Iowa football leaning Cade McNamara as starting QB vs. Illinois State

The starting quarterback position for the Iowa Hawkeyes has been a hotly debated topic following the open Kids’ Day practice that saw some controversy bubble up.

Cade McNamara, the Michigan transfer, struggled during Kids’ Day at Kinnick with a low completion percentage and a couple of turnovers. Brendan Sullivan, a transfer from Northwestern, had a better day and gained some ground on McNamara.

With Iowa’s season opener just over a week away, head coach Kirk Ferentz stated that right now the starting quarterback job for their game against the Illinois State Redbirds belongs to Cade McNamara.

“If we were playing tomorrow, Cade would be one, Brendan would be two, Marco would be three,” Ferentz told the media.

McNamara is returning from a torn left ACL that cost him much of the 2023 season, but he has continued to claim he is healthier than he has been in a while.

Behind him is Sullivan who is closing the gap and doing so fast. After being listed as the third quarterback in Iowa’s preseason depth chart, he is up to the second string and closing in.

Sullivan provides more mobility than McNamara and has ties to new offensive coordinator Tim Lester from his high school days when Lester was recruiting him.

Rounding out the quarterback depth chart is redshirt freshman Marco Lainez who has played sparingly but did flash some athleticism when he did play. At 6-foot-2, 228 pounds, Lainez showed some speed with six rushes for 51 yards in Iowa’s bowl game against Tennessee last season.

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