Kirk Ferentz evaluates spark Marco Lainez brought to Iowa's offense in bowl game

It was a long and difficult Citrus Bowl for Iowa. In particular, on the offensive side of the ball, there weren’t many great takeaways for head coach Kirk Ferentz. Despite that, he did see good things out of quarterback Marco Lainez.

Lainez came into the game to replace Deacon Hill. He didn’t provide enough of a spark to get the Iowa offense into the endzone, but Ferentz did see a change in the offense when he was on the field.

“Yeah, I don’t know if it’s critical when we thought of it,” Kirk Ferentz said. “We came into the game considering it. Marco’s done a really good job. The improvement he’s made, he basically started with us in August, so the improvement he’s made has been really impressive. He’s a great young guy. Great attitude.”

Marco Lainez, undeniably, struggled to throw the ball on Tennessee‘s defense. He only completed two of seven passes for four yards. However, he did manage to lead the Hawkeyes in rushing with 51 yards on just six carries.

“It is hard to practice three quarterbacks. He certainly got work as the season went on, but he still has a lot of learning to do, a lot of time in front of him and all those types of things,” Ferentz said.

“Yeah, he went and competed like you think. He has some things to learn. All this will be good experience for him. Something to draw upon and does not burn a year of eligibility, so that is a good thing.”

Just a freshman, it will be interesting to see how Lainez develops for Ferentz and Iowa. He came to the Hawkeyes as a three-star recruit and the 898th-ranked player overall in the 2023 cycle, according to the On3 Industry Ranking. He was the 51st-ranked quarterback in that class.

In the end, the spark Marco Lainez gave Iowa wasn’t enough and the Hawkeyes lost 35-0. Iowa was shut out in both the Big Ten Championship Game and the Citrus Bowl.

Kirk Ferentz clarifies comments regarding offensive coordinator search

In the lead-up to the Citrus Bowl, Kirk Ferentz spoke about the offensive coordinator search, saying he was focused on the game but that he had made a few phone calls. Since then, he took the time to clarify those comments.

“I said I’ve made three phone calls. I never said I talked to three candidates. I was not referencing anybody that’s been a head coach in the Big Ten. I was actually referencing a coordinator that’s come into our conference sometime in the last decade. There was a quote in Einstein’s office — that said, ‘Not everything that counts can be counted, and not everything that can be counted counts.’ That was my point,” Ferentz said.

“The person I’m thinking about, specifically, had a lot of passing yards on his resumé, pretty well-known nationally. You dig a little deeper, you look at what the win total was where he’s been, and I think that is an important statistic.”