By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – For the Iowa football team, the competition at quarterback between five-game starter Hank Brown and one-game starter Jeremy Hecklinski apparently is back on.

Iowa’s three coordinators met with the media on Tuesday as part of the bye week, and the way in which offensive coordinator Tim Lester described the situation at quarterback leads you to believe that it’s currently uncertain who will start when No. 17 Iowa (5-1, 2-1) faces Minnesota (4-2, 2-1) on Oct. 24 in Minneapolis.

“I think it’s safe to say they’re both going to play meaningful snaps in the second half of the season to help us win games,” Lester said.

And while Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz ultimately has the final say about who starts at any position, including quarterback, Lester probably wouldn’t have said to the media that both quarterbacks will take meaningful snaps without first getting permission from Ferentz.

Brown started the first five games, leading Iowa to a 4-1 record in those games, the high point being the 20-19 victory at Michigan in which Brown threw a game-winning touchdown pass to wide receiver Reece Vander Zee as time expired.

Brown also completed 13-of-19 passes for 142 yards and two touchdowns in the fourth quarter alone against Michigan.

But then he struggled in the 31-14 loss to Ohio State on Oct. 3 at Kinnick Stadium before leaving the game with a shoulder injury late in the third quarter.

Hecklinski played the entire fourth quarter against Ohio State and completed all five of his passes for 67 yards.

He also made his first career start in last Friday’s 41-24 win at Washington, passing for 202 yards and three touchdowns.

Brown was available against Washington, but only in an emergency.

However, that Brown was even available under any circumstance drew praise from Lester on Tuesday.

“One of the things that I’m probably most proud of is Hank did absolutely everything in his power to be available for our football team last Friday night,” Lester said. “And that was not easy. He was banged up.

“He probably knew the best thing he could be is the emergency, but he did it and he was available, and that was an impressive thing.”

Lester also mentioned on Tuesday a comment that Hecklinski said to the media after the Washington game that caught Lester’s attention in a good way.

“I loved his comment of if Iowa wins I’m happy because that’s what they’re about,” Lester said of his top two quarterbacks. “They’re good teammates. They both compete and they’re both getting better. They’re both being efficient.

Brown and Hecklinski are completing 62.9 and 62.7 percent of their passes, respectively, showing just how close the competition is between the two of them.

“I’m really proud of those guys,” Lester said. “I think the biggest key is us building a system that can be executed.”

The competition between Brown, a 2025 transfer from Auburn, and Hecklinski, a 2025 transfer from Wake Forest, was so close that they both were listed as co-starters throughout preseason practice and heading into the first two games this season.

But then Brown played the entire game against both Iowa State and Michigan, giving the impression that the competition had been settled, much to the dismay of some fans, who have been pulling for Hecklinski to get more meaningful snaps.

Ever since Hecklinski clearly outperformed Brown at the Kids Day practice in mid-August, there has been a part of the fan base in Hecklinski’s corner.

The support for Hecklinski has grown even stronger because of how he played against Ohio State and against Washington.

“I’m proud of the way they’ve handled the first half,” Lester said. “Obviously, we’re 5-1, we’re in a good position. We’ve got to continue to get better and continue to find our identity and the things we do well, and then I’ve got to make sure that I put us in those situations as much as possible.”

The final question asked to Lester on Tuesday was if the running game looked better against Washington because of Hecklinski and his willingness to push the ball down the field a little bit more?

“No, I don’t believe that and I didn’t call it any different,” Lester said. “As far as the shots down the field and taking one-on-one third down, our plan was if we got a one-on-one matchup, we were taking a shot, no matter who was in there, right? And then the run game—I mean, the holes were there, we’re coming off the ball, I don’t know if we maybe ran—I had a couple things, the only things I changed, a couple of the plays, changing them from under to gun. Didn’t add RPOs to them, had the same RPOs on for both.”