The 2018 Iowa football season is in the books. We will be taking a look at each position group and review what we saw in 2018 and then look ahead to the position group in 2019, along with our off-season storyline to watch.
We start at quarterback, where there the drama won't be surrounding who starts, but the battle to be next in line at the position.
2018 Review
From a statistical perspective, it was a better season for Nate Stanley on nearly every front. He threw for more yardage in his second year, completed a higher percentage of his passes, and he equaled his touchdown pass total of 26 in his first year under center. The only number that was up was his interception total.
There's no question that Stanley grew as a quarterback and a leader. However, it's fair to say his season had it's highs and lows. The highs were during the three game stretch against Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Indiana when he averaged 300 yards per game in the air and tossed 12 touchdown passes.
There were also some rough patches like the back to back games against Maryland and Penn State. It's fair to say wind had a lot to do with his 86 yards passing against the Terps, but he also struggled against Penn State, where he banged his thumb on a teammates helmet while throwing a pass.
The biggest positive for Stanley is he needed to become a more accurate thrower and he raised that by a couple of percent. He also added just over 400 more yards in the air and the only downside was four more interceptions.
We did get brief looks at backup's Peyton Mansell and Spencer Petras during the season, but it's hard to gauge anything about their long term potential based on the limited number of snaps.
What did Pro Football Focus think of the three signal callers in 2018?
LOOKING AHEAD
DEPARTING: None
Stanley did give some brief consideration to the NFL Draft after the season, but quickly decided it was best to return to school for his senior year. He came into the season with a decent NFL buzz and that still remains, but he wouldn't have been a high draft pick this year.
RETURNING: Stanley, Mansell/Petras
Stanley will return for his senior year and lead the offense for a third consecutive season. He will be without three of his favorite targets in the passing game in Nick Easley, Noah Fant, and T.J. Hockenson, so he's going to have to find other options in the passing game. That will be his biggest challenge in 2019. He has 52 touchdown passes and the all-time career mark is 74 by Chuck Long, so he will have an opportunity to put his name in that record book with another good year under center.
INCOMING: Alex Padilla
The Colorado native is already on campus. Like many quarterbacks these days, Padilla planned ahead and graduated a semester early so he could get a full dose of spring ball under his belt.
PROJECTED STARTER IN 2019: Stanley
While Kirk Ferentz will tell us that it's always an open competition, unless he's injured, Stanley will be leading the offense.
STORYLINE TO FOLLOW: The backup battle
Stanley will be a senior, so the jockeying for second in command of the Iowa offense will be fully underway starting this spring. Mansell will be in his third year and Petras is a second year player, but will be his second time at Iowa for spring ball after arriving early last year. It's also worth mentioning Padilla because you never know with a true freshman who could come in and make an early statement.
It's a hard race to handicap at this moment as far as the battle to be Stanley's backup. Mansell has the experience , but many believe that Petras really closed the gap for the second spot, particularly during bowl prep.I suspect that it will be close coming out of spring ball and then at some point in fall camp, we get a clear idea about who the leading candidate to start will be in 2020.
