For the Iowa Hawkeyes, the attention on the quarterback position is only going to grow as training camp and the regular season opener against Northern Illinois approach.
The defense is less experienced than in past years, but Phil Parker, Iowa‘s wizard of a defensive coordinator, gets more than the benefit of the doubt. If you are a betting man, betting on the Hawkeyes to have a stout defense is a good spot to put your money.
On the other side of that coin, while the offense has taken steps forward under Tim Lester in his two years as the offensive coordinator, the biggest test may be awaiting, as Iowa ushers in Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown under center. Each is an inexperienced signal caller vying for the starting job.
ESPN ranked every college football quarterback into tiers, and they are rolling with Hecklinski winning the starting job, but sitting in the 15th tier of quarterbacks across the country, which has Iowa banking on some luck to catch lightning in a bottle.
Tier 15: Everyone gets lucky sometimes (seven players)
Arkansas (KJ Jackson, AJ Hill)Boston College (Mason McKenzie)Iowa (Jeremy Hecklinski, Hank Brown)Rutgers (Dylan Lonergan)Wisconsin (Colton Joseph)
Well, the good news for folks at Rutgers, Iowa, Wisconsin or Boston College is that there’s really nowhere to go for the offense but up. It was bad last year. It has been bad for a while. The options for 2026 aren’t markedly worse than the options in each of the past few years. – David Hale, ESPN
What is curious about this tier is that ESPN is seemingly believing Hecklinski has the inside track to the starting job, which, if you know Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz, is far from the truth of what has come from Iowa City post-spring ball.
Like their depth charts, answers to media questions, and injury updates, Iowa is playing this quarterback competition very tight to the chest, not revealing any cards. With the dog days of summer rolling by, that is unlikely to change until it is officially Week 1, and even then, this battle could linger into Iowa’s non-conference slate.
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