On3’s Andy Staples features Iowa’s Cade McNamara among second-year transfer QBs poised for leap

Second-year transfer quarterbacks have a history of thriving and morphing into some of the best signal-callers nationally.

Examples include Oklahoma‘s Baker Mayfield in 2016, LSU‘s Joe Burrow in 2019 and last season’s top three Heisman Trophy votegetters. That group was Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels of LSU, Michael Penix Jr. of Washington and Bo Nix of Oregon.

Heading into the 2024 season, that list will include Iowa starting quarterback Cade McNamara. Could McNamara be poised for a breakthrough season with the Hawkeyes?

On3’s Andy Staples thinks McNamara just might be due for that type of signature season. Staples included McNamara among his second-year transfer quarterbacks poised for a leap.

McNamara is different from the other players on this list in two ways. First, he’s the only one who led a team to a conference title and a four-team College Football Playoff berth as a starter. He did that at Michigan in 2022. He also didn’t get much of a first year at his new school. McNamara injured his hamstring in preseason camp, slowing him during the early season.

Then he tore his ACL in game five, ending his season. A healthy McNamara plus a healthy Luke Lachey plus new offensive coordinator Tim Lester might allow McNamara to make the leap and might stop us from making all those easy jokes about Iowa’s offense. – Staples, On3.

Dating back to his initial non-contact injury during last year’s Kids’ Day at Kinnick, it felt like McNamara never truly got up to full speed during the 2023 season.

Of course, his 2023 campaign ended with the ACL injury he sustained to his left knee early in Iowa’s 23-16 win over Michigan State.

If he’s fully healthy, McNamara does bring that Big Ten championship and CFP pedigree to the Hawkeyes. The 6-foot-1, 210 pound quarterback passed for 505 yards and four…

Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/on3-andy-staples-features-iowa-011517392.html

Author : Hawkeyes Wire

Publish date : 2024-08-02 01:15:17

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