Tag: Spencer Petras

Former Iowa Hawkeyes QB Spencer Petras commits to Utah State Aggies

Former Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Spencer Petras has committed to the Utah State Aggies after recently entering the transfer portal.

After recently entering the transfer portal, former Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Spencer Petras has found a new home. Petras is headed to the Utah State Aggies with his final remaining year of eligibility.

The quarterback served in a coaching role this season as he rehabbed his shoulder following an injury late in the 2022 season that required surgery. The California native is headed back out west after spending five years on Iowa’s roster.

During his time at Iowa, Petras was 468-825 (55.7%), 5,199 yards, 24 TD, and 19 INT. While not a big runner, he did have the ability to punch it into the endzone on the ground with 11 rushing touchdowns.

Petras joins the Aggies just as they have an opening in their quarterback room due to some rather uncommon circumstances. Utah State quarterback Levi Williams is going to play in the Aggies’ bowl game but then forego his final year of eligibility. Rather than transferring or heading to the NFL, he is going to undertake Navy SEAL training.

Utah State went 6-6 this season and will take on Georiga State in the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl. Petras joins a quarterback room that includes four other rostered quarterbacks at the moment. He will be the most experienced of the bunch.

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Iowa Hawkeyes QB Spencer Petras enters NCAA transfer portal

Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras has entered the NCAA transfer portal.

In a bit of unexpected news that makes you raise an eyebrow, Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback Spencer Petras is entering the NCAA transfer portal. Despite not playing at all this season, Petras will look to land at a new home this offseason.

Petras played five seasons at Iowa and will have one year left of eligibility left for the 2024 season. During his time at Iowa, he had a career record of 20-11 as a starter from 2020-2022.

Petras threw for 5,199 yards, 24 touchdowns, and 19 interceptions at Iowa. He completed 56.7% of his passes going 468-825. While not known for being a mobile quarterback, he did have 11 rushing touchdowns during his tenure at Iowa.

The news was first reported by ESPN’s Pete Thamel. Petras has been acting in the role of a coach this season as he rehabbed a shoulder injury that occurred late in the 2022 college football season and required surgery.

 

 

Petras’ departure does not do much to shake up or change anything in Iowa’s quarterback room. There was never a real sense that Petras would come back and attempt to play at Iowa due to injury and the Hawkeyes’ activity in the portal.

Wherever Petras goes, that program is going to get a smart and knowledgeable quarterback who has seen a lot of defenses in his vast experiences in the Big Ten.

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Why Spencer Petras returning in 2023 is great news for Iowa

Former quarterback Spencer Petras is returning to the Iowa football program for the 2023 season and every Hawkeye fan should be elated.

Spencer Petras will return to the Iowa football program in 2023 in a non-playing role and every Hawkeye fan should be ecstatic.

Scott Dochterman of The Athletic broke the news on social media on Tuesday that quarterback Petras will stay at Iowa this fall to help the offense. Petras will not play for the University of Iowa this year. Per Dochterman, he’s not even on a football scholarship.

He does have one year of eligibility left that he can use to play at another school should he choose to go down that route. Petras is still recovering from a devastating shoulder injury he sustained in November.

If Iowa is smart, it is doing everything this year to keep him within the program. Even if he does leave next year to play the game he loves one last time, Petras is the exact type of person the Hawkeyes should look to bring back into the program for a long time.

Think about the last two seasons. Petras has been the subject of both local and national criticism for his play. He was booed by his home crowd and became the frequent butt of Iowa jokes by college football fans across the country.

No quarterback in the history of Iowa football has faced nearly the same amount of adversity as Petras. Throughout his career, Petras has faced hardship, criticism, injury and a global pandemic unprecedented for our times.

At no point did he make any excuses, and there certainly were plenty of areas in which he could. Iowa’s offensive line over the past two years has been at one of the worst levels in Kirk Ferentz’s entire tenure as head coach. The Hawkeyes’ offense was plagued with injuries all of last year.

Offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz is probably the only other person in the program to receive more condemnation than Petras. He certainly did not set his quarterback up with the best recipe for success.

Instead, Petras took all of it in stride, never wavering from his leadership duties to his fellow teammates. There is a reason all of his teammates quickly came to his defense, raving about his character and work ethic. There is a reason Petras was given the Duke Slater Golden Gavel Award by an overwhelming vote by the Iowa media. Even in times of trouble, he was always the consummate professional.

