By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Quarterback is often referred to as the most important position in all of team sports.

The belief is that an average team could find a way to be good with an effective quarterback leading the way, while a good team could find a way to be average with an ineffective quarterback behind center.

Iowa fans have certainly seen more than their share of ineffective quarterback play over the past five seasons, and quite frankly, they’re beyond frustrated.

The good news is that help is on the way as former FCS star Mark Gronowski, who led South Dakota State to two FCS national titles as a four-year starter, has accepted the challenge of trying to fix Iowa’s deficiencies at quarterback, at least for one season.

The spotlight shined brightly on Gronowski during Iowa’s annual media day event on Friday, just like it did last year and the year before when Cade McNamara was the No. 1 quarterback after having transferred into the program from Michigan.

You couldn’t blame Iowa fans for taking a wait-and-see approach with Gronowski considering how awful things turned out for McNamara, whose two-year run as a Hawkeye was marred by injuries and by his poor play.

“Personally, I love the pressure because really you’ve got to look at it as more of an opportunity,” Gronowski said while surrounded by reporters in Iowa’s practice facility. “Everyone in the community and everyone on this team has really been looking for that QB success and has been looking for that offensive success.

“And we’ve got a lot of great guys and a lot of great weapons that we have the opportunity to do that. We’ve just got to be able to execute and keep learning and keep building those relationships together and we’ll go out there and do it.”

Hawkeye fans will have a chance to see for themselves how good the offense looks with Gronowski behind center when Iowa holds its annual Kids Day practice on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Kirk Ferentz raised a few eyebrows following last year’s Kids Days practice in which his quarterbacks mostly struggled by saying it was indicative of how the quarterbacks had been practicing to that point.

The struggles behind center would carry to the season as McNamara started the first eight games, but he rarely played well.

Brendan Sullivan, who now plays for Tulane, also started three games at quarterback last season while walk-on Jackson Stratton started the final two Big Ten games when Sullivan and McNamara both were unavailable due to injuries.

But no matter who was behind center, the level of performance left much to be desired.

Former Iowa running back Kaleb Johnson led the the Big Ten in rushing last season, but Iowa still lost five games largely because of the struggles at quarterback.

Iowa’s quarterback woes some will say date back to the 2020 season when Spencer Petras took over for three-year starter Nate Stanley, although Kirk Ferentz apparently doesn’t share that opinion.

“To me, ever since Spencer (Petras) got hurt in November of ’22, it’s been a bumpy road,” Kirk Ferentz said Friday. “Nobody’s fault; it’s just the way it’s been. It’s not the only spot. It’s everything combined, quite frankly.”

Ferentz stuck with Spencer Petras as his starter for three seasons, but that didn’t sit well with some fans, who were clamoring for a change.

However, in Ferentz’s defense, when the backup quarterbacks were pressed into duty when Petras was injured, they were no better and were probably worse.

Petras sat atop the depth chart for three seasons because he was Iowa’s best option at the time.

Petras certainly had his moment as Iowa’s starting quarterback, but he struggled with consistency, and his supporting cast was mostly average to below average.

Gronowski, on the other hand, will operate behind a deep and experienced offensive line and he will also have arguably the deepest group of receivers that Iowa has had in quite some time.

“Like I said last year at this time, my experience is if we have a good offensive line here, good quarterback play, we’ve got a chance,” Ferentz said. “I think the good news is I think we have a chance to have both those things, and beyond that, I think our supporting cast is a little bit better balanced and more experienced than it’s been.

“The receivers, good mix of old and young, kind of like our whole team. But they’re probably a good illustration of that, and most importantly they’ve been practicing pretty well.

“We’re not there yet, but you’re starting to see some signs. Two nights ago we saw some things that were really encouraging. It was Wednesday night. Then this morning a couple plays where, hey, maybe we can make some tough plays on 3rd down, those kinds of things. It’s just things that keep drives going. That’s how you score points, all those types of things.”

Gronowski’s start to preseason practice apparently got off to a rocky start as he completed 6-of-9 passes, though none of his passes hit the ground, which means he also threw three interceptions.

“Well, you can ask him about his first day. He was six out of nine. That’s the good news,” Ferentz said. “.I won’t say how that six got broken down. I’ll let him do that. But he made some throws, like, oh, really?

