IOWA CITY — Kirk Ferentz reminds himself not to overreact to one practice, which is a smart approach to take if you’re the head coach of a college football team.
That’s why it’s not surprising that, despite a sensational outing by Jeremy Hecklinski during Kids Day at Kinnick on Aug. 15, Ferentz didn’t change his tone about Iowa’s quarterback competition.
When asked to evaluate the quarterback play at Kids’ Day, Ferentz redirected his answer to include all of fall camp, not just Saturday.
“I’d look at them over nine days,” Ferentz said. “I think they’ve done some good things and some things that got to get better, like every position. It’s clearly cloudy right now.”
But while Ferentz won’t make any grand proclamations, the results at Kids Day were resounding.
As Iowa’s quarterback continues to wear on, Hecklinski thoroughly outplayed Hank Brown — and it wasn’t even close.
It’s not unusual for quarterbacks to look underwhelming in these Kids Day or spring practice-type settings. Over the last few years, there have been some troubling Kids Day performances at quarterback. But Hecklinski was quite the opposite.
Take your pick of adjectives — poised, comfortable, confident — Hecklinski was all of it and more. Unofficially, Hecklinski finished the day 17-for-25 passing for 205 yards and five touchdowns.
Hecklinski’s performance featured a healthy mix of accurate short passes and deeper shots. He showed great touch and was in a rhythm that made the passing game look easy, something that has been a struggle for the Hawkeyes in recent memory.
He hit tight end DJ Vonnahme for two touchdowns. The first was for 23 yards and the second was for 37 yards. Vonnahme, who burst onto the scene in the latter stages last season, looks the part of a star entering the 2026 campaign.
Hecklinski also connected with Evan James for a pair of touchdowns, one of which came in a red-zone scenario. The Furman transfer was one of the stars of the day on the offensive side of the ball, along with Hecklinski, Vonnahme and running back L.J. Phillips Jr. It’s not difficult to see how Phillips rushed for nearly 2,000 yards at South Dakota last season. He has a low center of gravity and runs with power.
Not only did Hecklinski produce a lot of positive plays, but he also did not have any disastrous ones. He got through the day without any interceptions. On multiple occasions, he wisely threw the ball away when he didn’t see any open windows, instead of forcing a bad decision. That’s also a credit to Iowa’s offensive line, which protected Hecklinski well.
“That’s part of the job description: You’ve got to be smart,” Ferentz said. “There are times when you take chances, but you need to know when those times are. As a rule, you don’t want to be taking risks that you don’t need to take, at least unless it’s at the end of the half, something like that. He’s doing good. He’s improving.”
On the other side of the quarterback competition, Brown had a rather rough outing. Unofficially, Brown was 9-for-21 for 42 yards and no scores. His accuracy and touch were not close to Hecklinski’s. Brown had multiple passes batted down at the line of scrimmage. At one point, James was open for what would’ve been a long touchdown, but Brown overthrew him.
Brown’s performance did have some positives, but they were far and few between.
For one, Brown didn’t turn the ball over. The Hawkeyes didn’t throw an interception Saturday, which was an encouraging showing of ball security, but it also meant the defense didn’t make any splash plays, which is unusual.
And two, Brown looked mobile when operating outside of the pocket and showed an ability to extend plays with his legs. One of his best plays of the day came when he evaded pressure and scrambled for a significant gain.
Beyond the battle between Hecklinski and Brown, second-year quarterbacks Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald also had some nice moments. It was far and away the most comfortable Sullivan and Fitzgerald have looked during game-like settings in front of fans since joining the program. Quarterback development has been an issue in the Iowa program, so seeing younger signal-callers in the pipeline take steps forward was a welcome sight.
“He’s really what you’d expect,” Ferentz said of Sullivan. “He’s been here now and he’s a lot more confident. A year ago, a lot of processing. It’s a hard position to play. He’s a lot more confident with what he’s doing now. He’s more decisive. He needs work, too. But it’s encouraging to watch him grow.”
In an unexpected turn, Iowa’s offense got the better of the defense at Kids Day. That was in part due to Hecklinski. The Hawkeyes’ offense was humming with Hecklinski on the field and playmakers like Vonnahme, James, Phillips and Reece Vander Zee contributing. It inspires some hope for what Iowa’s offense could look like this season.
But there are still a lot of unknowns, including who will actually win the starting quarterback job.
“Every day’s been different, basically,” Ferentz said when asked if Hecklinski has been playing this well all fall camp. “So it’s been going back and forth. Kind of what you’d expect.”
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at TTachman@usatodayco.com
This article originally appeared on Hawk Central: How good was Iowa’s Jeremy Hecklinski on Saturday? A closer look.
Reporting by Tyler Tachman, Des Moines Register / Hawk Central
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By Tyler Tachman, Des Moines Register | USA TODAY Network
