The biggest story surrounding the Iowa Hawkeyes heading into the 2023 season opener versus Utah State is whether or not quarterback Cade McNamara will play.
After suffering a non-contact injury at Kids’ Day at Kinnick in early August, McNamara’s status has been in question ever since. At the end of last week, McNamara was pictured back at practice, working with the first-team offense.
Still, that wasn’t a definitive indication that he would be suiting up and starting versus the Aggies come Saturday, Sept. 2. At his weekly press conference, Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz shared an update on where McNamara is currently at.
“He got hurt obviously a couple weeks ago. Everybody saw that. It’s a soft tissue issue, and he started working at the end of last week. He’s been practicing. I can’t put a percentage on where he’s at right now.
“He’s been cleared medically. That’s the good news. Then, the thing we have to judge as we go along is how effective can he be and can he go out and perform in a way that’s representative of the kind of player he is. Looked good in practice today. It’s kind of day by day. We’ll see how sore he is tomorrow and see how he’s feeling. Obviously, we’d love to have him out there, but we also want to make sure he can perform at a high level,” Ferentz said.
Knowing that he is medically cleared is a terrific sign, but Ferentz did pump the brakes just a little bit. Asked if questionable would be the right way to describe McNamara’s availability, Iowa’s head coach said the following.
“Yeah, I think right now he is. I know what he wants to do. I know how he’s wired, and that’s part of our job, to be smart about it.
“It’s always tricky. We’ll kind of take it day by day, see what it looks like. Again, first and foremost is what the medical people say. If he can’t play, he can’t play, but that hasn’t been the case. We’re going to make sure he can play effectively and make sure he can play in a way that’s representative of the type of player he is,” Ferentz said.
Kickoff for Iowa versus Utah State is at 11 a.m. on FS1 from inside Kinnick Stadium.
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