By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team needs help at quarterback and help is on the way.

Former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara will transfer to Iowa to finish his somewhat celebrated career.

McNamara confirmed his commitment to Iowa via Twitter Thursday night.

A native of Reno, Nevada, McNamara led Michigan to the 2021 Big Ten title, and to the College Playoff, but he then lost his starting position to sophomore J.J. McCarthy this season.

McCarthy has since led Michigan to an undefeated regular season and to a a Big Ten East Division title.

McNamara will join an Iowa team that finished the regular season 7-5 overall and 5-4 in the Big Ten, but that has been hampered by an offense that has been ranked at the bottom, or near the bottom nationally in multiple statistical categories.

Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras is a fifth-year senior and is expected to move on, while backup quarterback Alex Padilla entered the transfer portal on Wednesday.

So, there is a huge opportunity for a quarterback to step in and fill a key void.

Iowa is rock solid on defense, and on special teams, and has a devoted fan base.

Kirk Ferentz is also the third all-time winningest coach in Big Ten history.

But he also has an offense that has performed woefully under his son, Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz.

The addition of McNamara sends a message to Hawkeye fans that Kirk Ferentz is taking aggressive steps to fix his ailing offense.

He would prefer to avoid using the transfer portal, but he doesn’t really have a choice right now.

His offense is in disarray, but has now added a key piece with McNamara’s commitment.

McNamara had only been in the portal for two days, so the Iowa coaches obviously deserve credit for being aggressive in this case.

McNamara can’t fix the offense by himself, but to land a proven Big Ten quarterback with a championship pedigree sends a powerful message to fans that Kirk Ferentz is serious about fixing his offense.

New beginning #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/qrK2PJY4NX

— Cade McNamara (@Cademac_12) December 2, 2022