Anyone with info on Bessinger development, Sullivan and Fitzy Jr also

Burgers · Tuesday at 8:39 PM

I’d kill to even have Brendan Sullivan on this team. He could at least make plays with his feet and was a decent passer. His main issue was taking too much contact / staying healthy.

Prior to the 2020s, Iowa generally had decent
QBs under Ferentz. Below is a summary of the passer rating of the QB with the most attempts by season:

McCann (148.5)
Banks (157.1)
Chandler (122.4)
Tate (134.7, 146.4, 130.9)
Christensen (116.9)
Stanzi (134.8, 131.6, 157.6)
Vandenberg (138.5, 107.7)
Rudock (126.5, 133.5)
Beathard (139.5, 122.3)
Stanley (135.2, 136.5, 131.2)

2020s:

Petras (119.0, 117.3, 109.8)
Deacon Hill (87.4)
McNamara (115.8)
Gronowski (126.4)
Brown (127.0)

Given how much higher passer ratings generally are across the country in the 2020s compared to 20 years ago, these numbers are even worse. Drew Tate’s 134.7 rating in 2004 ranked 2nd in the Big Ten. It would rank 11th this year.

Passing games have generally improved for every team in the country this decade, except for Iowa. At this point, I’d prefer we just have a run-first QB every year like we did last year with Gronowski.

HuskerTherapist · Tuesday at 8:43 PM

Trakker said:
Except he wasnt pulled after throwing that early pick

Because Brown is the chosen one!

Heathen Raider · Wednesday at 6:32 PM

HuskerTherapist said:
Because Brown is the chosen one!

Kirk always chooses the absolute crappiest QB on the roster to be QB1 , Business as usual , He will stick with Brown and Iowa fans will tolerate it and keep buying tickets and nothing will change until He has a losing Season that forces Beth hand .

Driftless_Hawk · Wednesday at 6:40 PM

Bessinger or portal QB next year. Cannot be Brown or Hecklinski. If either of those guys was good they would've been starting at their former schools.

uihawk82 · Wednesday at 6:47 PM

Heathen Raider said:
Kirk always chooses the absolute crappiest QB on the roster to be QB1 , Business as usual , He will stick with Brown and Iowa fans will tolerate it and keep buying tickets and nothing will change until He has a losing Season that forces Beth hand .

You do realize that we could have a losing record this year dont you? And if we cant run the ball/keep having turnovers/and making penalties especially at key times then I can see the hawks losing these last 5 games to go 5-7.

HMB Trumpet · Wednesday at 7:26 PM

Driftless_Hawk said:
Bessinger or portal QB next year. Cannot be Brown or Hecklinski. If either of those guys was good they would've been starting at their former schools.

I hope Bessinger will be great, but we have no evidence at this point regarding how he will perform at the college level.

Based on your reasoning, though, Bessinger can't be any good or he'd be starting now. That standard is obviously too high. Heck was only at Wake for one season, and it isn't reasonable to expect anyone to start as a true freshman. Or consider Kienholz at Louisville. He barely saw the field in three seasons at OSU and he's playing at a high level now.

Rambler Hawk · Wednesday at 7:30 PM

Burgers said:
I’d kill to even have Brendan Sullivan on this team. He could at least make plays with his feet and was a decent passer. His main issue was taking too much contact / staying healthy.

Prior to the 2020s, Iowa generally had decent
QBs under Ferentz. Below is a summary of the passer rating of the QB with the most attempts by season:

McCann (148.5)

Banks (157.1)

Chandler (122.4)

Tate (134.7, 146.4, 130.9)

Christensen (116.9)

Stanzi (134.8, 131.6, 157.6)

Vandenberg (138.5, 107.7)

Rudock (126.5, 133.5)

Beathard (139.5, 122.3)

Stanley (135.2, 136.5, 131.2)

2020s:

Petras (119.0, 117.3, 109.8)

Deacon Hill (87.4)

McNamara (115.8)

Gronowski (126.4)

Brown (127.0)

Given how much higher passer ratings generally are across the country in the 2020s compared to 20 years ago, these numbers are even worse. Drew Tate’s 134.7 rating in 2004 ranked 2nd in the Big Ten. It would rank 11th this year.

Passing games have generally improved for every team in the country this decade, except for Iowa. At this point, I’d prefer we just have a run-first QB every year like we did last year with Gronowski.

Thanks for pulling this together! Validates what a lot of posters have been saying about our QB room the past 6 years.

Natchrlman2 · Wednesday at 9:43 PM

uihawk82 said:
Fitz's plan is coaching like his dad. He is playing under a HOF type coach, if he cant start at Iowa he aint playing NFL so maybe Grad Asst then position coach etc

Fitz is a walkon too isn’t he?

Driftless_Hawk · Wednesday at 9:51 PM

HMB Trumpet said:
I hope Bessinger will be great, but we have no evidence at this point regarding how he will perform at the college level.

Based on your reasoning, though, Bessinger can't be any good or he'd be starting now. That standard is obviously too high. Heck was only at Wake for one season, and it isn't reasonable to expect anyone to start as a true freshman. Or consider Kienholz at Louisville. He barely saw the field in three seasons at OSU and he's playing at a high level now.

That's a fair point with Heck. Can't expect any QB to start in first year. This more applies to Brown. If you haven't developed into a good D1 QB by year 4 you're not that good. Meaning that next year he won't suddenly just improve a ton. Cannot be the guy in 2027

Wobmam Rulez! · Wednesday at 10:01 PM

Heathen Raider said:
Kirk always chooses the absolute crappiest QB on the roster to be QB1 , Business as usual , He will sticking with Brown and Iowa fans will tolerate it and keep buying tickets and nothing will change until He has a losing Season that forces Beth hand .

