Let’s hope Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz is right. As of this moment, he doesn’t seem overly concerned about Cade McNamara’s non-contact injury and exit from the Hawkeyes’ annual Kids Day at Kinnick.
The non-contact injury happened as McNamara rolled right and then decided to scramble upfield. The sequence ended with McNamara awkwardly tumbling toward the Kinnick Stadium turf and exiting for the locker room.
Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz met with reporters after the open practice where he updated McNamara’s injury.
“It sounds like it’s a muscle issue, so it’s unfortunate. Obviously, he needs work like everybody out here needs work, but hopefully nothing too serious,” Ferentz said.
Pressed by reporters, Ferentz said it isn’t a knee injury.
“No, no. As far as I know, no. Up above that,” Ferentz said. “Soft tissue, yeah. I mean, it’s tissue. It’s not structural or something like that. As far as I know.”
A look at Cade McNamara's apparent injury, and reaction from Kirk Ferentz.
"Soft tissue… it's not structural… I'm not alarmed right now it's not 'oh boy he broke his leg.' It's one of those things where we take it day by day." pic.twitter.com/KRvA6XLeEq
— Jack Lido (@JackLido) August 12, 2023
Any potential injury to McNamara can’t be overstated in terms of its importance to the Hawkeyes.
McNamara is expected to help Iowa revamp an offense that has been stagnant in recent seasons. At Michigan in 2021, McNamara passed for passed for 2,576 yards and 15 touchdowns while leading the Wolverines to a Big Ten championship and College Football Playoff berth.
“I won’t say he’s upset, but he’s not happy because he doesn’t want to miss time. He doesn’t like not playing, he doesn’t like not practicing. And, you know, I just told him, ‘Injuries are part of the game.’ It stinks, but they’re part of the game and all you can do is all you can do. My guess is he’ll wear the training staff out the next couple of days or whatever it takes,” Ferentz said afterwards.
Iowa is hopeful it’s a day-to-day situation for McNamara, but Ferentz and the staff will know more next week.
“I’ll know more next week, but, yeah, I’m not alarmed right now. It’s not like, oh boy, he broke his leg. Or, something like that. That would be really significant. So, I think it’s just going to be one of those things we’ve just got to take it day by day, and hopefully it’s on the shorter end than the longer end,” Ferentz said.
Naturally, the scare to McNamara did cause Hawkeye fans’ hearts to temporarily skip a few beats.
“Any time anybody’s down, that’s not good. You know, we had one over on this sideline, too. I think he’s fine. Tanner’s fine, but any time anybody goes down, that’s the worst part of football,” Ferentz said.
Fortunately, the early indication is that it was just a scare for McNamara and Iowa.
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