“Again, that was his first day. He hadn’t thrown with the team. And the improvement from day one to day nine, not surprising, but it’s just — I think we’re starting to see him in a comfort zone operating the way you’d like to and pulling the ball down.”

Reporters wasted no time in asking Gronowski about his up-and-down first day.

“That was tough,” he said. “We had good first day. It was just a good learning opportunity. We have a great defense and it’s great competing against them every single day. They make me better, having conversations with those guys in the locker room after practice trying to figure out what they’re thinking, helping me get better, helping our receives get better.”

And though Iowa has to replace Kaleb Johnson at running back, the cupboard hardly is bare as Florida natives Kamari Moulton and Jaziun Patterson both have shown flashes of brilliance in limited playing time and are now ready to have more significant roles.

Gronowski could make their jobs easier just by doing his job at a high level.

“It’s just really opening up the box,” Moulton said. “When teams have to concentrate on not just the run, it’s easier for us and we don’t have to be so tuned into to like having 10 men in the box.

“I’m excited for it. It gives us more opportunities and we also have more opportunities than just to run the ball. We could also be a threat in the passing game.”

Of course, right now, it’s all talk because practice isn’t the real thing.

The Iowa players also spoke optimistically about McNamara heading into each of the past two seasons because he was, hopefully, the answer at quarterback.

What is different, however, is that the 6-foot-3, 230-pound Gronowski is bigger and faster than McNamara was as a Hawkeye.

McNamara suffered two season-ending knee injuries, one at Michigan and one at Iowa, and he also injured his quad at the 2023 Kids Day practice and suffered a concussion against Northwestern last season.

The injuries took a toll on McNamara’s body and made him immobile, whereas Gronowki is a legitimate threat to run.

Gronowski passed and rushed for touchdowns in the same game 26 times in 55 career starts for South Dakota State.

“One thing I can tell you, I’ve seen him pull the ball down and run, which is not unusual for quarterbacks,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Some can’t do it, but he can run and keep his eyes down the field. That’s a good trait, and he’s demonstrated he can do that.

“Yeah, he looks more comfortable with each day, and everybody around him is more comfortable. He acts like a veteran guy, and that’s something you can’t hand to anybody is that experience.”

Iowa hasn’t had anything close to a successful dual-threat quarterback since C.J. Beathard in 2015 and 2016.

Gronowski also gives Iowa the intangibles that are needed at quarterback.

“The biggest thing is that he just understands the things that it takes to win,” Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester said of Gronowski. “The saying he always uses is have a positive football play,’ and he realizes that negative football plays change games, and he does an
unbelievable job of taking the bad plays and turning them into less bad plays.

“The other thing is he is a super positive person. He is always upbeat. He’s had mostly good practices, but he’s had a couple missed throws or
the first time running something where he missed something, but he just never gets down. He’s very steady Eddy. It’s very evident why he’s won as much as he’s won as you watch him go through the good and the bad, and how it never affects his mindset.”

Lester was asked Friday how well Gronowski has to play this season for Iowa to reach its potential.

“I think just the quarterback position as a whole,” Lester said. “Trying to find a place that’s really made a run like they want to without the quarterback playing at a high level; I mean it has to happen.”

Sophomore quarterback Hank Brown also drew praise from Lester with how he has performed in practice. The Auburn transfer is in position to be Gronowski’s backup heading into the season.

“Hank Brown has had an unbelievable camp,” Lester said. “He’s the only one that was here for spring ball, so he knows the offense, so he’s reacting faster. He’s doing a great job.”

Kirk Ferentz said Friday that Stratton has been hampered by a hernia injury.

“Jackson (Stratton) has been fighting an illness, which is kind of unusual,” Ferentz said. “When you think you’ve seen everything, you never have, 27 years into it. First time he’s got — it’s a hernia that’s affected his appetite, and I feel really bad for him. He’s struggling to eat and struggling to hold his weight.

“It’s going to be a long road, but they’re going to get it cleared up and all that type of thing. But it’s kind of taken him out of the equation for a little bit.”

Iowa currently has six quarterback on the 2025 roster: In addition to Gronowski, Hank Brown and Stratton, the other three quarterbacks are redshirt freshman Jeremy Hecklinski, who transferred from Wake Forest, and true freshmen Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald, who is a walk-on and the son of former Northwestern head coach Pat Fitzgerald.