By Hawk Fanatic

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The Iowa football team needs a serious upgrade at the quarterback position and Tim Lester is doing what he can in the transfer portal to address the situation.

Iowa already has landed one quarterback from the portal in Auburn transfer Hank Brown, and now Lester has his eyes on South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski, who told ESPN on Friday that he is currently on a visit to Iowa.

Gronowski, who is the son of former Drake quarterback Ray Gronowski, has thrown for 10,330 yards, rushed for 1,767 yards and combined for 130 touchdowns while leading South Dakota State to two FCS national titles.

Mark Gronowski also reportedly visited Wisconsin on Thursday.

Gronowski’s visit comes approximately two weeks after former Penn State backup quarterback Beau Pribula visited Iowa.

Pribula would go on to commit to Missouri, and he reportedly was paid $1.5 million in NIL money to seal the deal.

Junior Brendan Sullivan started for at Iowa quarterback in the 27-24 loss to Missouri in the Music City Bowl this past Monday in Nashville, Tennessee.

Sullivan also started two games in the regular season before injuring his ankle, and he started eight games over two seasons for Northwestern before transferring to Iowa last summer.

It has been widely assumed that Sullivan would be the No. 1 quarterback heading into spring practice, and that it would be his position to lose heading into next season.

However, Sullivan struggled in the second half of the Music City Bowl, and with Lester still being so aggressive in the portal, the situation at quarterback remains fluid.

Lester just finished his first season as the Iowa offensive coordinator, and while the running game improved significantly under his watch, the passing game, and the play at quarterback, still left much to be desired.

Sullivan has said before that he welcomes competition, and Gronowski would certainly provide that, assuming Sullivan were to stick around if Gronowski picks Iowa.

Mark Gronowski reportedly had a chance to join Iowa as a walk-on coming out of high school in suburban Chicago. But he signed with South Dakota State and would go on to become one of the greatest quarterbacks in program history and a two-time national champion.

Gronowski has played one game at Kinnick Stadium in 2022, but it didn’t go well for him or for the South Dakota State offense as Iowa held on for a 7-3 victory. Gronowski completed 10-of-26 passes for 87 yards in the loss.