IOWA CITY — Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester met with the media on Tuesday and shared the latest on injured quarterback Mark Gronowski.
Lester, who, along with defensive coordinator Phil Parker and special teams coordinator LeVar Woods, traditionally holds press conferences during the Hawkeyes’ bye week, offered little in the way of concrete news about the program’s starting quarterback.
“The encouraging news is they, all those guys who are banged up, are going into a bye week,” Lester said. “… All injured players are working hard to get back. We don’t know Mark’s status yet. It is cloudy. We don’t need to know though because it is a bye week. Next week, same bad time, same bad chat, you’ll have the head ball coach standing up here. He can tell you more about it as we find out more.”
Gronowski exited Iowa’s 20-15 loss to Indiana early in the fourth quarter after landing awkwardly on his right leg while scrambling on a third down. Hank Brown took over under center for the Hawkeyes’ final three drives of the contest.
After the game, Ferentz said Iowa turned to Brown because Gronowski did not feel he could decelerate.
Later, when pressed on Gronowski’s availability for next week’s matchup with Wisconsin, Lester said he hoped the South Dakota State transfer had a shot to play.
“It’s cloudy, but he’s rehabbing,” Lester said.
Lester also chuckled and rapped on the lectern, as if to say “knock on wood,” when asked if it were potentially a season-ending injury.
Neither Gronowski nor any of Iowa’s starters practice on Tuesday in the Hawkeyes’ return to practice according to Lester.
“We ran 56 plays today with our guys, the twos and the (developmental) guys and guys that haven’t been in there a ton,” Lester said. “It’s been a lot of fun for us to get those guys out there. None of the ones got any reps today.”
Should Gronowski miss an extended period of time, Brown would take over under center. Lester expressed confidence in the Auburn transfer after Brown disappointed himself when unexpectedly thrust into action against the Hoosiers.
“I’m sure he would tell you he wished he played better,” Lester said. “Everyone does. His feet were a little giddy. Made a couple of big throws. Missed a couple I’m sure he wants back. He was going to the right places. We just got to get his feet underneath him. He has such great feet, calm feet. That’s one of the reasons he had a pretty good spring and into fall camp. … Any quarterback that goes in there for the first time — they need to calm down and relax a little bit. I thought he did that. He made some good plays, but he has to improve.”
Lester also placed an emphasis on taking full advantage of the bye week to get all of Iowa’s quarterbacks ready as they face the uncertainty of Gronowski’s health.
“(Hank Brown) and (Jeremy Hecklinski) had a great day today,” Lester said. “Heck hasn’t been here very long, but he’s getting more comfortable with what we’re doing. Back to this week, this is a fun week for me to have those guys take a ton of reps and see where they’re at, and they both need them because they don’t get as many.
“… It’s a huge week. I can tell you this about Hank. Hank at the end of spring ball was really humming. You know, started a little bit slow this camp, and then really started pushing Mark at one point once his feet got back to comfortable again. Heck is a great little player now. He’s tough. He’s got a little swagger to him. He reminds me of when I played, like a little gunslinger. He’s aggressive. He just wasn’t here very long, and now he’s been here. So it’s fun to have two guys that have a ton of talent, that don’t have a ton of experience, but they have a ton of talent. They just need to be around it and hear it.”
The Hawkeyes (3-2, 1-1 Big Ten) travel to Wisconsin to face the Badgers (2-2, 0-1 Big Ten) on Saturday, Oct. 11 at 6 p.m. with broadcast coverage provided by Fox Sports 1 and the Hawkeye Radio Network.
An injury to starting quarterback Mark Gronowski looms large as Iowa heads into a bye week after its 11th straight loss to a ranked foe.
Iowa let an upset over Indiana slip through its fingers as an interception, injury and a pair of miscues to end each half allowed the Hoosiers to steal a win.
As Indiana attempted to kneel out the clock on a road win over Iowa, an odd sequence took place which resulted in the Hoosiers taking a safety as time expired.
Ethan Petrik is a University of Iowa beat writer for the Lee Enterprises network. Follow him on X or send him an email at ethan.petrik@wcfcourier.com.
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Ethan Petrik
University of Iowa Athletics Beat Reporter
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