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Iowa football QB Deacon Hill enters transfer portal
IOWA CITY Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill is entering the transfer portal, he announced Tuesday.
“Iowa, you gave me one of the best years of my life,” Hill posted on social media. “I have built some of the most important relationships in my life and I am forever grateful for that. This program has taught me so much about life and given me experiences that will last a lifetime. I am so grateful that I was able to do this do to learn from Coach (Kirk) Ferentz, Brian (Ferentz), Coach (Jon Budmayr) and the entire coaching staff.”
Hill played in 13 games for the Hawkeyes last season, including nine starts. He completed 122 passes in 251 attempts (48.6%) for 1,152 yards and had eight interceptions to five passing touchdowns. Hill transferred to Iowa from Wisconsin ahead of the 2023 season.
Hill found himself in a difficult situation last season. Cade McNamara, a prized transfer from Michigan, went down with a season-ending ACL injury during Iowa's game against Michigan State. A significant portion of Iowa's offenses relied on McNamara's ability to stay healthy, which ended up being a major struggle last season.
That landed Hill in the middle of trouble. Hill hadn't even attempted a pass in a game while at Wisconsin. After entering the transfer portal, he committed to Fordham before pivoting after Iowa became involved in his recruitment. In early October, Hill became Iowa's starting quarterback.
His inexperience showed in major ways as Iowa's offense sputtered. Despite the offensive shortcomings, Iowa still won the Big Ten West and finished the season 10-4 overall, thanks largely in part to its dominant defense. Only once did Hill throw for more than 200 yards in a game. His best performance of the season came against Rutgers when he threw for 223 yards and one touchdown.
The blame for Iowa's offensive woes shouldn't be placed solely on Hill. The wide receivers' production was disappointing. The offensive line was improved, but still not great. Major injuries to tight ends Luke Lachey and Erick All didn't help the situation either.
Another poor offensive season was the straw that broke the camel's back for then-offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz's time with the program. The son of head coach Kirk Ferentz became a target of criticism when Iowa's offense failed. That reached its breaking point when, in the time following the Hawkeyes' October loss to Minnesota, it was announced that Brian Ferentz would not return for the 2024 season.
That led to change this offseason. Iowa hired former Western Michigan head coach Tim Lester as its new offensive coordinator. It also promoted Jon Budmayr to wide receivers coach after Kelton Copeland's contract was not renewed.
However, Iowa's quarterback room this spring still looked remarkably similar to last season's, raising major concerns. Joe Labas has been transferred. But other than that, McNamara, freshman Marco Lainez and Hill would return. With McNamara still recovering from injury, Hill got a majority of the first-team reps this spring.
But with Hill leaving the program, the dynamic in the quarterback room becomes even more interesting.
As of Tuesday morning, McNamara and Lainez are Iowa's presumed top two quarterbacks for the 2024 season. McNamara has suffered season-ending injuries in back-to-back seasons and is still not fully healthy from the most recent one. Lainez has attempted just seven passes at the college level, all of which came during his brief appearance in Iowa's Citrus Bowl game against Tennessee. The Hawkeyes are adding true freshman quarterback James Resar to the team, but it's unrealistic to expect someone so young to play a role this early in his career.
That means Iowa is in dire need of a quarterback from the transfer portal.
One of the many lessons from last season was that Iowa needs a competent backup plan for McNamara. It would be great for the Hawkeyes if McNamara is fully healthy for the season opener in August and remains that way throughout the season. But if not, Iowa should be much better equipped to handle it than it was last season.
The good news is that Hill's departure opens up some space at that position. There was a bit of a logjam with McNamara, albeit healthy, as the presumptive starter while Hill and Lainez battled for the backup spot. It would have been a tough sell for a quarterback in the transfer portal. But with Hill leaving, the room becomes less congested.
On the other hand, it puts even more pressure on Iowa to get a quality quarterback out of the transfer portal. The Hawkeyes could be in trouble if they can't do that. Iowa would likely have even less depth behind McNamara and it would put significant pressure on how Lainez, still early in his development, would perform.
Iowa doesn't need a sharpshooter there. It just needs something it lacked last season: a quarterback who can execute the game plan and protect the ball. If Iowa can find that in the transfer portal, that would be a success.
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Sources 2/ https://www.desmoinesregister.com/story/sports/college/iowa/football/2024/04/23/iowa-football-qb-deacon-hill-enters-transfer-portal/73423707007/ The mention sources can contact us to remove/changing this article |
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