The career arc of Cade McNamara with the Iowa Hawkeyes is one that appears to be ending.
Reports have begun to surface that McNamara has played his last down with the Iowa Hawkeyes.
On “Legends & Listeners,” a podcast that features Chad Leistikow of the Des Moines Register and Scott Dochterman of The Athletic, the two discussed the possibility that McNamara could have already thrown his final pass in an Iowa uniform.
“I don’t know if I’m out on a limb here, Chad, but it almost makes me think that, ‘Does Cade even play? Is he even playing anymore? Is he even a Hawkeye anymore?’ I mean, because is he going to travel? Kirk was so evasive with that and none of the quarterbacks were made available Tuesday. You just wonder what is the deal here, because he’s cleared. He should start, right?
“He was listed as No. 1 quarterback on Monday and yet nothing. To me, it seems pretty obvious that this is the end of the road with Cade McNamara as quarterback at Iowa and will he even be in uniform? There’s a lot of things I could say that probably are out of line, but I wouldn’t be real thrilled with Cade McNamara if I was a coach at this point. If he’s cleared to play, he should play,” Dochterman said.
McNamara has not played since Iowa’s home win over Northwestern on Oct. 26 in which he left during the first half due to a concussion. He has not returned to action since.
“It will be interesting to see if he travels. Let me put it that way. I don’t know what they’ll be able to say. I don’t know 100% the truth, but I don’t think that he is mentally ready to play. I think that’s the main reason. He’s just not mentally ready to play, and I don’t think it’s from the concussion.
“I just don’t think he’s fit to play quarterback in the Big Ten right now. Maybe he’ll talk about it sometime, maybe he never will, maybe he’ll enter the transfer portal here in a few weeks. I think that that’s all on the table,” Leistikow said.
“It’s just bizarre. That’s really the best word I can describe about this,” Dochterman added.
McNamara joined Iowa in in December of 2022 via the transfer portal and brought excitement to the fan base and program with his prior experience leading Michigan to a Big Ten Championship in 2021.
“That whole acquisition has become very, very illuminating in terms for Ferentz. Imagine what he thought he was getting and what he ended up getting.
“Unless he magically comes back, even if he magically comes back against Nebraska and plays and plays well and they win a bowl game, it’s still a disappointing two-year era for whatever they paid for him. We don’t want to bury his career yet but it does seem like that interception against Northwestern was his last snap as a Hawkeye,” Leistikow said.
Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz reaffirmed his expectation that redshirt sophomore quarterback Jackson Stratton would start for Iowa this Saturday at Maryland on his weekly radio show.
In backup duties will be redshirt freshman Marco Lainez, who has worked back from a reported broken thumb.
If McNamara’s Iowa career is indeed finished, the 6-foot-1, 210 pound quarterback out of Reno, Nev., ends his time as a Hawkeye with 13 starts in 13 games played. McNamara completed 150-of-262 passes (57.3%) for 1,522 yards and 10 touchdowns against eight interceptions.
Iowa posted a 9-4 (4-3 Big Ten) record with McNamara as its starter. McNamara exited two of those games with injury.
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