Tag: cade mcnamara

Iowa QB Cade McNamara announces entrance into transfer portal

Cade McNamara is entering the transfer portal.

While much of the college football world celebrates early signing day, Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara announced via social media his intentions to enter the NCAA transfer portal this offseason as a graduate transfer.

This is McNamara’s second time in the transfer portal as he transferred to the Hawkeyes before the 2023 season, following three years with the Michigan Wolverines.

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“My last two years at the University of Iowa have been an incredible journey. Through so many ups and downs, I couldn’t be more thankful for the amazing people and experiences l’ve had here. I am deeply grateful for the relationships l’ve built with my teammates, coaches, and newfound friends.

“I want to specifically thank Coach Ferentz, Coach Lester, and the entire lowa Football staff for their unwavering support and wisdom. I will truly miss this program and state, and they will always hold a special place in my heart.

“With that being said, I will be entering the transfer portal. I’m looking forward to this offseason, being the healthiest I’ve been in years, and continuing my growth as a player, leader, and person. I am excited to see where God takes my football journey next.

“Now and forever, Go Hawks!” McNamara wrote in his social media announcement.

McNamara leaves Iowa following two turbulent seasons with the Hawkeyes, throwing for 1,522 yards, 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions with a 57.3% completion percentage.

Unfortunately for McNamara and the Hawkeyes, the expectations following the quarterback’s commitment in 2023 never materialized due to a multitude of injuries and poor performances.

McNamara is the latest Hawkeye to depart the program, joining other notable offensive players in wide receiver Kaleb Brown and running back Leshon Williams.

McNamara will have one season of eligibility remaining.

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Iowa football reveals game-day injury report vs. Nebraska

Six Iowa Hawkeyes were listed out in Iowa’s game day availability report vs. Nebraska.

As Iowa football (7-4, 5-3 Big Ten) prepares for the Pioneer Heroes Classic game against Nebraska (6-5, 3-5 Big Ten) at 6:30 p.m. CT from Kinnick Stadium, the Hawkeyes will be without six players.

According to the conference-mandated game-day availability report, Iowa will be without freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee, graduate defensive back Jermari Harris, junior linebacker Karson Sharar, junior offensive lineman Gennings Dunker, sophomore defensive end Brian Allen, and graduate quarterback Cade McNamara.

Iowa’s rivalry clash with the Nebraska Cornhuskers will be the 55th all-time meeting between the two historic programs. The Cornhuskers lead the series, 30-21-3.

Friday night’s game will be broadcast on NBC and it will stream on Peacock. Iowa fans can listen as well on the Hawkeye Radio Network.

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Cade McNamara, Brendan Sullivan both practicing ahead of Nebraska contest

Ahead of its date versus Nebraska, quarterbacks Cade McNamara and Brendan Sullivan are each back practicing for the Hawkeyes.

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz revealed on Tuesday that both graduate quarterback Cade McNamara and junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan are back practicing ahead of the Hawkeyes’ Friday date versus Nebraska in their regular season finale.

Still, Ferentz confirmed that walk-on-redshirt sophomore quarterback Jackson Stratton remains Iowa’s starter headed into Friday versus the Huskers.

McNamara has been sidelined since suffering a concussion during Iowa’s 40-14 win over Northwestern on Oct. 26. Sullivan replaced McNamara as the Hawkeyes’ quarterback following McNamara’s injury and started an Iowa win over Wisconsin on Nov. 2.

Sullivan also started in the Hawkeyes’ 20-17 loss on Nov. 8 at UCLA. Sullivan exited that contest with an ankle injury and hasn’t played since.

“Seems to be feast or famine. We had all three guys out there last two days. They both look good. The guys that haven’t been in there, Cade and Brendan, are both practicing. An interesting dynamic.

“Went from Max White being No. 2 to he’s been pushed out to the No. 4. He’s not real happy right now. He’s done a great job. Real credit to him. He’s been a great team player for us,” Ferentz said of his team’s quarterback situation.

Ferentz said both McNamara and Sullivan look good physically, but that Iowa is still sorting out which of the two will serve as the Hawkeyes’ backup quarterback against the Huskers.

“So far so good. Obviously there’s some skepticism yesterday from me going to practice. But he’s handling everything well. He looks good. We’ll see how it goes this week.

