With Spencer Petras graduating and Alex Padilla in the transfer portal, the Iowa football team was in search of a starting quarterback for the 2023 season.

The Hawkeyes found their answer in the portal and didn’t have to wait too long to land their top target. In fact, they found their quarterback without having to look outside the conference.

Kirk Ferentz and has staff have received a verbal commitment from former Michigan quarterback Cade McNamara. The news was first reported by Pete Thamel from ESPN.com. HawkeyeReport.com can confirm that McNamara committed to the Hawkeyes in a conversation with Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz on Tuesday evening.

In the 2021 season, McNamara was the starter for the Wolverines and led them to the Big Ten title and the College Football Playoff. That included a 42-3 win over Iowa in the Big Ten Championship contest. In that game, McNamara was 16-24 for 169 yards, one touchdown, and one interception.

Overall in 2021, he started every game for Michigan, completing 210 of 327 passes (64%) for 2,576 yards, 15 touchdowns, and 6 interceptions. This season he played in only three games, starting one contest. He was 14-25 for 180 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He was sidelined with a knee injury and underwent surgery in October. He is expected to make a full recovery and could potentially be fully cleared for most of spring practice.

One interesting aspect of the commitment to Iowa is McNamara will have two years of eligibility remaining and intends on using both of those in Iowa City.

Out of high school, the Nevada native was a four star prospect according to Rivals.com. He initially committed to Notre Dame and then flipped to Michigan. He selected the Wolverines over offers from USC, Georgia, and Alabama.