Nothing is a better example of the integrity that the San Rafael, California, native possesses than what he is doing with Iowa. The Hawkeyes moved on. They went out and found his replacement. Petras could have easily done the same. There’s no easier time to move on than now with the transfer portal. Instead, he announced his intentions to return to Iowa and support new starter Cade McNamara back in December.

That is true integrity. It checks out for Petras given everything we’ve seen and heard over his entire career as a Hawkeye. You want to talk about the Hawkeye way of doing things? That’s Spencer Petras.

When you look at Petras, you find all of the building blocks of a great coach. He’s been lauded on numerous occasions by his coaches and teammates for his work ethic and high intelligence. The best coaches are the ones with great communication and who lead. Petras is a natural-born leader who has the integrity everyone should strive for. He has a very bright future, and hopefully it can continue to be with the Iowa football program.

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Iowa an early potential landing spot for Michigan transfer QB Cade McNamara

The Iowa Hawkeyes have been linked as an early potential landing spot for Michigan transfer quarterback Cade McNamara.

The Iowa Hawkeyes are a team and program becoming very much linked to the transfer portal this offseason, which hasn’t even gotten underway yet. News today has only sparked that intrigue even more.

Cade McNamara, a quarterback from Michigan, is reportedly entering the NCAA transfer portal. He has made the choice to do so as Michigan has went with J.J. McCarthy as their starting quarterback and guy for the future.

In a full season during 2021, McNamara led Michigan to the Big Ten title and a spot in the College Football Playoff. He threw for 2,576 yards, 15 touchdowns, and completed 64.2% of his passes to go along with a rating of 141.9.

The talk surrounding Iowa is how to fix the quarterback room and McNamara is a name that makes a lot of sense early on. He fits the mold that Hawkeyes’ head coach Kirk Ferentz would go after in the portal.

McNamara is an upperclassman with tons of experience and coming from a top tier program. Iowa is likely seeing Spencer Petras depart after he celebrated his Senior Day in their final home game. Behind him, the rest of the Iowa quarterback room is full of question marks and unknowns.

FOX Sports reporter Bruce Feldman believes that the Hawkeyes could be a landing spot for McNamara. This is likely just the start of the rumors for where McNamara lands, the Hawkeyes’ work in the portal, and the revamping of the quarterback position in Iowa City.

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Iowa Stock Index: Hawkeyes’ stock report after loss to Nebraska

Iowa lost a heartbreaker to Nebraska. Whose stock is rising, whose stock is falling after the loss to the Cornhuskers?

The Iowa Hawkeyes fell 24-17 to the Nebraska Cornhuskers in a game that felt as though anything that could have went wrong did go wrong. From penalties, to turnovers, to injuries, the Hawkeyes could not catch a break and that came at the worst possible time of the year for it to occur.

As we enter the wait before finding out what bowl game Iowa will be headed to, there is certainly some time for reflection, both positively and what could have went differently. Luckily, the Hawkeyes get one more game. They will be in a bowl and have a chance to end this season with a win and get to a mark of 8-5.

Quite a few Hawkeyes have had their hands in the mix in this game and some did everything they could to pull of the comeback, but there are a few that are seeing their stock rising as we continue down the final stretch of the season.

Spencer Petras’ postgame remarks after Iowa logs season-highs in yards, points versus Northwestern

Spencer Petras passed for 220 yards and one touchdown as Iowa beat Northwestern, 33-13. Here’s everything the quarterback said afterwards.

Spencer Petras passed for 220 yards—his second-highest mark of the season—and one score. In the process, Iowa (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) racked up its season highs in rushing yards, total offense and points.

Afterwards, Petras caught up with the media to discuss his day, the offense’s overall performance and what’s ahead for his group at Purdue next week and beyond.

Report card: Grading the Iowa Hawkeyes’ dominant 33-13 win over Northwestern

Finally, a report card Iowa can safely bring home. The Hawkeyes get high marks across the board after a 33-13 thumping of Northwestern.

A three-game losing streak reminds everyone just how sweet winning is. As Vince Lombardi once said, “Winning isn’t everything, it’s the only thing.”

