The offseason is musical chairs in college sports these days.
For the Iowa Hawkeyes, that’s great news at the quarterback position. Seeking an upgrade from last season’s poor quarterback play from Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla, Iowa turned its attention to an unfamiliar place in the NCAA transfer portal.
Cade McNamara made the move from Michigan to Iowa. With McNamara’s arrival comes the hope that the Hawkeyes can enjoy different offensive fortunes.
CBS Sports’ Shehan Jeyarajah agrees. He put together his college football transfer quarterback tiers and McNamara is among those featured.
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Jeyarajah had four tiers:
- Tier 1: Playoff hopefuls, league title contenders
- Tier 2: National breakout candidates
- Tier 3: Bringing stability to the position
- Tier 4: Looking to take the next step
McNamara was in Tier 3 alongside Oklahoma State transfer Spencer Sanders and fellow Michigan transfer Alan Bowman. Sanders is off to Ole Miss, while Bowman is headed to Oklahoma State.
Here’s what Jeyarajah wrote about McNamara.
McNamara led Michigan to a Big Ten title in 2021, but ultimately lost the starting job to former five-star recruit J.J. McCarthy last season. Now he gets a fresh start to try and lead Iowa’s offense towards the vaunted 25-point mark.
McNamara emerged as a strong game manager for the Wolverines, completing 64% of his passes for 2,576 yards and 15 touchdowns. Tight ends Luke Lachey and Erick All give McNamara a handful of targets. McNamara has work to do in the spring but should settle the position. – Jeyarajah, CBS Sports.
Jeyarajah’s Tier 1 included Notre Dame‘s Sam Hartman, North Carolina State Brennan Armstrong, Oregon State DJ Uiagalelei and Purdue’s Hudson Card. Tier 2 featured Kentucky’s Devin Leary, Pittsburgh’s Phil Jurkovec, Wisconsin‘s Tanner Mordecai and Colorado‘s Shedeur Sanders and Collin Schlee’s UCLA.
Lastly, Tier 4 consisted of Arizona State’s Drew Pyne, Houston’s Donovan Smith, Florida’s Graham Mertz and Illinois’ Luke Altmyer.
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