By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Mark Gronowski is running to places statistically that few Iowa quarterbacks have gone before, at least during the modern age of two-platoon football.

Gronowski has 289 rushing yards on 67 attempts heading into Saturday’s game against Minnesota at Kinnick Stadium.

To help put that in perspective, former Iowa quarterback C.J Beathard, who also relied on his running skills, gained 237 yards during the 2015 season when Iowa finished 12-2 overall.

Gronowski is poised to rush for even more yards than Brad Banks did in 2002 when Banks gained 423 yards on the ground and finished runner-up for the Heisman Trophy.

Gronowski also needs just 118 rushing yards over the final five games to surpass Larry Lawrence’s total of 406 rushing yards from the 1969 season.

“I would say I’m not running more than I expected. But I’m not less than I expected,” Gronowski said. “It’s kind right where I expected. I think it’s a really great part of my game and it’s a great part of our offense.

“Obviously, there’s some games where we don’t need to run as much with the quarterback, and obviously Wisconsin, I was kind of dealing with a little bit of an injury there so we didn’t have as many quarterback runs in that game. But I enjoy it, so we’re going to keep doing it.”

Gronowski really enjoyed running against Penn State last Saturday as he gained 130 yards and scored his ninth and 10th rushing touchdowns of the season in the 25-24 victory at Kinnick Stadium. The former South Dakota State star had runs of 67 and 38 yards against Penn State.

There was concern that Gronowski might lose some of his effectiveness as a runner after he sprained his left knee in the 20-15 loss to Indiana on Sept. 27 at Kinnick Stadium. It was the same knee in which Gronowski suffered a torn anterior cruciate ligament in the spring of 2021 while playing for South Dakota State.

But he showed little effects of the injury while shredding Penn State’s run defense.

“It felt pretty good on Sunday,” Gronowski said of his knee. “It’s still not back to 100-percent. I’m still trying to rehab and be in the training room as much as possible. But it still continues to progress and still feels better every single day I come out here and practice.”

Gronowski expects the Minnesota defense to load the box and to blitz on third down.

The Gophers compiled nine sacks in their 24-6 victory over  Nebraska lats Saturday in Minneapolis.

“I think the ability to scramble is going to be important,” Gronowski said. “But I think what is even going to be more important is just getting the ball out quick and making quick decisions so that the defense doesn’t end up effecting you.

“With our offensive line, I’m going to have time to have a three-step drop and a hitch into every single throw, so I should be able to make decisions and read a couple guys and be able to make plays out there with that kind of blitz and the pressure they’re giving us.”

It seems that the 6-foot-2, 235-pound Gronowski was destined to be a running quarterback almost from birth.

His father, Ray Gronowski, was a running quarterback for Mount Carmel High School in Chicago and for Drake in the mid 1980s.

“He played at Mount Carmel, which is just straight triple option in high school,” Mark Gronowski said of his father. “And then at Drake he ran the ball a good amount, too.”

Mark Gronowski’s two favorite players growing up were Michael Vick and Tim Tebow, both of when were dual-threat quarterbacks.

“Those were my favorite players and I liked watching them and trying to resemble their game,” Mark Gronowski said.

Mark Gronowski was asked Tuesday if he is surprised by how much success he has had as a runner this season.

“I haven’t been surprised by any means,” he said. “I feel like it’s always been a part of my game. I’ve always had success with running it. And it always helps the offense as a whole because we have an extra blocker in the run game now. Everyone is accounted for, and especially when teams are starting to play us in cover one defense where they have a high safety.

“We have one more blocker than they do. So now the run game does even better. So I think it helps the passing game a little bit. It helps our running game and it really kind of makes the defense kind of think about an aspect of the game, which makes it more difficult to plan for that.”

Mark Gronowski wasn’t aware of just how rare his running prowess is for an Iowa quarterback.

“I really don’t because I wasn’t a huge Iowa fan growing up, so I wasn’t really locked in to who’s playing for the Hawkeyes back then,” he said. “I know Brad Banks was a good runner back in the day, 23 years ago.

“So most of the time in the past five, 10 years that I’ve been paying attention, there hasn’t really been one. So it’s nice to kind of add a new element that the fans haven’t seen here in a while.”

The downside to Gronowski relying so much on his running skills, besides the risk of injury, is that it’s partly a by-product from Iowa struggling to throw downfield.

Gronowski is only averaging 115.9 passing yards per game, while the Iowa offense is only averaging 8.6 yards per catch and 5.5 yards per pass attempt.

There will almost certainly come a point when Iowa has to throw downfield to win a game, and it could happen Saturday against the Gophers.

“The passing game, obviously, was not great on Saturday (against Penn State), but we were running the ball so well that we just kind of kept it to that side of things,” Gronowski said. “But we’re working on a lot of things in our passing game. We’re working on it after practice, getting some extra reps with the receives.

“So I feel like there’s times when it’s stepping in the right direction. We’ve just got to go out there and execute. When we talk about what we need to do, sometimes I’m not on the same page with the receivers. So we’ve just got to come back to the drawing board and talk about the things that we missed and really just have a better plan and go out there and execute at higher level when we’re out there.”

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Getting healthier:  Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said Tuesday that he expects running backs Jaziun Patterson and Terrell Washington Jr. both to be available for the Minnesota game.

Patterson has missed the last three games with a lower leg injury, while Washington missed the Penn State game due to an undisclosed injury.

Patterson was leading Iowa in rushing with 198 yards when he was injured in the first half of the Big Ten opener at Rutgers.

Ferentz also said that starting middle linebacker Jaden Harrell should be available for the Minnesota game.

Harrell, who is ranked fifth on the team with 33 tackles, missed the Penn State game due to an injury.

“Injury-wise things are looking a little bit better,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Jaz and TJ have both been practicing. Looks like they’re going to be okay. Jaden Harrell looks like he’ll be okay. Good to have those guys back, certainly.”

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Ostrenga plans to return: Senior tight end Addison Ostrenga plans to return for a fifth season, according to Kirk Ferentz.

Ostrenga suffered a season-ending achilles injury early in the first quarter against Iowa State in the second game of the season. He had one catch for eight yards when he was injured.

Ostrenga also dealt with injuries last season as he appeared in eight games and finished with 15 catches for 114 yards and one touchdown.