“It’s a tight week. We don’t have a lot of practice time on the field. Cade looks fine. Keep our fingers crossed that both of them will be ready to go, then we’ll figure out the batting order going from there,” Ferentz said.

Stratton performed well in Iowa’s 29-13 win at Maryland last week. The 6-foot-4, 193 pound quarterback completed 10-of-14 passes for 76 yards in his first career start.

Ferentz said the hope is that Stratton can take Iowa start to finish against Nebraska.

“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.

If Iowa does have to turn to either McNamara or Sullivan, the Hawkeyes have an experienced pair of quarterbacks waiting in the wings.

In eight games and eight starts this season, McNamara has completed 60.5% of his passes for 1,017 yards and six touchdowns against five interceptions. Sullivan has completed 68.6% of his passes this season for 344 yards with a pair of touchdowns and a pair of interceptions.

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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Cade McNamara, Brendan Sullivan absent from Iowa’s Nebraska-week depth chart

Graduate quarterback Cade McNamara and junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan were both absent on Iowa’s depth chart vs. Nebraska.

Iowa (7-4, 5-3 Big Ten) closes its regular season with a rivalry date against the Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-5, 3-5 Big Ten).

As the Hawkeyes ready to battle for the Heroes Trophy, questions surrounding Iowa’s quarterback situation have permeated around the program over the past couple of weeks.

Iowa has been bitten by the injury bug at the game’s most important position. Graduate quarterback Cade McNamara suffered a concussion during Iowa’s 40-14 win over Northwestern on Oct. 26 and hasn’t played since.

Ahead of Iowa’s date at Maryland last week, rumors surfaced that perhaps McNamara had taken his final snap as a Hawkeye.

McNamara clarified his injury status on Friday of last week and called any rumors that his Iowa career was finished “ridiculous accusations and 100% false.”

The 6-foot-1, 210 pound quarterback from Reno, Nev., said he was targeting a Nebraska return and that he remained “a proud member of this football team.”

In Iowa’s initial depth chart versus Nebraska, neither McNamara or junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan were listed.

Instead, walk-on, redshirt sophomore Jackson Stratton is listed atop the depth chart and followed by redshirt freshman signal-caller Marco Lainez.

History has indicated that an Iowa depth chart can be hit or miss at times. Just last week McNamara was listed atop the Hawkeyes’ depth chart before the University of Iowa clarified head coach Kirk Ferentz’s press conference remarks regarding McNamara’s health status.

After McNamara exited with his concussion versus Northwestern, Sullivan stepped in and provided a spark during that win over the Wildcats and in the Hawkeyes’ rout the following week of Wisconsin.

But, Sullivan exited with an ankle injury during Iowa’s 20-17 loss at UCLA on Nov. 9 and has been sidelined since.

Meanwhile, redshirt sophomore quarterback Marco Lainez was listed out beginning with Iowa’s date versus Wisconsin with a reported broken thumb. Lainez was cleared ahead of the Hawkeyes’ road trip last week to Maryland.

Walk-on, redshirt sophomore Jackson Stratton quarterbacked Iowa’s final two series at UCLA and started and helped direct the Hawkeyes to a 29-13 win at Maryland.

Stratton completed 10-of-14 passes for 76 yards against the Terps.

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Iowa releases statement on QB Cade McNamara, DB Jermari Harris’ statuses

Iowa football released a Friday statement on the statuses of quarterback Cade McNamara and defensive back Jermari Harris.

With rumors and reports swirling this week surrounding a pair of Hawkeyes, Iowa associate athletics director for strategic communications Matt Weitzel released a statement on the statuses of graduate quarterback Cade McNamara and graduate cornerback Jermari Harris to the Des Moines Register.

Weitzel said that Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz misspoke during his Tuesday press conference when stating that McNamara had been cleared to play.

“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.

Speculation was building earlier this week that McNamara had thrown his final pass as an Iowa Hawkeye.

McNamara suffered a concussion during the Hawkeyes’ 40-14 win over Northwestern on Oct. 26 and has not played since.

McNamara clarified his injury status on Friday in a social media announcement where he said the rumors about his status were “ridiculous accusations and 100% false.” McNamara said he remains “a proud member of this football team” and is still targeting a return versus Nebraska next Friday.

