Tag: Jackson Stratton

Kirk Ferentz reveals Jackson Stratton as Iowa’s current starting QB

Kirk Ferentz announced that if Iowa’s game were to be played today, Jackson Stratton would be the Hawkeyes’ starting quarterback.

After likely losing Brendan Sullivan for the remainder of the regular season with an ankle injury, the Iowa Hawkeyes’ focus and attention quickly shifted to who will be the starting quarterback this week against the Maryland Terrapins.

Colorado State transfer and walk-on quarterback Jackson Stratton replaced Sullivan at UCLA.

That was due to Cade McNamara’s ongoing recovery from a concussion he sustained versus Northwestern on Oct. 26 and the rest of Iowa’s quarterback depth chart depleted by injuries and position changes.

On Tuesday, Iowa football coach Kirk Ferentz was asked who is going to start this weekend when Iowa kicks off at 11 a.m. CT in College Park, Maryland.

McNamara is listed on the depth chart, but Ferentz indicated Stratton was getting the nod.

“No, I think we’ll start the way we finished is probably the best way I can put it. Jackson finished the game at UCLA. That’s kind of where I see it. Then we’ll see who can do what. If we were playing tomorrow, that’s how it would be. Everybody else has a chance outside of Brendan. He for sure is not playing this week,” Ferentz said.

When asked bluntly who is starting, Iowa’s coach gave an answer only looking at the current moment.

“If we were playing right now, it would be Jackson. I’ll know on Friday,” Ferentz said.

Stratton’s action has been limited. The 6-foot-4, 193-pound redshirt sophomore led a pair of drives against UCLA and flashed some brilliance to convert third downs and to keep an Iowa touchdown drive alive.

Stratton finished 3-of-6 passing for 28 yards and added one carry for 14 yards in his two series against the Bruins.

If he were to start for the Hawkeyes at Maryland, Ferentz added he is much more comfortable with Stratton having more practice and reps under his belt.

“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 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.

It remains to be seen who will be under center for the Hawkeyes when they kick off against Maryland. Ferentz is keeping things close to his chest as usual.

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Tim Lester details plan if Jackson Stratton is Iowa’s starting quarterback

Tim Lester discussed Iowa’s plan if Jackson Stratton is QB1.

Jackson Stratton was thrust into an almost impossible situation when he had to take over as the Iowa Hawkeyes’ quarterback late against UCLA. He nearly pulled off the impossible, though.

Stratton stepped in and completed two critical third downs to help Iowa punch in a touchdown to tie the game. He came in cool, calm, collected, and confident.

That sort of attitude and ability to handle the situation has given Iowa and first-year offensive coordinator Tim Lester confidence in Stratton if he is called upon.

This week, Lester was asked about Iowa’s plan if Stratton were to be the starting quarterback.

“I’ve stood up here and told you that there’s no replacement for reps and he hasn’t gotten a lot, so would I be confident? No. I’d be encouraged because I know the human being and I know how he’s worked at it.

“He did a pretty decent job progressing. Now, it was a panicked progression. His feet, there was panic. I always tell guys, ‘If I want to know what’s going on in your brain, all I’ve got to do is look at your feet, and, if your feet are panicked, you’re panicked. And if you’re nice and calm, then I know how you’re processing information.’ He was definitely panicked, but he was progressing. He had a panicked pace.

“He stepped with the wrong foot on the one he hit Gill on, but he made up for it with a quick hitch, so we’re still trying to get him to the footwork. This whole offense works on this certain footwork and he’s working on it. When he steps with the right foot and gets into rhythm, it helps him a lot.

“He has a natural ability. I mean, he can throw it. It is an impressive thing to watch. And the fun thing for him is, footwork is something you can train. He just needs time. He got here three months ago or he got here like a week before we started camp or something like that, so he has not had much time to work at this thing.

“I’m encouraged about one, his biggest ailment is just reps, which we can give him, especially this week. Two is going to be working on his feet which is really one of the easier things to work on at the quarterback position and it’ll be fun to see kind of how far he can take it.

“I didn’t want to throw him into that situation, but I thought he handled himself fairly well. He’s just mad he missed the last throw. I gave him his hinge. He throws that route better than (any other route). It’s his favorite route.

“So, on that third route, I called that one and he hesitated a little bit and then he threw it inside. He had it. That’s the first thing he said to me after the game. You took us down there and tied the game. That was impressive for a first-time, walk-on quarterback to do and Sully was encouraging him about how he played. He was so hung up on that last ball on 3rd-and-9 or something like that, which is also encouraging, because he has high expectations and he wants it. I’m encouraged by that and we just need time and drilling. We might not have time and drilling, but we’re going to put our best foot forward,” Lester told the media regarding Stratton.

Should Stratton be thrust into the starting role against Maryland after Iowa’s bye week, he will have had two weeks of practice and time with Tim Lester to work through progressions, footwork, and the process.

