The Hawkeyes began spring practice Wednesday, essentially kicking off the 2023-2024 season. The session will run for roughly a month and new faces are getting a chance to get reps in, about five months before the start of the season. But, we got news on a few fronts today.
Let’s start with the positive: We have a timetable on Cade McNamara’s recovery from knee surgery.
“He’s close,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “He’s comfortable, and we’re going to let them participate in that. He’s not going to move around a heck of a lot right now. I think we’re probably a month and a half to two months away. He’s learning the system, but also getting to communicate and do some throwing with the guys.”
Obviously, Iowa’s new QB1 still needs time to heal and is not taking hits. It looks like Cade has a chance to get back to 100% at the tail end of spring practice, which ends April 22. But he’s already starting to build chemistry with the rest of the offense.
“Cade, just looking across the field at them, sure struck me as a leader and watching them on film going into that struck me as a leader of a really good football team,” Ferentz said. “So that’s kind of an added plus when you can have somebody join your team like that, who’s got that experience already.”
We also have some comments, or lack thereof, on the lawsuit against him and the Iowa football program. Here’s what he said in his first public appearance since his statement.
“I think that’s been resolved,” Ferentz said. “There’s nothing more I can say about it. Our focus has been on what’s in front of us.”
As for his statement, he added, “It’s my opinion and I was very involved in it and worked very closely with the legal experts on the whole thing. It really doesn’t matter what I think.”
And, we also received comment on the Brian Ferentz contract amendment announced over a month ago. Apparently, he had nothing to do with it.
“That was really between Gary and Brian,” Kirk Ferentz said. “Gary supervises Brian for obvious reasons. That’s really the same thing — it’s in the books. We’re moving forward. That is not something we’re thinking about.”
And with that, welcome to 2023 everyone.
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