The story every Hawkeye fan has been monitoring over the past few weeks has been the status of starting quarterback Cade McNamara. One of the most exciting transfers in school history, Iowa fans are hopeful that the former Michigan Wolverine can help elevate their fledgling passing attack.
Few things are scarier than an offseason injury, especially for McNamara who spent much of last season recovering from a knee injury. He suffered an unrelated soft tissue injury at Kids’ Day at Kinnick, throwing his status for the season opener against Utah State into question.
The good news for Hawkeye fans: it appears that Cade McNamara will be ready to go come game time. On his radio show “Hawk Talk” with Iowa play-by-play voice Gary Dolphin, Hawkeye head football coach Kirk Ferentz gave a good indication that McNamara will start.
“We’ll take it right up to game time, but we’re expecting him to go,” Ferentz said.
Ferentz revealed at his weekly press conference earlier this week that McNamara had been medically cleared, but he was still questionable. The Hawkeye coaching staff wanted to see how he continued to respond physically.
It sounds like that’s been positive.
“Based on what I’ve seen the last two days, I’m optimistic,” Ferentz said.
On his radio show tonight, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said about QB Cade McNamara: "We'll take it right up to game time, but we're expecting him to go."
"Based on what I've seen the last two days, I'm optimistic."— Scott Dochterman (@ScottDochterman) August 31, 2023
With vague updates on the quarterback, there was a deep fear among some that the injury could be more severe than any of us had previously thought. That’s a terrifying proposition, considering how important McNamara will be to this campaign. The way he goes is really how the season will go for the Hawkeyes.
While they do start off the season with three nonconference games, don’t forget they struggled out of the gates last year. They split the first two games, barely edging out South Dakota State and falling to Iowa State at Kinnick. Both games were easily winnable with a competent offense.
And then, the fear with McNamara potentially missing time is with that first Big Ten contest. Iowa will need all hands on deck if they’re looking to wrestle a win from Penn State in Happy Valley.
Hopefully, the good news continues regarding McNamara’s status come Saturday. The Hawkeyes open up their season against Mountain West opponent Utah State at home on Saturday, Sept. 2, at 11 a.m. on FS1.
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