Tim Lester and Iowa's Quarterback Conundrum: Who's Getting Reps?
IOWA CITY -- Iowa's quarterback situation is one of the biggest question marks around the program in recent history.
Following the Hawkeyes' disappointing 2022 season, Iowa brought in Michigan transfer Cade McNamara, who was deemed the savior of the ineffective offense. He was expected to come in and save the day, make Iowa competent on that side of the ball, and lead the Hawkeyes to the promised land -- Big Ten Championships, a bowl win or two and maybe even the College Football Playoff.
McNamara came to Iowa last spring while recovering from an injury and didn't take any live reps until the summer. Unfortunately, after a lackluster start to the 2023 season, McNamara went down with an ACL injury in the fifth game of the season, resulting in backup Deacon Hill becoming the starter.
And here we are -- another spring, another QB conundrum.
McNamara is still in the process of rehabilitating his ACL injury -- and Hill is back taking the reps as the starting quarterback, even after he was benched in favor of Marco Lainez in Iowa's 35-0 loss to Tennessee in the Citrus Bowl on New Year's Day. Lainez remains healthy and in the QB room, but Hill has been taking the majority of the reps with the first team on offense.
Since the end of the season, Kirk Ferentz hired a new quarterbacks coach and offensive coordinator in Tim Lester -- the former head coach at Western Michigan and analyst with the Green Bay Packers. Lester sees the seasoning that Hill was able to gain last year as the starter as the main reason why he's remained the starter this spring in McNamara's absence.
"Deacon has more experience, and so he can go through a progression a little bit more comfortably right now than Marco can," Lester said during media availability on Thursday. "Marco needs the reps."
For now, Lester is focused on getting Lainez more snaps in order for him to grow at the position.
"He's a young kid, and he's got talent," Lester said. "So Marco is taking all the reps with the twos and the threes. For his own development, I know it's like drinking through a firehose, but I put him out there on purpose, and I told him -- we had a talk about it beforehand, that this is my plan for you, and it's going to be tough at times."
Lainez's ability to run -- which we saw in Orlando in January -- does give him an added edge.
"Marco can run," Lester said. "Every practice I've had a couple Marco plays in. With our terms and what we can do, we can easily turn any play into a zone read type world."
"When you want to get into the zone read world, now you're talking first level [RPOs]. We've done a little bit of that, too. Not a ton, but just a little with Marco," he added.
In the meantime, he's seeing slight improvements from his current QB1.
"I think his feet have gotten better," Lester said of Hill. "He's kind of honed in on a certain way of dropping that I think makes him more comfortable. I think it's allowed him to get through reads better. He still needs to be more accurate with the ball."
"I think he has a long way to go, but when I got here that was something I noticed with him, that his balance -- when his balance was off, the ball was all over the place. I do think that's improved."
He affirmed that Hill is still definitely a work in progress, though -- especially with the new playbook.
"Now, some of the different systems within the offense, we've got a long way to go with," he said. "He's got a natural arm. He can throw the ball. But you have to know where it's going. So when we get his feet right, the feet tell the ball where to go. He's gotten better there. A long way to go, but I've been proud of that part. He's been working hard at it."
Ultimately, the duo is coming along, and progress is progress, though they're still working everyday and there are plenty of improvements to be made.
"This is a totally new system. Mentally we have to be sharper. Our feet need to be better," Lester said. "I do think we've improved. But we're not even close to where we need to be there, and I'm always going to be hard on them that way."
With Lainez and Hill taking so many snaps, Lester says that he's operating as though McNamara was in the game, because that's the plan for the fall.
"I put them in some tough spots," Lester said. "We've done a ton of two-minute drills, a ton of third downs. Those are the things that come along: red zone offense, third downs, and two minute, they take months."
It's also about the other players who are set to be playing alongside McNamara on Saturdays in a few months.
"The receivers, the O-line, they need the reps," Lester said. "If I was calling a game with each and every guy as I'm learning about them, I would probably call certain situations differently, but that doesn't help the other ten guys in the fall. We're going to have to be aggressive at times. So that's kind of the plan, the mindset going in [to teaching them]."
The former Wolverine is set to be full-go in June and will take over the starting job then and in fall camp. And shocker -- he's chomping at the bit and ready to go.
"It's been hard on Cade," Lester said. "It's been fun to do a couple individual drills with him, and he's fighting through all the frustration of wanting to be out there."
During the limbo period between McNamara's return and Hill serving Iowa's QB1, Lester -- though he was asked about transfers and the wide receiver position -- made it clear he's willing to dip into the portal for any position on offense, including quarterback
"Well, I think you're always looking," he said. "I don't think anyone ever turns a blind eye to that at any position. I think everyone has plans, and Coach (Ferentz) and Tyler (Barnes) will figure out which ones as we move on. But we're always actively looking everywhere."