By Hawkeyesports.com

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland – There are several players who will not compete in Saturday’s game against Maryland because they have not been cleared medically (or by the medical team). As is customary in the Big Ten, a list of those players is released two hours before kickoff. The Hawkeye Football program will release that list tomorrow but will address the status of two players because of significant media intertest and misinformation.

The decision of whether a student-athlete can compete after sustaining an injury is made by the medial team. It is not uncommon following a concussion for an athlete to be cleared to practice but then not compete. Recovering from a concussion is a step-by-step process and there can be setbacks.

Cade McNamara has not been cleared to play against Maryland. His status was a topic of discussion during Tuesday’s weekly news conference. In reviewing the transcript and the Q & A, Coach Ferentz misstated that Cade had been cleared to play, he had been cleared to practice.

Q. Cade being back at the top of the depth chart, has he been cleared, and if so —

KIRK FERENTZ:  Yeah, I wrote that on Sunday. He practiced Sunday. Everything is cloudy right now. 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.

Q. I wanted to get some clarity with Cade. You said he practiced Sunday. Did he have a setback or is he still in that process of coming back? 

KIRK FERENTZ:  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. But we’re prepared for anything, quite frankly.

The second player of interest is Jermari Harris, who will not play in Saturday’s game due to a medical issue. We hope all our student-athletes can play next week in our regular season finale at Kinnick Stadium, however, a player’s health and well being are always our top priority.