Did he stick with Jake over Ricky, and Jake over CJ? Fan's memories of history are grossly in error. Even Brad said that he wasn't ready to start his first year and needed to develop and learn. Brown is the better QB, albeit marginally, than Heck.

MeetTheFerentzes · Wednesday at 10:01 PM

Driftless_Hawk said:
That's a fair point with Heck. Can't expect any QB to start in first year. This more applies to Brown. If you haven't developed into a good D1 QB by year 4 you're not that good. Meaning that next year he won't suddenly just improve a ton. Cannot be the guy in 2027

Hard to argue with this.

If Brown is QB1 in the spring, then Iowa did another lousy job bringing in a portal QB.

Iowa should add a portal QB early in the process that they expect will be QB1 and allow Brown to transfer again. Competition for QB1 in the spring and fall camps should be between the portal addition and Bessinger. I’d be OK with JSully staying to compete, but I have a feeling he will transfer also along with Heck.

Rambler Hawk · Wednesday at 10:32 PM

Natchrlman2 said:
Fitz is a walkon too isn’t he?

Yup

uihawk82 · Thursday at 8:55 AM

Natchrlman2 said:
Fitz is a walkon too isn’t he?

I believe so since his dad has made millions upon millions of dollars so I hope they are using up a schollie, I cant remember his Kirk's sons paid their own way with dad's money or not

uihawk82 · Thursday at 8:59 AM

Driftless_Hawk said:
That's a fair point with Heck. Can't expect any QB to start in first year. This more applies to Brown. If you haven't developed into a good D1 QB by year 4 you're not that good. Meaning that next year he won't suddenly just improve a ton. Cannot be the guy in 2027

Yeah, if any 2nd or 3rd stringer, younger guy, progresses enough to beat out a starter then the team should be better off for it. It happened with Ricky Stanzi who was a year or two younger than Jake C.

I hope Bessinger, who came to Iowa to play in the Big Ten rather than Boise or Utah, is very smart learning the playbook and reading defenses, and very very good so we have him start next year even and he lights it up

PinkShizzle · Thursday at 9:28 AM

uihawk82 said:
I cant remember his Kirk's sons paid their own way with dad's money or not

Brian and James were on scholarship. Steve was a walk-on at TE (later moved to center).

rchawk · Thursday at 10:00 AM

Heathen Raider said:
Kirk always chooses the absolute crappiest QB on the roster to be QB1 , Business as usual

Congratulations, one more poster has pit you on Ignore.

HMB Trumpet · Thursday at 11:20 AM

MeetTheFerentzes said:
Hard to argue with this.

If Brown is QB1 in the spring, then Iowa did another lousy job bringing in a portal QB.

Iowa should add a portal QB early in the process that they expect will be QB1 and allow Brown to transfer again. Competition for QB1 in the spring and fall camps should be between the portal addition and Bessinger. I’d be OK with JSully staying to compete, but I have a feeling he will transfer also along with Heck.

If you’re right about 3 QBs leaving, then we’ll also need a second guy from the portal or another recruit.

Natchrlman2 · Thursday at 11:30 AM

Rambler Hawk said:
Yup

well I sure can’t see a downside of him hanging around……everything I’ve heard is he’s a really good kid ….. probably has coaching in his blood and after this much time in our system he can help bring younger players along

Jonesy5960 · Thursday at 1:43 PM

HuskerTherapist said:
Because Brown is the chosen one!

Heathen Raider said:
Kirk always chooses the absolute crappiest QB on the roster to be QB1 , Business as usual , He will stick with Brown and Iowa fans will tolerate it and keep buying tickets and nothing will change until He has a losing Season that forces Beth hand .

Guys. I'm not going to defend QB play under Kirk because it's been bad, but if you haven't yet figured out that Heck doesn't have the goods and that no great options exist today I don't know what to tell you. If they're going to salvage the rest of this season it has to be Hank. Whether he can deliver or not is another question altogether, but Heck isn't the answer this year or next.

rchawk · Thursday at 2:25 PM

Jonesy5960 said:
Guys. I'm not going to defend QB play under Kirk because it's been bad, but if you haven't yet figured out that Heck doesn't have the goods and that no great options exist today I don't know what to tell you. If they're going to salvage the rest of this season it has to be Hank. Whether he can deliver or not is another question altogether, but Heck isn't the answer this year or next.

I agree, but it's early to call Heck out for 2027. Whatever, we have two quarterbacks who can start gams. Reminds me of Phil Suess and Pete Gales in 1980.

uihawk82 · 2026-10-30T12:03:21-0500

rchawk said:
I agree, but it's early to call Heck out for 2027. Whatever, we have two quarterbacks who can start gams. Reminds me of Phil Suess and Pete Gales in 1980.

QB spot in 2027, it needs to be wide open. Hank and Heck have made some very good throws, but also poor ones, and misreads so they are average and inconsistent.

We all know a really good QB when we see them especially in the passing game, makes the progression reads, quick and very good decisions, puts the ball on the mark and can take off running is a bonus that all of KF's best QBs were able to do. Banks, Tate, Stanzi (sneaky good runner), CJB and even McCann (sneaky) and Chandler were in that mold. I think it was Chandler against Florida in a bowl game that rolled out to pass and said wow, opening and just blew it into the endzone from about 20 yards out.

Anyone with info on Bessinger development, Sullivan and Fitzy Jr also

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