Kirk Ferentz predicts Iowa will be 'much improved at quarterback' with Mark Gronowski

After years of struggles, Iowa looked to make a splash in the transfer portal this year. The Hawkeyes did just that, landing former South Dakota State star quarterback Mark Gronowski – and Kirk Ferentz has high hopes.

Ferentz expects Iowa to take a leap forward on offense as Tim Lester enters his second year as offensive coordinator. But by bringing in Gronowski, who threw for more than 10,000 yards at SDSU, he thinks the Hawkeyes clearly upgraded at quarterback.

As he looked back on the last few years, Ferentz pointed out the factors, such as injuries and luck. But he also cited whether the quarterback position was ready for the level of Big Ten football and suggested Gronowski breaks that trend.

“I know we’ll be much improved at quarterback,” Ferentz told ESPN’s Adam Rittenberg at Big Ten Media Days. “That’s not a knock on anybody, but if you just go back and chart the games the last two seasons, three seasons for that matter, we’ve had bad health there, we’ve had bad fortune, bad luck and, quite frankly, playing with some guys that weren’t ready to play at this level.”

A product of Naperville (Ill.) Neuqua Valley, Gronowski was one of the top quarterbacks in FCS during his time at South Dakota State. He threw for more than 10,000 yards over his four years with the Jackrabbits, including 2,721 yards this past season to go with 23 touchdowns. His best year came in 2023 when he threw for 3,058 yards and 29 touchdowns as SDSU defeated Montana for its second straight FCS national title.

While it’ll be a big step up going to Iowa and the Big Ten, Kirk Ferentz thinks Gronowski can handle it. As he navigated spring ball building relationships with his teammates and learning the offense, Gronowski will now get ready to show what he can do on the field.

“Granted, it was the FCS level, but winning is winning, and his level, his success as a player, and the kind of human being is, it’s been really impressive,” Ferentz said. “With transfers, I don’t want to say it’s a great challenge, but there’s a degree of a challenge when you come into a program at his age where we’ve got the majority of our guys have been there a long time. But he way he handled that, navigated that just seamlessly in a really intelligent way, it was very understated.”