Then, on Friday afternoon, HawkeyeInsider’s David Eickholt reported that Harris was opting out of the remainder of Iowa’s season to begin preparations for the 2025 NFL draft.

Both McNamara and Harris were listed out in Iowa’s Big Ten availability report on Saturday. Junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan, junior offensive tackle Gennings Dunker, junior linebacker Karson Sharar and freshman wide receiver Reece Vander Zee were all listed out versus Maryland as well.

McNamara has played in and started 13 games over his two seasons with the Hawkeyes. McNamara has completed 150-of-262 passes (57.3%) for 1,522 yards and 10 touchdowns against eight interceptions in his two seasons with the Hawkeyes.

Harris has appeared in 42 games and started 28. The 6-foot-1, 189 pound has tallied 105 career tackles, eight interceptions, 3.5 tackles for loss and one defensive touchdown during his Iowa career.

In the 2024 season to date, Harris has tallied 27 tackles, 10 passes defensed, three interceptions and one tackle for loss. Harris registered a 28-yard interception return for a touchdown in Iowa’s 38-21 Sept. 14 win at Troy.

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Iowa QB Cade McNamara clarifies injury status, targeting Nebraska return

Iowa quarterback Cade McNamara clarified his injury status and is eyeing a return for the Hawkeyes’ season finale against Nebraska.

Iowa graduate quarterback Cade McNamara, who was rumored to have played his last snap as quarterback for the Iowa Hawkeyes, took to social media on Friday to provide clarification on his status and a potential return to the field.

After leaving Iowa’s game against Northwestern on Oct. 26 due to a concussion, McNamara has been sidelined and had a murky injury status this week which led to speculation about his future with the Hawkeyes. McNamara put the speculation to rest.

“It has come to my attention that there are individuals in the media circulating rumors about my current status on the Iowa Football Team. These are ridiculous accusations and 100% false. My status is the same as it’s always been – a proud member of this football team.

“I suffered a concussion versus Northwestern and have been doing everything in my power to get back on the field. I have NOT been cleared to play yet. I was cleared to participate in practice this past Sunday but had an adverse reaction which is common for someone coming out of protocol. I have been lifting and attending meetings as much as possible but have not physically participated in practice Monday through Thursday of this week. Because of this, I am unable to travel and participate this weekend at Maryland. I have been working with the University of Iowa doctors and trainers, a concussion specialist focused on vision training, as well as engaging in hyperbaric treatments as frequent as possible. I have every intention to play versus Nebraska next Friday night and I am confident that my teammates will return from Maryland with a win,” McNamara posted.

In his absence, Iowa will start walk-on, redshirt sophomore transfer Jackson Stratton when they kick off against the Maryland Terrapins at 11 a.m. CT on Saturday, Nov. 23 in College Park, Md., at SECU Stadium.

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Kirk Ferentz still expecting Iowa QB Jackson Stratton to start at Maryland

During his Wednesday radio show, Kirk Ferentz confirmed that he still expects QB Jackson Stratton to start at Maryland.

When the Hawkeyes (6-4, 4-3 Big Ten) take the field on Saturday at Maryland (4-6, 1-6 Big Ten), Iowa will likely do so with its third different starting quarterback this season.

As Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz indicated on Tuesday, the expectation remains that walk-on, redshirt sophomore quarterback Jackson Stratton will get the nod at quarterback for Iowa at Maryland.

During his weekly radio show appearance alongside Iowa play-by-play voice Gary Dolphin on Wednesday night, Ferentz again said that Stratton looks like Iowa’s starter against the Terps.

“We’re not playing yet, but Jackson looks like the guy that will be going. He’ll get the start. Just confident that he’ll do a great job. He stepped in, did a really nice job in our last ball game. And he’s got a good ability to throw the football, and he’s learning every day. So, if he’s our guy, we’ll go with him and see what we can do,” Ferentz said.

After junior quarterback Brendan Sullivan exited with an ankle injury, Stratton directed two series in Iowa’s 20-17 loss at UCLA on Nov. 9.

Stratton guided Iowa into the end zone on his first possession under center. UCLA helped by extending the drive with a personal foul on an Iowa field goal attempt from the Bruins’ 39-yard-line.

