Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said he's not ready to name a starting quarterback for Saturday's opener against Northern Illinois but added that both Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown would play.
"I think we probably need more evidence, and the next step is to see how guys play in ball games," Ferentz said Tuesday. "We've been in that situation before, so we'll let that play out as it goes. Hard to predict how it's going to go. We'll wait and see."
Hecklinski transferred to Iowa last year after taking three total snaps his freshman season in 2024 at Wake Forest. Brown spent the 2023 and 2024 seasons at Auburn, starting twice for the Tigers, before joining Iowa last year.
The two are vying to replace last year's starter, Mark Gronowski, who quarterbacked the Hawkeyes to nine wins.
"To really say one is this far in front of the other, it's not fair at this point," Ferentz said. "We'll probably have more evidence after Saturday, but I think we probably want to keep an open mind, too, and let things play out. If it's obvious, it's obvious. If not, we'll just keep riding with it."
