By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – If the Iowa football team had a game scheduled in the next day or two, there is a chance that walk-on Jackson Stratton, who had been running the scout team offense until just recently, would start at quarterback.

But with this being Iowa’s second bye week, there is more time than usual for quarterbacks Brendan Sullivan and Cade McNamara to get healthy, or at least healthier, before Iowa faces Maryland on Nov. 23 in College Park Maryland.

Sullivan started the past two games, but he was pulled from last Friday’s 20-17 loss to UCLA in the second half after taking an accumulation of hits.

McNamara started the first eight games this season before suffering a concussion in the 40-14 victory over Northwestern on Oct. 26 at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa’s third-team quarterback, redshirt freshman Marco Lainez, is also out with a broken thumb.

So right now, there is major uncertainty as to who will be available at the quarterback position in practice this week.

“I know (Cade) lifted, and everything went well, which is good,” Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester said Tuesday. “I met with Sully, he had imaging, so, we’re waiting to hear from someone that’s smart enough to know what all that means. Who’s going to tell us. There’s a whole lot of, I-don’t-knows right now.

“Then there’s a guy like Jackson whole played a little bit and he needs a ton of reps. So, it’ll be interesting on the practice field tomorrow because we have no clue, I don’t know who’s going to be out there. I might by the end of the day, or at least tomorrow morning.”

With two games left in the regular season against Maryland and Nebraska, it’s fair to say that Iowa doesn’t have an established starting quarterback because neither Sullivan nor McNamara have played well enough to have earned that distinction.

McNamara, who transferred from Michigan after the 2022 season, has been given more chances to prove that he should start, but his performance has been mediocre at best.

Sullivan provided a spark when he replaced McNamara in the Northwestern game, and that same spark carried to the win over Wisconsin.

But against UCLA, Sullivan struggled with his decision making and with protecting the football as he committed three turnovers.

Sullivan is a much better runner than McNamara, but sometimes, that can be a detriment as was the case in the UCLA game, according to Lester’s evaluation of Sullivan.

“My biggest concern with any quarterback that is playing is that you go through your progressions,” said Lester, who played quarterback in college. “I do not want to make it backward football, drop back and run around. We had (Brendan) in design runs maybe three times in the game. And he had nine carries. There were six times when I didn’t want him running and taking unnecessary hits, and things like this can happen when you’re not progressing, or you rely on your athletic ability instead of being a quarterback.”

Sullivan at time seems impatient in the pocket and is unwilling to let a play develop.

He would rather tuck the football and run than work through his progressions.

“He has the ability to progress. He has the ability to throw the ball,” Lester said of the 6-foot-4, 220-pound Sullivan, who transferred from Northwestern this past June. “But guys that have the ability to run sometimes leave the pocket too early.

“It’s something that definitely happened. It caused turnovers. And you can’t turn the ball over and win games. And that’s what we did. And he learned from it.”

Lester was pretty candid with his assessment of the Iowa passing offense after 10 games.

The Hawkeyes lead the Big Ten in rushing, averaging 208.1 yards per game, but are only averaging 138.9 passing yards per game.

“I don’t want to use the wrong word,” Lester said. “Not up to par. I would like to use the word terrible because we have a long way to go.”

Terrible would probably be a fair assessment.

The injuries at quarterback, and at receiver and tight end, have certainly made fixing the passing game more challenging.

But the biggest problem has been a lack of execution, and it starts with the quarterback play.

“There have been some games where we’re averaging seven yards a carry on the ground and we have the lead, and as much as I want to throw it, it’s not smart for the team for me to throw it,” Lester said. “But we have to get to the point where we need to throw the ball to win. Because it’s going to happen.

“And we’ve shown flashes in practice and it’s getting better. As soon as I think we’re getting good and then another quarterback comes in, and then obviously Jackson comes in. So, we have a long way to go. That’s the fun part, that we have tons to work on.”

Fans might disagree about whether that’s the fun part. But it’s the hand Lester has been dealt in his first season as the Iowa offensive coordinator.

The 6-foot-4, 193-pound Stratton, who is from Mission Bay, California, transferred to Iowa from Colorado State late in the summer as a walk-on.

He was highly productive as a passer in high school and was once thought to be headed to Washington to play quarterback.

But instead, he enrolled at Colorado State where he played sparingly, so little in fact that Lester relied on high school tape to evaluate Stratton.

Lester liked what he saw.

“You’ve got to be a natural thrower, Lester said of what he looks for in a quarterback. “That’s where people, I think, miss the boat a lot. You look at Jackson is a natural thrower. I mean the ball comes out with unbelievable tempo and spin rate. And so, I think that’s the biggest thing. That’s first and foremost. And people, sometimes, they’ll cut corners on that one to try and get a guy that can run.”

Lester decided to recruit Stratton as a walk-on from the transfer portal after watching his high school film.

“If he was in high school, which he’s not, I would have recruited him off that high school film,” Lester said.

Stratton apparently had some doubts about attending Iowa after Sullivan transferred in June.

“We did get Brendan, which changed things a little bit with Jackson,” Lester said. “But we kind of hit it off and we were lucky enough to have him come and he ended up playing in his state, UCLA. It was a very unique story.”

Stratton completed 3-of-6 passes for 28 yards against UCLA, and he led a scoring drive.

Lester was encouraged by what he saw from Stratton, but Lester certainly isn’t ready to say that Stratton could handle being the No. 1 quarterback

“I’ve stood up here and told that there is no replacement for reps. So he hasn’t gotten a lot,” Lester said of Stratton. “So, would I be confident? No.  I’d be encouraged because I know the human being and I know why he’s worked at it. He did a pretty decent job progressing. Now it was panic progression, I mean his feel there was panic. I always tell guys, if I want to know what’s going on in your brain, I’ll I’ve got to do is look at your feet, and if your feet are panicked, you’re panicked.”

If Sullivan and McNamara were both healthy, Lester said he would let them compete in the days leading up to the Maryland game, and let the best man win.

“I would let them compete. It would be a great week,” Lester said. “It would be like a real live you guys have both done a lot of great things and you affect our offense differently, let’s see who’s playing well. I would be a great battle.

“I wish that were the case, but rarely is that the case. Camp is like the one time that you can have a real live competition. But I don’t think that is going to be the case is my guess. That’s not going to be the case this week.”