Truly, it’s the tonic for plenty of woes. Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz said as much leading into the Hawkeyes’ Homecoming game against Northwestern and he said as much afterwards.

“Just one thing that never changes in football, losing stinks, and winning is a really good feeling. So our guys needed to experience that. So we’re right back. We have four weeks left in conference play. But the biggest thing is we’re moving in November. And November is about playing your best football. That’s what it’s all about. So that has to be our goal,” Ferentz said.

Iowa (4-4, 2-3 Big Ten) heads to Purdue next week looking to get the record back over the .500 mark. Before that, let’s hand out some grades that Iowa can actually feel comfortable taking home to mom and dad. Pull up a chair, class is in session.

WATCH: Iowa finally scores elusive offensive touchdowns in first half versus Northwestern

After 29 straight drives without a touchdown, Iowa finally found its way back into the end zone. Watch the first half highlights here.

Good things come to those that wait, right? Iowa fans had been waiting plenty long enough.

It felt like it had been ages since Iowa found its way into the end zone with an offensive drive. Entering Saturday’s game versus Northwestern, Iowa had gone two full games and 28 offensive possessions without a touchdown drive.

Of course, that included six turnovers at No. 2 Ohio State and Petras’ late interception at Illinois in the game before. However, Iowa’s first drive against Northwestern this week was promising.

It included five straight plays of seven or more yards to start. An Arland Bruce IV rush for eight yards, a Kaleb Johnson run for 18, quarterback Spencer Petras’ pass to Sam LaPorta for 15, and two more Kaleb Johnson carries of nine and seven yards to take the Hawkeyes inside the red zone.

That opening Iowa drive stalled out when running back Gavin Williams was dropped for a loss of two on 3rd-and-2 and the Hawkeyes settled for a 29-yard Drew Stevens field goal.

Fear not, though. After a defensive stop that was highlighted by a 15-yard sack from Iowa’s Deontae Craig, the Hawkeyes had the football back. After what was initially ruled a 6-yard touchdown run from Kaleb Johnson was wiped out, Iowa at long last ended its touchdown drought in perhaps the most fitting way. Spencer Petras took the football into the end zone himself on a 1-yard quarterback keeper.

Still, that was the only highlight of half No. 1 for the Hawkeyes. Iowa scored on each of its four possessions, racked up 252 yards of total offense (which eclipsed its per game season average in just one half of football) and found itself into the end zone with a two-minute drill. Here’s a look at the first-half highlights that were for Iowa.

Iowa not ruling out multiple QBs versus Northwestern, no decision on the starter yet

While a decision on the starter will have to wait until later in the week, multiple quarterbacks could play versus Northwestern.

If Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz and his offensive staff know which direction they’re planning on heading in terms of the starting quarterback versus Northwestern, he’s not ready to tip his hand just yet.

“The quarterback situation, we haven’t made a decision yet. I’m not sure when we will. We’ll let both guys work with the ones, rotating them in and out and playing that out and making a decision here during the week, kind of going from there,” Ferentz said during his Tuesday press conference.

Both Spencer Petras and Alex Padilla played at No. 2 Ohio State during the Hawkeyes’ 54-10 loss. Petras finished his day 6-of-14 passing for 49 yards with a pair of interceptions, one of which that was returned for a touchdown by Buckeyes linebacker Tommy Eichenberg. Meanwhile, Padilla completed just 5-of-10 passes for 32 yards and he was intercepted once as well.

Petras was also sacked and fumbled and Padilla mishandled a quarterback-center exchange with Logan Jones that resulted in another takeaway for Ohio State. Suffice it to say, the results weren’t great against the Buckeyes.

With both quarterbacks’ struggles against Ohio State, it means the evaluation isn’t a simple one.

“Really wasn’t much good Saturday, in general. Didn’t matter who was in there. So that’s part. Everything is part of the evaluation to answer your question. What we saw in practice, things we saw on Saturday and the past. Keep pushing forward. It’s not like we have a scientific formula. We’ll see how the week plays out,” Ferentz said.

Ferentz hopes to make a decision and then stick with it. Still, he’s not ruling out the possibility that multiple quarterbacks could play versus Northwestern.

