After Jeremy Hecklinski’s excellent performance against Washington, there’s even more fuel to the discussion about Iowa‘s starting quarterback job.
Hecklinski, who started in place of the injured Hank Brown, went 14-of-19 for 202 yards with three touchdowns and led the Hawkeyes to a decisive 41-24 road win on Oct. 9.
There has been near-constant measurement between the two. A good performance by Brown doesn’t just mean a good performance by Brown. It also means comparing him to Hecklinski. The same goes the other way around.
While part of the story from Washington is the fact that Iowa put on an offensive clinic, it’s also about whether Hecklinski did enough to keep the starting job and how to weigh his body of work versus Brown’s.
But those who get wrapped up in that debate might actually be missing the more important point.
Iowa has not one, but two quarterbacks who have shown they are capable of leading the team to victory.
“We felt like we had two good guys,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “Now we’ve seen them both out on the field do some good things. So it’s a really good situation to have.”
The race between Brown and Hecklinski has been a long and winding road, stretching back to last season, when they competed for the backup job. It took game action this season for the starting quarterback job to be resolved. After three games, Brown was officially named the starter.
It would’ve been easy for Hecklinski to check out mentally or sulk in disappointment. But that wasn’t the case.
“As I said last week about Jeremy, his preparation has been really good the last couple weeks,” Ferentz said. “I think that showed up last Saturday (against Ohio State). I said six weeks ago, I felt like we had two guys that have improved a lot and are good quarterbacks.”
When Brown suffered an AC joint sprain in his right (throwing) shoulder against Ohio State, Hecklinski stepped right in and delivered Iowa’s lone touchdown-scoring drive of the game. He went a perfect 5-of-5 passing with a touchdown.
That carried over into Washington.
After starting 2-for-7, Hecklinski completed his final 12 passes of the game, three of which were touchdowns. He didn’t make any head-scratching decisions, nor did he commit any turnovers, something Ferentz covets. Hecklinski’s passes looked clean, crisp and confident. It was reminiscent of his Kids’ Day at Kinnick performance, when he diced Iowa’s secondary in an intersquad scrimmage. This time, he did it against Washington on a bigger stage.
“(Offensive coordinator Tim Lester) says it all the time: Shooters shoot,” Hecklinski said. “I’m going to go out there and shoot my shot every time I can. Nothing to lose. Let’s go win this game.”
Iowa has reached the halfway mark of the season with an overall record of 5-1. There’s still so much this Hawkeye team can accomplish, including making the College Football Playoff. Iowa got through a demanding three-game stretch — Michigan, Ohio State and Washington — with two wins, which didn’t seem likely entering the season.
“I’m just guessing the experts probably didn’t have us doing too favorably during that three-week stretch,” Ferentz said.
It’s worth noting that Iowa’s wins against Michigan and Washington came with different starting quarterbacks.
The first was with Brown, who orchestrated a clutch 91-yard drive and hit Reece Vander Zee for the game-winning touchdown on the final play of the game. That was the first road start of Brown’s college career. The second was with Hecklinski, who didn’t look a bit out of place in his first career start.
“I think it’s great,” linebacker Preston Ries said about the fact that Iowa has two quarterbacks who can lead the team to victory. “We have multiple weapons out there. They’re always ready. Whoever’s name is called. Just the next man up mentality. So it’s good to see.”
More: Likes, dislikes from Iowa football’s offensive clinic vs. Washington
Clearly, this has not been a conventional arrangement. The competition extending into game action isn’t common. Nor is the fact that, after briefly having an answer, it still might not be resolved halfway through the regular season.
But it has not hurt Iowa. In fact, it has actually helped the Hawkeyes. The win over Washington is a prime example of that. If there’s an injury, like the one Brown is dealing with, Iowa has another quarterback who can step right in.
Ferentz has consistently stated his belief in both quarterbacks. Here’s something to consider: What if Ferentz is right? What if Iowa does have two high-caliber quarterbacks?
“I’ll go back to what we said in the early part of this whole thing,” Ferentz said. “It’s really close. We’ve got two guys playing well. Two good things came out of tonight from that standpoint. Heck played really well. He did a great job out there. And then the other thing is that Hank didn’t go backwards. He was cleared to play, but it just wouldn’t have been smart.”
It’s natural to get caught up in the conversation about who Iowa’s starting quarterback should be. But maybe it should be less about Hecklinski vs. Brown and more about Iowa beating its opponent.
The good news? Both have shown they can do it.
“It’s a lot,” Hecklinski said of his emotions after the win, knowing what he went through in the quarterback battle. “And obviously, ups and downs at the position. That’s just how college football is. I just want the Hawks to win. So however, we do it, if the Hawks win, I’m good.”
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This article originally appeared on Hawk Central: Why you might be looking at Iowa football’s QB dilemma the wrong way