By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Cade McNamara came to Iowa with enormous hype and expectations, but it now appears that he will leave under strange and disappointing circumstances.

What makes it strange is that McNamara apparently is healthy and fully recovered from the concussion that he suffered against Northwestern nearly a month ago, and yet, he still hasn’t shown that he deserves to start against Maryland on Saturday over walk-on Jackson Stratton, who just recently was playing scout team linebacker.

“We’re not playing yet, but Jackson looks like the guy that will be going, and he’ll get the start,” Kirk Ferentz said Wednesday on his weekly radio show. “Confident that he’ll do a great job.

“If he’s our guy, we’ll go with him and see what he can do.”

By saying if, Kirk Ferentz didn’t rule out the possibility of somebody else starting against Maryland.

But there is obviously a reluctance to name McNamara the starter, and that’s hard to understand, considering how long Kirk Ferentz stuck with McNamara as the starter despite a performance level that left much to be desired.

McNamara has started 13 games over two seasons, but with exception to a few quarters and a half or two, he hasn’t played very well.

That’s the disappointing part.

The quarterback from Michigan that Kirk Ferentz so aggressively pursued in the transfer portal and was willing to invest a significant amount of time, energy and resources to make him feel happy and important now apparently is incapable of starting over a walk-on that has barely played quarterback at this level.

Somebody, please make it make sense.

All we know for sure is that McNamara has three games left as a Hawkeye quarterback, and that junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan will not play against Maryland due an an ankle injury.

Sullivan started the previous two games against Wisconsin and UCLA and had mixed results.

He helped Iowa crush the Badgers 42-10 on Nov. 2 at Kinnick Stadium, but then he committed three turnovers in the 20-17 loss to UCLA six days later in Los Angeles.

The Iowa offense from a rushing standpoint has certainly improved under first-year coordinator Tim Lester, but the passing game still has serious flaws, starting with the quarterback position.

Stratton held his own against UCLA, completing 3-of-6 passes for 28 yards.

The California native also led a scoring drive against the Bruins in the second half.

But to think that Stratton could go from playing scout-team linebacker to being a starting Big Ten quarterback in a matter of weeks is hard to wrap your head around.

It makes you wonder what has happened to McNamara since he suffered the concussion.

Kirk Ferentz met with the media on Tuesday, but his long-standing belief that Cade McNamara gives Iowa its best chance to win, and that’s why he is the starter, which Kirk Ferentz has stood by in multiple press conferences was nowhere to be heard.

“He’s been cleared to play. But whether or not he can play effectively, we’ll see,” Kirk Ferentz said.

That is hardly a rousing endorsement, or anything close to what Kirk Ferentz has been saying about McNamara until just recently.

Something, obviously has changed to where now its seems that Kirk Ferentz has lost confidence in McNamara, or maybe McNamara has lost the confidence that is needed to be a starter.

Whatever the case, it could be that Cade McNamara has taken his final snaps for the Hawkeyes, though Kirk Ferentz could pull a surprise and start McNamara on Saturday, or use him in relief.

Maybe Kirk Ferentz is just being coy and keeping the Maryland coaches guessing.

But if you’re Maryland would it really matter who starts between McNamara and Stratton?

Sullivan would be a different case because of his running ability, whereas McNamara lacks mobility after having two straight season-ending knee injuries.

With Stratton, it’s hard to tell how mobile he is because he just hasn’t played enough.

Redshirt freshman Marco Lainez has returned from a thumb injury that caused him to miss several weeks, but there is no talk of him possibly being the starter against Maryland.

So, that would suggest that Stratton has also moved past Lainez on the depth chart, which is another head scratcher, because even with Lainez’s recent injury, he still has been in the program for nearly two full seasons, while Stratton didn’t come to Iowa until late this past summer, and then shortly after he arrived, he was switched to linebacker.

Iowa also recruited freshman James Resar out of Florida to play quarterback, but he already has switched to receiver just months after joining the team.

What all this says more than anything is that Iowa’s quarterback recruiting and development leaves so much to be desired, and has for far too long.

It just isn’t where it needs to be because a walk-on shouldn’t be able to just come in a beat out two quarterbacks on scholarships, especially a  walk-on that just recently was playing linebacker.

Former Iowa offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz was blamed for most of the problems on offense, especially in regard to the quarterbacks, but he isn’t around to blame anymore after having been fired last season.

Brian Ferentz will actually be on the opposing team Saturday as he is now a Senior Offensive Assistant for Maryland.

His quarterback, Billy Edwards, has thrown for over 2,800 yards this season, but the Terrapins  are just 1-6 in the conference.

So, both sides have problems.

It’s just that with Iowa, the problems start at quarterback regardless who the starter might be