Part way through Iowa football's open practice at Kids' Day on Saturday afternoon, starting quarterback Cade McNamara went down with an apparent leg injury. The Michigan transfer trotted out of the pocket, ran up field, and stumbled at the 50-yard line, falling awkwardly. Able to get up and walk off on his own power, McNamara made his way to the locker room with an Iowa trainer.
Over an hour later, Kirk Ferentz finally made it known that his starter isn't expected to have any sort of major injury, and Hawkeye fans can breathe a little easier.
"It sounds like it's a muscle issue," Ferentz said following the practice. "So, it's unfortunate, obviously. But hopefully it's nothing too serious."
"I'll know more next week, but yeah, I'm not alarmed right now," Ferentz said. "It's not like he broke his leg or something like that. It's one of those things, we have to take it day-by-day and hopefully it's on the shorter end than the longer end."
Following the injury, one could feel the collective anxiety in Kinnick Stadium for just over half an hour, as the crowd waited for the quarterback to return to the field.
Though he didn't have pads on and didn't re-enter the scrimmage, McNamara made it back out to Duke Slater Field and appeared to be in relatively good spirits, talking with teammates and walking around the field without crutches, a wrap, or a brace.
Ferentz spoke with him immediately following the practice.
"He's upset, he's not happy," Iowa's head man said. "He doesn't want to miss time. He doesn't like not playing or not practicing. I just told him 'Injuries are part of the game. It stinks, but they're part of the game.' My guess is he'll wear the training staff out over the next couple of days, or whatever it takes."
Though the initial signs were encouraging, Ferentz had no intention of putting him back in the day's practice, and his activity will be monitored in the near future.
"We weren't going to have him go again today, certainly," he said. "They looked at him in the locker room. We'll see how it responds here."
