Hlas: It’s Beathard or bust

IOWA CITY - For all the noise about coaching hot seats, declining ticket sales, discontent, fatigue, fear and loathing, the 2015 Iowa football season may come down to this:

Will new starting quarterback C.J. Beathard be great or not?

'I have the confidence in myself to hopefully be great,” Beathard said Saturday at his team's media day. 'I think we're looking forward to a good season this season. I've got faith in my line, my receivers, the running backs.”

If Beathard becomes the best thing to come out of Nashville since Johnny Cash, who's to say the men in black (and gold) can't be something beyond ordinary? It isn't as if the Big Ten West is chock full o' superstar quarterbacks.

This 21-year-old was the people's choice in Iowa last season, but was displayed only in dribs and drabs. His one start, against Purdue, was less a statement than a matter of doing enough to not get Iowa beat against a lesser foe.

Jake Rudock returned from injury the following game, and Beathard was back in the shadows until he shared series with Rudock in the debacle known as Iowa's performance against Tennessee in the TaxSlayer Bowl.

Hawkeyes Coach Kirk Ferentz handed Beathard the QB #1 job almost the instant the team plane got back to Iowa from Jacksonville. Two-year starter Rudock was urged to ply his wares elsewhere, and Michigan became that place.

Ferentz's hat now hangs on Beathard being a cut above what Iowa has gotten at quarterback since Ricky Stanzi last roamed Kinnick Stadium. That was five years ago.

Watching Beathard play, with his ability to throw pretty bombs and willingness to lower his should and run, many of us wondered aloud why Ferentz wouldn't hitch his wagon to this horse.

But he didn't. Until he finally did, and with no second option in sight for the year ahead. It wasn't a gamble. Ferentz needs more than game-management from quarterback this year. He needs lightning and thunder. But he still demands the game-management.

'The way he's grown, the way he's accepted being a leader, it's very, very clear,” Ferentz said.

'He's just a totally different guy. His demeanor is different, and he's a much more mature guy and he's accepted the responsibility. When you play quarterback, there's a lot of responsibility that goes with it. I think he's embraced it. He's excited about it.”

From his line of responses Saturday, the player made it clear there is no ‘I' in ‘Beathard.' Virtually everything he said about himself quickly blurred into we-us-team.

'I'm a humble guy,” Beathard said. 'I don't like talking about myself much.”

But he had to do so because it was media day and he's the quarterback, so he gave us this:

'After last season we needed some people to emerge as leaders. Me along with a lot of older guys are guys who kind of took it upon ourselves to kind of change that culture around here and become leaders on this team.

'I think we had the leadership last year. It's just our team, we didn't have the same mind-set sometimes. I think this year we're a closer-knit group, close-knit older guys. We've all got the right mind-set, the right goals in mind.”

When Ferentz announced the quarterback change in January, Hawkeye receiver Tevaun Smith texted Beathard with this message: 'It's just you now.”

Smith could become a star himself in this, his senior year. He caught 43 balls last year, and has had highlight-package moments. He makes plays. He said he didn't drop a pass in the 2014 regular-season. But he was only thrown to 11 times on passes of 20-plus yards.

Here Saturday, Smith did not, would not say 'Get me the ball.” But ... 'I feel like he expects me to be open almost every play.

'He's a hungry guy, honestly. ... He cut his hair, so he's trying to change. He's trying to be a new man. It's a new beginning for him, and I'm excited.”

Is all the angst about the stalled state of Hawkeye football something that can be wiped out by a couple of well-executed September bombs from Beathard to Smith? It would certainly be a start.

l Comments: (319) 368-8840; mike.hlas@thegazette.com