Cade McNamara officially announces transfer to Iowa

Cade McNamara made it official Thursday night after entering the transfer portal earlier this week. The former Michigan quarterback is on his way to Iowa City.

McNamara confirmed his decision to transfer to Iowa with a photoshopped picture of himself in a Hawkeyes uniform. He also had two words to describe his decision.

“New beginning,” he wrote to caption the photo.

New beginning #Hawkeyes pic.twitter.com/qrK2PJY4NX

— Cade McNamara (@Cademac_12) December 2, 2022

McNamara will provide an instant jolt to a struggling Iowa offense, which was led by quarterback Spencer Petras this year. The Hawkeyes rank 13th in the Big Ten in passing offense and are tied for 12th in scoring offense. Now, they’re getting a quarterback who not only has proven to play at a high level, but also has proven his ability to lead a team to the College Football Playoff.

He helped lead Michigan to the CFP last year as the starting quarterback, throwing for 2,576 yards and 15 touchdowns. However, he lost the starting job to J.J. McCarthy this season and eventually underwent season-ending surgery for a leg injury.

In his career at Michigan, McNamara played in 21 games, completing 63.1% of his passes and throwing for more than 3000 yards. He threw 21 touchdowns to seven interceptions.

Iowa, which spent much of the 2022 season maligned for its lack of offense, now gets an upgrade at quarterback for potentially multiple seasons to come. With the level of defensive success Iowa has sustained, McNamara could provide enough of a bump to have the Hawkeyes comfortably a Big Ten West contender.

McNamara played high school football at Reno (Nev.) Damonte Ranch, where he was rated as a four-star recruit. He was the No. 278 overall prospect and No. 13 quarterback in the 2019 cycle, according to the On3 Consensus, a complete and equally weighted industry-generated average that utilizes all four major recruiting media companies.