As difficult weeks go for Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz, this one was up there.
With a trip to Maryland on the horizon and an off week in the rearview mirror, Ferentz and his Hawkeyes dealt with a scorched-earth situation at quarterback. It wasn’t just injuries that decimated that position group; it was uncertainty about whether some players were even on the roster.
In a performance typical of Iowa under Ferentz, the players put the adversity on their shoulders and ground out their seventh win in a 29-13 victory against the Terrapins on Saturday. Few, if any, coaches are better than Ferentz when the world seems to be crumbling around him. Perhaps that’s why he ranks second in wins by a Big Ten coach, just two shy of tying Ohio State’s Woody Hayes.
But there’s no way to dismiss — or forget — the week that led to walk-on quarterback Jackson Stratton making his first career start. It began with original starting quarterback Cade McNamara getting cleared to practice after suffering a concussion on Oct. 26 against Northwestern. McNamara participated in practice on Sunday and was listed as the Hawkeyes’ No. 1 quarterback when the team released its depth chart on Monday.
In a statement posted to social media on Friday, McNamara wrote that he experienced lingering concussion-related symptoms on Monday. According to multiple people close to the program, granted anonymity because they were not cleared to discuss player availability publicly, McNamara then did not attend practice on Tuesday or Wednesday. That left Ferentz to answer for McNamara’s situation on Tuesday, and the head coach seemed perplexed by how to describe it.
“Everything is cloudy right now,” Ferentz said at his weekly news conference. “That’s kind of our forecast. It clearly is cloudy right now. Everything is. We’ll just take it day by day and see who can go.
“(McNamara is) still processing back. He has been cleared to play, and whether or not he can play effectively or not, we’ll see. We’ll just see how the week goes.”
Claims swirled that McNamara had either quit on the team or wanted to leave the program but hadn’t in order to still receive name, image and likeness payments. The speculation became so intense in Iowa that McNamara issued his own statement Friday. McNamara, who did not travel to Maryland, wrote that he lifted weights and attended meetings “as much as possible but have not physically participated in practice Monday through Thursday of this week.” He added that he was working with a concussion specialist focused on vision training and was “engaging in hyperbaric treatments”.
“I have every intention to play versus Nebraska next Friday night,” McNamara wrote.
On Friday night, Iowa athletics released its own statement, which stated Ferentz misspoke about McNamara’s availability. McNamara was cleared to practice, the statement read, but Ferentz meant to say the quarterback was cleared only for practice.
But Ferentz calling his quarterback position “clearly cloudy” perfectly summarizes the situation. Injuries throughout the depth chart only muddy Iowa’s already shallow pool.
McNamara’s second season at Iowa was marked by bouts of inconsistency. In eight games, he averaged 127.1 passing yards per game, throwing six touchdowns and five interceptions. Since transferring from Michigan in 2023, McNamara has completed 57.3 percent of his passes, with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions.
McNamara’s final snap at Iowa took place against Northwestern. He threw into double coverage, and the ball was intercepted and brought back for a touchdown. McNamara was hit in the back on the play but did not fall, and he chased the Northwestern defender up the sideline on the return. Boos filled Kinnick Stadium, and McNamara left the game reporting concussion symptoms. His helmet was taken from him, but he stayed on the sideline throughout the game.
Backup Brendan Sullivan replaced him and promptly led the Hawkeyes to a 40-14 win, then a 42-10 victory against Wisconsin. McNamara remained a team captain against Wisconsin, but his concussion prevented him from traveling to UCLA for the Hawkeyes’ Nov. 8 game. During practice that week, third-team quarterback Marco Lainez III broke his thumb on his non-throwing hand. True freshman scholarship quarterback James Resar had shifted to wide receiver one month into fall practice, but he, too, was injured. That left Sullivan and Stratton as Iowa’s only available quarterbacks.
Sullivan suffered an ankle sprain in the third quarter against UCLA, which meant Stratton, a Colorado State transfer, was the only option at quarterback in the fourth quarter of that 20-17 loss to the Bruins. During Iowa’s idle week, offensive coordinator Tim Lester was unsure which quarterback would line up against Maryland. By Monday, it was revealed Sullivan’s ankle injury would sideline him for the final two games, but McNamara was set to return. Until he didn’t. Sullivan and Lainez helped Stratton prepare for the Terrapins while McNamara, who was a team captain until he was unable to travel to UCLA, was not there.
Ferentz has dealt with plenty of chaotic and difficult situations during his Iowa tenure, which began in 1999. And there have been worse moments off the field than this one. But following Iowa’s win on Saturday, Ferentz brought up his frustration with the new era. His points centered on what his players endure, not his own concerns.
“It’s a really easy time for players to be distracted,” he told a handful of Iowa beat writers after the game. “No big news flash right there, but there are some new ones right now. So, we’re in a little different period of time, historically, and it’s interesting. But I think it’s a real credit to the guys that were out there competing today, doing a good job, getting ready and then showing up and competing. That’s really what the game is supposed to teach you.”
If there was tension with his quarterback, Ferentz didn’t show it. He instead discussed McNamara’s injury history, which has included two knee surgeries and a torn quad muscle in his last three football seasons.
“Sometimes you’ve got to step back and have some compassion from people that are out competing,” Ferentz said. “You think about the last three years for this guy. I mean, he has had a rough go.
“I always tell players that injuries are nobody’s fault. They’re not. They’re a part of the game, a part of what we do. In November, they tend to pop up. But I think people need to just settle down a little bit, have some compassion for the people involved. These are all college kids. I mean, they’re kids out there doing their best.”
The truth about McNamara remains ambiguous. No coach in this era will call out a player complaining of a concussion, and frankly, nobody should. Ferentz quoted former NFL head coach Bum Phillips on Saturday: “It’s easy to be tough with other people’s bodies.” Whether McNamara has a concussion is up to him and medical personnel. If he’s cleared to play, then it’s up to Ferentz whether to play him.
With one game left against Nebraska, Ferentz said Stratton will start the game and Sullivan will be ready for Iowa’s bowl game. Will McNamara walk out with the seniors or even wear his uniform? As Ferentz said last week, “Everything is cloudy right now.”
(Photo: Greg Fiume / Getty Images)
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