But, that allowed Stratton to convert a pair of third downs with completions to junior receiver Jacob Gill on 3rd-and-8 and 3rd-and-14 before redshirt freshman running back Kamari Moulton capped the drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.

The 6-foot-4, 193 pound signal-caller finished 3-of-6 passing for 28 yards in his two series of work. Stratton also had a 14-yard rush.

During the 2022 season at Colorado State, Stratton completed 4-of-17 passes for 78 yards with one touchdown and a pair of interceptions.

During his Tuesday press conference, Ferentz said the bye week in between the UCLA date and this trip to Maryland should pay dividends. Plus, Stratton has now gotten serious reps away from the scout team following Iowa’s trip to the Rose Bowl.

“A heck of a lot more comfortable. If he knew what we knew about the last time, just because of the lack of…I’m not saying this in a negative way toward Jackson at all, but he hadn’t gotten any reps. Once we started doing game prep, two guys get the reps, and that was obviously the first two guys. Even Marco (Lainez) was watching. He was holding a clipboard and watching and Jackson was working the scout team.

“I thought he did some good things out in that last ball game, Jackson did. And he has talent. He can throw the football. You guys saw that.

“Now, it’s a matter of thank goodness we got a bye week and got a chance to get him more comfortable and schooled, and if he ends up being our guy, we’ll try to put a plan together that features what he can do and keep him out of the danger areas maybe and not have him doing calculus problems out there if he’s not ready for that,” Ferentz said on Tuesday.

Iowa kicks off at 11 a.m. CT from SECU Stadium in College Park, Md.

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QB Cade McNamara’s Iowa career reportedly finished

Reports have surfaced that Cade McNamara’s time with the Iowa Hawkeyes is finished.

The career arc of Cade McNamara with the Iowa Hawkeyes is one that appears to be ending.

Reports have begun to surface that McNamara has played his last down with the Iowa Hawkeyes.

On “Legends & Listeners,” a podcast that features Chad Leistikow of the Des Moines Register and Scott Dochterman of The Athletic, the two discussed the possibility that McNamara could have already thrown his final pass in an Iowa uniform.

“I don’t know if I’m out on a limb here, Chad, but it almost makes me think that, ‘Does Cade even play? Is he even playing anymore? Is he even a Hawkeye anymore?’ I mean, because is he going to travel? Kirk was so evasive with that and none of the quarterbacks were made available Tuesday. You just wonder what is the deal here, because he’s cleared. He should start, right?

“He was listed as No. 1 quarterback on Monday and yet nothing. To me, it seems pretty obvious that this is the end of the road with Cade McNamara as quarterback at Iowa and will he even be in uniform? There’s a lot of things I could say that probably are out of line, but I wouldn’t be real thrilled with Cade McNamara if I was a coach at this point. If he’s cleared to play, he should play,” Dochterman said.


McNamara has not played since Iowa’s home win over Northwestern on Oct. 26 in which he left during the first half due to a concussion. He has not returned to action since.

“It will be interesting to see if he travels. Let me put it that way. I don’t know what they’ll be able to say. I don’t know 100% the truth, but I don’t think that he is mentally ready to play. I think that’s the main reason. He’s just not mentally ready to play, and I don’t think it’s from the concussion.

“I just don’t think he’s fit to play quarterback in the Big Ten right now. Maybe he’ll talk about it sometime, maybe he never will, maybe he’ll enter the transfer portal here in a few weeks. I think that that’s all on the table,” Leistikow said.

“It’s just bizarre. That’s really the best word I can describe about this,” Dochterman added.

McNamara joined Iowa in in December of 2022 via the transfer portal and brought excitement to the fan base and program with his prior experience leading Michigan to a Big Ten Championship in 2021.

“That whole acquisition has become very, very illuminating in terms for Ferentz. Imagine what he thought he was getting and what he ended up getting.

“Unless he magically comes back, even if he magically comes back against Nebraska and plays and plays well and they win a bowl game, it’s still a disappointing two-year era for whatever they paid for him. We don’t want to bury his career yet but it does seem like that interception against Northwestern was his last snap as a Hawkeye,” Leistikow said.

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz reaffirmed his expectation that redshirt sophomore quarterback Jackson Stratton would start for Iowa this Saturday at Maryland on his weekly radio show.