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Iowa football provides update on Jackson Stratton and Hawkeyes’ QB depth

Kirk Ferentz talked about Jackson Stratton’s path to Iowa and what things would look like if he gets into action for the Hawkeyes.

For the second week in a row, Jackson Stratton owns the backup quarterback duties for the Iowa Hawkeyes due to some injuries and a rather thin quarterback room.

With Brendan Sullivan retaining the starting job, Stratton is the next man up with Cade McNamara remaining sidelined due to a concussion and Marco Lainez’s broken thumb.

In his weekly press conference, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz talked about how Stratton has looked, how he ended up at Iowa, and his confidence in him if called upon.

“Yeah, that’s a great question right there. It’s still interesting how guys get here sometimes. I’ve said that about Hayden Large. Tim was out there checking out some quarterbacks back in the spring and stopped by in San Diego and saw Jackson. He had played for Colorado State last year, was there and looking to go somewhere else.

It’s funny how it worked out, but he ended up coming. Had his mom and dad here when we had a luncheon for all the newcomers in August, and great people. None of us envisioned this happening, but he impressed us in camp. He can throw the ball really well.

But then you kind of start getting in game mode and all that kind of stuff, so we really didn’t see him much. I thought he did a really good job last week. End of the week, I think maybe it started — reality dawned on him a little bit, like oh, I could be in there. I think all of us are trying not to think too hard about that right now.

But if he goes in, he’s practiced well this week, he’s really learning, and he’s a very capable thrower. That’s his strength, and we’ll see what happens. But hopefully we just kind of keep the status quo and just keep moving. But he’s done a good job,” Ferentz said of Stratton’s path to Iowa and his work lately.

Jackson Stratton still has yet to register a snap with Iowa, but the transfer from Colorado State is ready should he be needed.

Standing at 6-foot-4, the California native is an imposing figure who threw for over 4,400 yards and 52 touchdowns in high school.

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Iowa football details QB depth behind Brendan Sullivan

Iowa’s quarterback depth chart is suddenly thin.

The biggest story surrounding the Iowa Hawkeyes this week has been the news that Brendan Sullivan was named the starting quarterback.

Coming in a close second is Iowa confirming that Cade McNamara will be out this Saturday due to a concussion he suffered in the second quarter of Iowa’s win over Northwestern.

With McNamara sidelined, Iowa’s quarterback depth chart looks drastically different than it has all year. Head coach Kirk Ferentz detailed what a backup plan for Brendan Sullivan looks like with the remaining quarterbacks rostered, redshirt freshman Marco Lainez and sophomore Jackson Stratton.

“Yeah, that’s really who’s left, and I won’t tell you who number four is right now and I hope you never find out. With all due respect, it’s a guy who played high school quarterback.

“But we’re basically out of guys. James Resar has moved to receiver and unfortunately he sustained an injury last week, so it’s a little bit ironic that all of a sudden it’s a thin pool. But we’ll go with the guys we got and find a way,” Ferentz said about the quarterback depth.

Lainez saw action for the Hawkeyes last year in mop-up duty for their bowl game against the Tennessee Volunteers. He was 2-of-7 passing for four yards, but he did showcase his mobility by running for 51 yards on six attempts.

Stratton, a transfer from Colorado State, joined Iowa as a walk-on heading into the 2024 season. He has not recorded any statistics for Iowa.

During his time at Colorado State, he was 4-of-17 for 78 yards with one touchdown against two interceptions.

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Iowa Hawkeyes among best Big Ten transfer portal grades for 2024 season

Addition by subtraction.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have been involved in the portal quite a bit this offseason. As is nowadays in the modern era of college football, arrivals and departures are happening with each team as frequently as an airport.

Iowa’s offseason was headlined by a few transfer portal happenings. The first, and biggest impact, was the addition of Kadyn Proctor only to shortly be followed by his second departure.

Following that saga, Iowa was able to add two quarterbacks in the portal, Brendan Sullivan from Northwestern and Jackson Stratton from Colorado State, to fill out the QB room after Deacon Hill left in the portal.

Iowa had 13 departures additions in the portal, but CBS Sports’ transfer portal recap has them as the No. 4 best net rating gain in the Big Ten behind just Ohio State, Purdue, and Nebraska.

Despite losing 13 players to the portal, the average transfer rating of those coming to Iowa was 88.75 and the quality of the arrivals vastly outweighs that of the 13 departures. The Hawkeyes had a net rating gain of 3.57.

The transfer portal additions for Iowa include the aforementioned Sullivan and Stratton in the quarterback room but also see reinforcements coming elsewhere on the offensive side of the ball.

Joining the two quarterbacks are Jacob Gill, a wide receiver coming from Northwestern like Sullivan, and Cade Borud, an interior offensive lineman coming from North Dakota who has the ability to immediately plug-and-play up front.

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