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

Burgers

Sophomore
Jul 22, 2025
56
144
33
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.
 

uihawk82

All-Conference
Nov 17, 2021
3,279
4,796
113
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.
 
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Reactions: DuddyB

HMB Trumpet

Senior
Mar 19, 2018
644
786
93
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

All-Conference
Oct 10, 2001
2,594
3,431
113
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. 1793233807890.gif
 
Oct 12, 2025
231
329
63
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!

All-American
Aug 4, 2025
5,103
7,886
113
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

All-American
Sep 6, 2022
2,999
5,977
113
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.
 
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