Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz confirmed that the Hawkeyes are sticking with walk-on, redshirt sophomore Jackson Stratton as their starting quarterback this Friday against Nebraska.
Stratton made his first start in Iowa’s 29-13 win over Maryland last week. The 6-foot-4, 193 pound signal-caller completed 10-of-14 passes for 76 yards.
Ferentz complimented Stratton’s play in the win over the Terps.
“He’s done a good job. The most amazing part from my vantage point is he’s been a scout team player up until a couple weeks ago. That is a lot to get thrown at you. Not that he is doing everything. He’s really handled it well.
“As I mentioned Saturday, the fact that he had a week plus to think about it, one more hurdle to climb. Sometimes you start thinking about, ‘How did I get here? What am I doing here?’ That can work against you a little bit, too,” Ferentz said
The Hawkeyes have been impressed with Stratton’s natural passing abilities dating back to when first-year Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester first went out to see him last offseason.
But, it’s one thing to like what they saw from the Mission Bay, Calif., native on air and another thing to like it in game action.
“Yeah, when Tim saw him out in California, whenever that was, he was impressed with his feet, the way he threw the football.
“It’s always interesting with the quarterback thing. I always laugh about the NFL. When guys have their workouts, there’s no pass-rush, there’s nobody playing defense on other receivers. If a guy can’t throw, it’s probably a bad sign. You never quite know,” Ferentz said.
So far, the Hawkeyes love what they have seen from Stratton.
“He seems to be really steady. Unflappable is probably a strong word at this point because we don’t know him that well. Handles things really in stride. It’s been impressive so far.
“He didn’t play perfect the other day, but he did a lot of really good things. I was really impressed with his poise, be ability not to get in trouble, which is easier said than done sometimes, especially at that position because you’re involved in every snap, the ball is in your hand every snap. A lot of things can go wrong,” Ferentz said of Stratton.
Ferentz also revealed on Tuesday that Iowa has junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan and Cade McNamara back practicing ahead of its date on Friday versus Nebraska.
The hope is that Stratton can play well and go the distance, though.
“I hope it’s one start to finish and everything goes really well. I mean, but sometimes that’s wishful thinking.
“We’re not planning on any rotation. It’s only Tuesday right now. We have some talking to do as a staff. I don’t foresee that right now. I think we’re going to try to go start to finish. We’ll end up doing what’s best for the team in our opinion, what’s going to give us the best chance to win here,” Ferentz said.
Kickoff on Friday, Nov. 29 against Nebraska is set for 6:30 p.m. CT with the game televised on NBC from inside Kinnick Stadium.
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