By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – If Iowa quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski needs some extra motivation for the 2026 season, an opposing Big Ten assistant coach who spoke anonymously to Athlon Sports might have provided it.

In the Athlon Sports annual preview magazine, which is set for release on Friday, a Big Ten assistant coach said this about Hecklinski, who transferred to Iowa from Wake Forest las summer:

“I heard that at Wake Forest Jermey Hecklinski struggled a bit there. Struggled to put on weight, struggled to buy into the intensity of college football a bit.

“I’m interested to see how he progresses at Iowa.”

The comments about Hecklinski appear in the Iowa preview section of the magazine.

Each of the team previews has quotes from an opposing Big Ten assistant coach, but without the coach being identified.

That obviously makes it easier to be candid, and to be critical, as shown with the comment about Hecklinski.

Because it’s hard to envision an opposing Big Ten assistant coach saying what was said about Hecklinski while also identifying himself.

Hecklinski became Iowa’s backup quarterback about midway through this past season. But he only appeared in two games as a redshirt freshman, completing two passes for eight yards. He also had a six-yad touchdown run against Nebraska.

Hecklinski ended spring practice in a highly competitive battle for the starting job with junior Hank Brown. The competition is expected to carry into preseason practice.

Brown started last season as the backup to Mark Gronowski, but then Hecklinski moved ahead of Brown on the depth chart about midway through the season.

Hecklinski, who is from Marietta, Georgia, is listed at 5-foot-11 and 188 pounds, so he’s undersized for a Big Ten quarterback.

But he also performed well enough last season to earn the No. 2 spot, of course, with most of his performance occurring in practice.

If Hecklinski were to read what this opposing Big Ten assistant coach said about him; he might brush it aside, or he might use it as motivation.

The coach wasn’t necessarily being disrespectful, but rather just repeating what he supposedly had been told by another source.

Hecklinski was a highly decorated quarterback in high school, earning first-team all-state honors as a senior in 2023. He was also the 2023 MaxPreps Georgia Player of the Year as a senior, and the 2022 Georgia 5-AAAAA Player of the Year.

Hecklinski led his high school team to the state title game as a senior while throwing for 3,835 yards and 50 touchdowns.

Meanwhile, that same assistant coach also had some kind words to say about Iowa, and about its success as a developmental program under veteran head coach Kirk Ferentz, who is entering his 28th season.

However, Ferentz has had to adapt to the changing times as evidenced by Iowa having signed a program record 16 players from the transfer portal this offseason.

“It’ll be interesting to see with them the new philosophy of adding more transfers,” said the opposing assistant coach. “What they’ve been doing has been working. It’s been developmental, but this day ana age, you can’t do that anymore. You have to adapt and make the right choices in the portal. I would still bet a lot of money that they’re going to be really good, and the culture of the team will stay intact.” 

Iowa will face Northern Illinois in the 2026 season opener on Sept. 5 at Kinnick Stadium.