“We’re not planning on rotation at this point. But anything’s possible. Not going to rule it out. But preferably wouldn’t want to do that. And whoever starts hopefully not looking over their shoulder. We also have to get it going offensively and show some production, too. So hopefully whoever is in there can help us do that. That’s the team goal. And there’s I guess a balancing act that goes on with it because you don’t want to make a decision based on one play. Something like that. We’ll kind of see. Make a decision and ride with it for a little bit,” Ferentz said.

Conceivably, Iowa might take the decision right up until the final buzzer.

“We haven’t made a decision yet. Today and tomorrow are big work days for us. We’re not going to do anything between now and then. We’ll see how we feel coming off the field and maybe take it to Friday. We’ll see,” Ferentz said.

Regardless of which direction the Hawkeyes ultimately go, the sum of Iowa’s parts need to be better collectively.

“For quarterback play, it’s really complex. So it’s not a simple equation. Those guys out there are just humming, but usually if a guy is humming means he’s getting good teamwork and good help around him, too. There’s a lot that goes into good quarterback play, just like every position,” Ferentz said.

It would be a welcome sight if Iowa finally gets some sort of a spark from the quarterback position. The Hawkeyes return home this week to Kinnick Stadium for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff against Northwestern for Homecoming.

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‘There’s no magic formula’: Kirk Ferentz mentions 2000 Penn State game as model for resiliency

When discussing how to keep the offense’s confidence high, Kirk Ferentz pointed to the 2000 Penn State game as a model of resiliency.

After registering just eight first downs and 158 yards of total offense that netted one field goal against No. 2 Ohio State, Iowa (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten) continues to search for any kind of offensive footing.

Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz was asked how they keep confidence high for the offensive personnel when the unit is one of the nation’s worst and has devolved into a national laughingstock.

The Hawkeyes’ 24-year head coach pointed back to one of his first seasons leading the program for an answer on how to break through offensively.

“We have really good people to work with. I think we have good coaches on our staff and most importantly good players and that has been a commonality 30-plus years during my career at our place so it starts there. And there’s no magic formula. You just keep banging along and you’re never sure when things are going to break through.

“I’m standing here right now just thinking about going to Penn State in 2000. I don’t think anybody would have called that shot, but that was really the first time we played collectively like a winning football team, a winning Big Ten football team. We didn’t do anything magical during that course leading up to that game other than just try to, you just try to practice well and try to get better each and every time out there. I don’t think that formula ever changes in sports. I know more football than I do anything else, but, you know, so that’s the course we’ll stay on and we’ll see where it all takes us,” Ferentz said.

Leading up to that 2000 game versus Penn State, Iowa had gone just 1-10 in Ferentz’s first season leading the program in 1999 and were just 1-8 to start 2000. That was a combined 2-18 record and there weren’t many signs that things were magically about to start getting better.

Still, Iowa stayed the course and, sure enough, the Hawkeyes topped Penn State on that Nov. 4 day in 2000 by the final tally of 26-23 in two overtimes. Then, Iowa won the following week over then-No. 18 Northwestern, 27-17, and finished with a one-score loss against Minnesota.

Of course, Iowa enjoyed its first very successful season under Ferentz in 2001 when the Hawkeyes finished 7-5 before ripping off 11-2, 10-3 and 10-2 marks in 2002, 2003 and 2004. So, the track record for trusting with and sticking to the day-to-day approach and eventually getting results is something that exists for Ferentz dating back to the beginning of his Hawkeye tenure.

Against Ohio State, it was the first time this season that backup quarterback Alex Padilla saw extended action. While it didn’t result in improved results and Iowa hasn’t committed to Padilla taking over in place of Spencer Petras yet, the hope is that it signals that Iowa is committed to whatever changes it will take to improve the offense over the season’s final month and change.

Ferentz admitted following the blowout defeat that Iowa doesn’t have a simple answer right now offensively.

“Well, we’re not playing well enough. I can’t give you an answer. If I had that answer, you probably would have seen something today. Part of the credit goes to our opponent today. They’re a really good defensive football team. Much improved. I don’t want to say much improved. Much improved statistically, but they’re a good defensive football team. We felt that coming in watching their tape and feel that way now after seeing them in person. So, I don’t have the answer or we would have scored more points today and we’ll just keep pushing forward and trying to find a better solution,” Ferentz said.

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