IOWA CITY — Iowa football has landed another quarterback out of the transfer portal.
South Dakota State transfer Mark Gronowski has committed to the Hawkeyes.
Gronowski, who was also weighing pursuing a future in the NFL, will come to Iowa with one season of eligibility remaining.
Gronowski was a prolific player at the FCS level, throwing for more than 10,300 yards and rushing for more than 1,700 in his college career. His career passing touchdown-to-interception ratio is 93-to-20. He has also rushed for 37 touchdowns.
Not only was Gronowski a highly productive player, but he also helped lead winning teams. South Dakota State was back-to-back FCS national champions before failing to three-peat this season.
Gronowski has a long list of awards and accolades on his resume during his career at South Dakota State. Among them: Missouri Valley Football Conference Freshman of the Year, Phil Steele FCS Offensive Player of the Year and Walter Payton Award winner (given to the most outstanding offensive player in the FCS).
Gronowski excelled in each of his four seasons playing for the Jackrabbits. He threw for more than 20 touchdowns in three of those four seasons. The one that he didn’t, Gronowski had a touchdown-to-interception ratio of 15-3. He rushed for no fewer than seven touchdowns in each of those four campaigns.
Gronowski’s mobility is a weapon, something that Iowa quarterbacks have lacked the last few seasons other than Brendan Sullivan. Gronowski gives Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester a compelling skillset to work with.
Gronowski checks a lot of boxes for the Hawkeyes, not the least of which is experience. He has been around college football for five seasons (he missed one due to injury). Gronowski has appeared in 55 career games.
Gronowski has already played at Kinnick Stadium. The Jackrabbits took on the Hawkeyes in the 2022 season opener. Iowa won that matchup 7-3.
Landing Gronowski is a major transfer portal splash that significantly brightens the outlook of Iowa’s 2025 season.
The addition of Gronowski continues changes in Iowa’s quarterbacks room ahead of the 2025 season.
Cade McNamara and Marco Lainez entered the transfer portal. Iowa also moved quarterback prospect James Resar to receiver before he entered the transfer portal.
Iowa signed a pair of quarterbacks in its 2025 recruiting class — Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald (preferred walk-on).
Early in the transfer portal cycle, Iowa landed a commitment from Auburn quarterback transfer Hank Brown. He appeared in five games during his career with the Tigers, and he was 34-of-52 passing (65.4%) for 535 yards with six touchdowns and three picks.
Signing Brown didn’t stop Iowa from pursuing more help at the quarterback position for 2025. The Hawkeyes now have arguably more talent in the quarterback room than they’ve had over the last few seasons.
“Coach Lester’s super transparent,” Brendan Sullivan said prior to the Music City Bowl about Iowa’s transfer portal quarterback pursuits. “Obviously, you see it on social media, too. But he’s super transparent. That’s the name of the game these days. You’ve got to compete. If you’re scared of competing then you shouldn’t be playing the game. And so I’m here, staying, playing for Iowa. And I’m going to continue to compete to the best of my abilities.”
Since the departure of Nate Stanley, Iowa’s quarterback play has not been where it needs to be. This season it was arguably the biggest factor holding back Iowa’s offense. The Hawkeyes made meaningful strides under Lester, largely due to running back Kaleb Johnson and the offensive line. Though injuries didn’t help the cause, quarterback play fell flat.
“Not up to par,” Lester said in November of Iowa’s passing game. “I would like to use the word terrible. Because we have a long way to go.”
In a short period of time, the Hawkeyes have injected hope for what quarterback play could look like in 2025. Brendan Sullivan has started multiple games for a Big Ten program in each of the last three seasons. Brown is still relatively early in his development process but has upside. Jackson Stratton started the final two games of the 2024 regular season for Iowa.
And now, that group is headlined by Gronowski.
From Spencer Petras to Deacon Hill to McNamara, Iowa has not found a solution at the quarterback position since Stanley. McNamara was once viewed as a potential savior but that turned out to be far from the case, serving as a cautionary tale to refrain from full judgment until hype turns into actual production on the field.
But Gronowski is unlike anyone Iowa has had over the last few seasons and has a legitimate chance to finally put Iowa’s quarterback shortcomings to bed.
Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com
