few prospects that might draw a late offer from a blue blood (remember, it almost happened with offensive lineman Alaric Jackson when Michigan kicked the tires on him way late in the process).

What could help Iowa is earlier dates for visits. Iowa City is an easier sell in June than January. A summer signing period likely would move visit dates to the spring and summer.

This issue has been tabled before on the conference commissioners level. The Division I Council will rule on it in April.

l Comments: (319) 398-8256; marc.morehouse@thegazette.com