Iowa QB Carson May enters transfer portal
Following Iowa's 21-0 Music City Bowl victory where redshirt freshman Joe Labas threw every pass and took (nearly) every snap, backup QB Carson May, a true freshman from Jones, Okla., has entered the NCAA Transfer Portal.
May was a four-star recruit in the 2022 class, but found himself buried on the depth chart during the regular season while he redshirted and unable to beat Labas (or, as it turns out, TE Sam LaPorta) for playing time in the bowl. Amended NCAA rules would have permitted his participation in the bowl without burning the redshirt. Further, with incoming QB transfer Cade McNamara set to join the team with two years of eligibility, May's shot at early playing time seemed to be limited going forward.
May's other offers as a high school recruit came from Old Dominion and Western Michigan.
END OF AN ERA?
May, a pro-style QB who was listed at 6'4" and 221 pounds by Iowa, appears to be the last of the large-armed, "single-threat" QBs that had typified the Hawkeye recruiting pipeline after C.J. Beathard's senior season in 2015.
Labas was also recruited as a pro-style QB but displayed strong mobility on designed runs and scrambles during his Music City Bowl performance, and incoming recruits Marco Lainez (2023) and James Resar (2024) are bona-fide dual-threat weapons, with Resar clocking a 10.86 100-meter dash time as a sprinter in Florida.
Obviously, incoming (presumptive) starter Cade McNamara was not used often as a runner at Michigan -- and JJ McCarthy's mobility was key in the five-star QB's ascension over McNamara on the Michigan depth chart in 2022 -- but his pocket footwork will be the best in Iowa's QB room from Day 1.
More on this situation as it develops.