Six Hawkeyes are listed out in today’s Iowa availability report ahead of their matchup at Maryland.
Iowa junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan and graduate quarterback Cade McNamara are both out. Freshman receiver Reece Vander Zee, graduate cornerback Jermari Harris, junior linebacker Karson Sharar and junior right tackle Gennings Dunker were all listed out as well.
Today’s Availability Report ⤵️ pic.twitter.com/xLBtuLgD9T
— HawkeyeFBNotes (@HawkeyeFBNotes) November 23, 2024
Rumors swirled earlier this week that perhaps McNamara had thrown his final pass in Iowa City. But, the 6-foot-1, 210 pound quarterback from Reno, Nev., clarified his injury status and called those rumors “ridiculous accusations and 100% false” in a Friday social media announcement.
McNamara said that he has every intention of playing next Friday when the Hawkeyes close their regular season on Nov. 29 versus Nebraska. McNamara suffered a concussion during Iowa’s 40-14 win over Northwestern on Oct. 26 and has not played since.
Sullivan exited Iowa’s 20-17 loss at UCLA on Nov. 9 and is dealing with an ankle injury. 247Sports’ Matt Zenitz reported earlier this week that Sullivan is expected to miss the remainder of the regular season.
“Somebody told me yesterday that Brendan had been pronounced done for the season, which I chuckled because at that point it was a 12-day season. Talk about headlines, I guess you try to grab attention. Not that you guys write the headlines. I understand that.
“But yeah, he’s out this week. We’ll see what next week brings. I’m not optimistic. But I would assume the bowl game. But nothing is broken, so hopefully we get him back,” Ferentz said of Sullivan’s status on Tuesday of this week.
247Sports’ David Eickholt reported on Friday afternoon that Harris would not play at Maryland and had opted out of the remainder of the 2024 college football season to focus on preparing for the 2025 NFL draft.
Matt Weitzel, Iowa’s associate athletics director for strategic communications, clarified the statuses of McNamara and Harris on Friday with this statement to the Des Moines Register.
“There are several players who will not compete in Saturday’s game against Maryland because they have not been cleared medically (or by the medical team). As is customary in the Big Ten, a list of those players is released two hours before kickoff. The Hawkeye football program will release that list (Saturday) but will address the status of two players because of significant media interest and misinformation.
“The decision of whether a student-athlete can compete after sustaining an injury is made by the medical team. It is not uncommon following a concussion for an athlete to be cleared to practice but then not compete. Recovering from a concussion is a step-by-step process and there can be setbacks.
“Cade McNamara has not been cleared to play against Maryland. His status was a topic of discussion during Tuesday’s weekly news conference. In reviewing the transcript and the Q & A, Coach Ferentz misstated that Cade had been cleared to play, he had been cleared to practice.
“The second player of interest is Jermari Harris, who will not play in Saturday’s game due to a medical issue. We hope all our student-athletes can play next week in our regular season finale at Kinnick Stadium, however, a player’s health and wellbeing are always our top priority.” – Weitzel, University of Iowa.
Vander Zee has been sidelined since Iowa’s date versus Northwestern. Dunker has started all 10 games for Iowa at right tackle.
Kickoff between Iowa and Maryland is set for 11 a.m. CT with the game televised on the Big Ten Network.
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