We here at Hawkeyes Wire do a lot of stories about new starting quarterback Cade McNamara. Most are positive. The general public seems really excited about his arrival in Iowa City and what it means for the team at large. This story is not one of those positive ones.
247Sports’ Robbie Weinstein compiled the list of the network’s final top 25 transfer quarterback rankings, and you have to do a lot of scrolling to find McNamara. He sits all the way down at No. 24!
After losing the starting quarterback battle to J.J. McCarthy last fall, McNamara joined a Big Ten foe but will not get a shot at his former team unless Iowa and Michigan meet in the Big Ten Championship Game. – Weinstein, 247Sports.
Number 24. You’re telling me there are 23 better quarterbacks from this past transfer portal than Cade McNamara? Wisconsin literally has two quarterbacks ranked ahead of him. Two!
Ahead of McNamara, you will find six Big Ten quarterbacks: Purdue’s Hudson Card, Wisconsin’s Tanner Mordecai, Illinois’ Luke Altmyer, Nebraska‘s Jeff Simms, Indiana’s Tayven Jackson, and Wisconsin’s Nick Evers. You will also find new Florida Gator and former Wisconsin Badger Graham Mertz, which certainly is a choice. There is also a former FCS player ahead of him as well.
I get the idea of tempering expectations for Cade McNamara. He may not be the most dynamic or flashy quarterback, but we’ve literally already seen him have success before in the Big Ten. That absolutely means something. We’ve seen him be a good and steady Big Ten quarterback, to the tune of a College Football Playoff appearance.
Not many quarterbacks in the nation can even say that right now, and sure enough not these guys in the transfer portal. Apparently McNamara’s 2,576 passing yards and 15 touchdowns weren’t altogether impressive for the 247Sports evaluators.
Ultimately, it doesn’t really matter beginning on Sept. 2 when the Hawkeyes open the 2023 college football season against Utah State, but it’s interesting nonetheless to see some of these names slotted ahead of McNamara.
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