In backup duties will be redshirt freshman Marco Lainez, who has worked back from a reported broken thumb.

If McNamara’s Iowa career is indeed finished, the 6-foot-1, 210 pound quarterback out of Reno, Nev., ends his time as a Hawkeye with 13 starts in 13 games played. McNamara completed 150-of-262 passes (57.3%) for 1,522 yards and 10 touchdowns against eight interceptions.

Iowa posted a 9-4 (4-3 Big Ten) record with McNamara as its starter. McNamara exited two of those games with injury.

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Cade McNamara’s status vs. Maryland remains unclear

Cade McNamara has been cleared to play, but his status remains unclear for the Hawkeyes this Saturday.

After sustaining a concussion a few weeks ago, the road back to recovery has not been friendly for Iowa Hawkeyes graduate quarterback Cade McNamara. The senior has missed the Hawkeyes’ last two games and is still recovering.

Iowa did have a bye week which allowed McNamara to continue to recover and begin practicing again, but his status for Saturday’s game against Maryland still remains murky and fluid with each passing day.

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz commented on McNamara’s progress over the bye week and what things look like.

“Yeah, I wrote that on Sunday,” Ferentz said of Iowa’s depth chart release where McNamara is listed as Iowa’s starter. “He practiced Sunday. Everything is cloudy right now. That’s kind of our forecast.

“It clearly is cloudy right now. Everything is. We’ll just take it day by day and see who can go.”

Ferentz confirmed that McNamara has been medically cleared to play and that there haven’t been any setbacks.

“Still processing back. He has been cleared to play, and whether or not he can play effectively or not, we’ll see. We’ll just see how the week goes. But we’re prepared for anything, quite frankly,” Ferentz said.

McNamara has not seen action since Iowa’s 40-14 home victory over the Northwestern Wildcats on Oct. 26. He sustained the concussion in the first half and has been sidelined ever since.

On the season, McNamara has completed 60.5% of his passes for 1,017 yards and six touchdowns against five interceptions.

In addition to his concussion versus Northwestern, McNamara’s collegiate career has been injury-riddled. The 6-foot-1, 210 pound signal-caller also suffered season-ending knee injuries at both Michigan and at Iowa last year.

“You’ve heard me say multiple times that the worst thing in coaching from my experience is guys dealing with injuries, and usually it’s not to this extreme. Usually you’re talking about maybe a couple weeks and that’s disappointing, or sometimes season-ending, which is disappointing. To have a stack of them, there’s nothing you can say. All you can do is to try to support the people involved.

“It’s really hard. Especially with the collegiate athlete at this level, which I’d never played at. The investment they make, the amount of time, energy, all the things that they dedicate to having a chance to get out there and compete, and to not have that come, it’s nobody’s fault, it’s just what it is. It’s part of the game, unfortunately,” Ferentz said of McNamara’s injury history.

With McNamara’s status uncertain, Iowa will look to walk-on Jackson Stratton among others to lead the offense this week during practice and possibly on game day.

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Tim Lester discusses if he would start Cade McNamara or Brendan Sullivan

Given a clean bill of health, who would Tim Lester start at quarterback for the Hawkeyes?

The Iowa Hawkeyes find themselves in a bit of a quarterback conundrum once again and, unfortunately, it is not due to play, but rather injuries plaguing both graduate Cade McNamara and junior Brendan Sullivan.

McNamara has been out with a concussion and missed the last two games while Sullivan exited the UCLA game due to injury. The one silver lining is that the Hawkeyes have a bye week to get them both healthy.

But, if they are healthy, the starter is still an unknown. In an effort to see who would start, offensive coordinator Tim Lester was asked who he would start if both were healthy.

“I would let them compete. It would be a great week. It would be like a real live, you know, ‘You guys have both done a lot of great things and you affect our offense differently. Let’s see who’s playing well.’ It would be a great battle. I wish that was the case, but rarely is that the case. Camp’s like the one time that you can have a real live competition. But, I don’t think that’s going to be the case. My guess is that’s not going to be the case this week,” Lester told the media.

Lester took the smart path here with a diplomatic answer on who he would hand the keys to.

Reading between the lines of Lester’s comments, it sounds like the starting quarterback will be a forced hand due to lingering injuries plaguing the quarterback depth.

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