After a non-contact spill at the Kids’ Day at Kinnick two weeks ago, Iowa Hawkeyes fans have had their antennas squarely tuned into every injury update with quarterback Cade McNamara.
Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz didn’t seem overly concerned immediately after the annual open scrimmage. Then, Ferentz told the Big Ten Network during its camp tour that he expected McNamara back the following week.
When that didn’t happen and McNamara still wasn’t practicing midway through this past week, concern among the Hawkeye fan base began to ratchet up. It didn’t help when McNamara sat down with KCCI 8 News’ Shannon Ehrhardt and wouldn’t offer a specific timetable for a return.
“I’m progressing, and that’s all I want to say about that,” McNamara told Ehrhardt.
Still, Ferentz remained confident that McNamara would be available in Week 1 versus Utah State.
“We’ll know more at the end of the week, but I’m really optimistic and we’ll see,” Ferentz said.
Speaking last Wednesday, Ferentz and Iowa were hopeful that McNamara could return in some capacity by the end of the week.
“Basically, it’s been a recovery process and they got a procedure for it, so hopefully at the end of the week he can start doing some things. I think everything looks like it’s on schedule, so that’s encouraging,” Ferentz said.
Right on cue with that timeline from its head coach, sure enough, Iowa’s official social media account put plenty of worries at ease with its Saturday post.
Last Saturday in Kinnick without you, Hawkeye fans.
70,000 Strong đź’Ş#Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/k3FitM8LVw
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) August 26, 2023
As the official Hawkeye football social media account was reminding fans that this is the final Saturday for some time minus Iowa football, it also conveniently shared the image of McNamara just outside of the Hawkeye huddle with his helmet on.
Naturally, this alleviated a great bit of stress and created a positive stir among Iowa fans. Hawkeye supporters took to social media themselves to celebrate the good news.