By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – Even with the basketball season in full swing, there’s always time to talk about Hawkeye football.

So if you had to pick one thing as your biggest concern about the Iowa football team moving forward, what would it be?

Would it be having to replace the starting punter, starting kicker and star return specialist, or three starters on the offensive line, including center Logan Jones, who won the 2025 Rimington Trophy as the nation’s top collegiate center?

Would it be replacing nine starters on defense, including the entire defensive line?

Those are all legitimate concerns as clearly shown by Iowa having added 16 players from the transfer portal since the end of the 2025 season.

That seems to be Kirk Ferentz’s way of saying we need help right away, and that he’s willing to play the transfer portal game.

What’s interesting, though, is that none of the new additions from the portal play quarterback, and some might say that’s also a concern.

In fact, that’s what I’m saying.

It’s my biggest concern about the 2026 Iowa football team.

That isn’t meant as disrespect to Jeremy Hecklinski or Hank Brown, both of whom are considered the leading contenders to replace Mark Gronowski as Iowa’s starting quarterback.

Gronowski started all 13 game for Iowa this past season, and while it was a struggle at times, he got better as the season progressed, especially as a passer.

Gronowski led the Hawkeyes to nine wins, capped by an MVP performance in the 34-27 victory over Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl.

But now Gronowski is gone after just one season as a Hawkeye and he leaves behind a quarterback position with very little game experience among the candidates to replace him.

Hecklinksi is thought to maybe have a slight edge over Brown since Hecklinski’s name started being listed before Brown’s name on the depth chart about midway through the 2025 season.

Hecklinski also replaced Gronowski late in the 40-16 win over Nebraska in mop up duty and scored on a 6-yard run.

Overall, though, Hecklinski only appeared briefly in two games this past season, completing 2-of-2 passes for eight yards. He also took just three snaps as s true freshman at Wake Forest in 2024.

Brown started the 2025 season as the No. 2 quarterback and he would go on to appear in three games while passing for 107 yards.

He was pressed into duty when Gronowski sprained his knee early in the fourth quarter against Indiana. However, Brown struggled against the eventual national champion, completing 5-of-13 passes for 48 yards and one interception in the 20-15 loss at Kinnick Stadium.

He also missed a wide open receiver on a screen pass that looked promising.

Brown also started two games for Auburn in 2024; one start was a success, the other not so much.

What is fair to say about all of the current Iowa quarterbacks, which also includes redshirt freshmen Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald and incoming freshman Tradon Bessinger, is that none of them have played enough to know for sure how they would handle being a starter at this level.

And that’s a concern, which isn’t the same as being critical.

This isn’t to say that Hecklinski and Brown are both incapable of meeting the challenge of being Iowa’s starting quarterback.

We just don’t know yet if they’re capable.

Kirk Ferentz and offensive coordinator Tim Lester don’t know for sure if Hecklinski or Brown are capable of handling the responsibility of being the starting quarterback and they watch practice every day. However, they must feel pretty confident that one or both of them can meet the challenge or they probably would have been more aggressive in the portal.

There won’t be any real proof about the quarterback situation until the games start being played.

Having to replace all but two starters on defense is obviously a concern, but if anyone on the Iowa coaching staff deserves the benefit of the doubt, it is veteran defensive coordinator Phil Parker.

Eight of the 16 players that Iowa has added from the transfer portal play defense, so help is on the way.

Iowa also has added three receivers from the portal, along with one offensive lineman, one running back, two punters and a kicker.

And with multiple receivers returning, and with the emergence of tight end DJ Vonnahme, Iowa’s next starting quarterback job should have plenty of options.

Kirk Ferentz and Tim Lester seem to be saying that Iowa already has enough suitable options at quarterback, and that fans just have to trust them.

Okay. Fair enough.

The problem with that, however, is that Iowa hasn’t played well enough on offense, and especially at quarterback, to build much trust, even with the improvements that have occurred in two seasons under Lester.

Despite playing just one season for Iowa, the 6-foot-2, 235-pound Gronowski now ranks as one, if not the best running quarterback in program history. He set program single-season rushing records for a quarterback with 545 rushing yards and with 16 rushing touchdowns.

Gronowski ran more like a fullback, often dragging defenders for key yards on critical downs.

Iowa probably won’t have that option at quarterback next season, which is another concern since the passing game remains a work in progress.

Hecklinski is listed at 5-11 and 188 pounds, while Brown measures at 6-4 and 215 pounds.

Neither would be classified as a dual-threat quarterback, so that could put even more pressure on the passing game to deliver in key third-down situations.

It will be interesting to see if either Hecklinski or Brown can create some separation during spring practice, and then what kind of rection there will be following spring practice.

Rosters are always fluid in this age of NIL and the transfer portal, so never assume anything.

There is always a chance that Iowa might land an experienced quarterback during the summer, but don’t hold your breathe waiting for it to happen.

Iowa has added former Hawkeye Jay Norvell as an offensive analyst and he brings a wealth of experience, including heading coaching stints at both Nevada (2017-21) and Colorado State (2022-25).

One player certainly doesn’t make or break a football team, but no position, even kicker, impacts a game more than a quarterback does.

Kirk Ferentz is taking a chance on the quarterbacks he currently has on the roster.

But to have brought in an experienced quarterback would also would have been taking a chance, and would have been more expensive.

Iowa took a chance on Cade McNamara for two seasons in 2023 and 2024 and it just didn’t work, partly due to injuries, but also because of poor performances as McNamara never came close to performing at the level he did while leading Michigan to the 2021 Big Ten title, and to the college playoff that season.

Iowa also took a chance on Gronowski and received a pretty good return on its NIL investment.

There is always the chance that Hecklinski might be the second coming of Drew Tate, or that Hank Brown might be the second coming of Ricky Stanzi.

And if either were to happen, the Iowa offense would be in good hands.

But until we know for sure what Iowa has at quarterback, there is reason to be concerned.