Iowa Hawkeyes emerge as possible destination for Cade McNamara amid transfer portal announcement

Cade McNamara has officially entered the transfer portal, and he’ll have no shortage of fascinating suitors.

According to Bruce Feldman of FOX and The Athletic, the soon-to-be former Michigan quarterback could even be courted by some of the Wolverines’ Big Ten opponents, and the Iowa Hawkeyes are one to keep an eye on.

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“Iowa is a school to keep an eye on for former Michigan starting QB Cade McNamara,” tweeted Feldman. “Will be interesting to see his next move.”

In 2021, McNamara led the Wolverines to a Big Ten Championship and College Football Playoff berth. He threw for 2,576 yards, 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. McNamara also led Michigan to its first win over Ohio State since 2011 by completing 13-of-19 passes for 159 yards. 

McNamara also saw playing time during the 2020 season, during which he threw for 425 yards and five touchdowns. He started 16 consecutive games from 2020 to the 2022 season-opener. 

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.

To keep up with the latest players on the move, check out On3’s Transfer Portal wire.

Transfer portal background information

The NCAA Transfer Portal, which covers every NCAA sport at the Division I, II and III levels, is a private database with names of student-athletes who wish to transfer. It is not accessible to the public.

The process of entering the portal is done through a school’s compliance office. Once a player provides written notification of an intent to transfer, the office enters the player’s name in the database and everything is off and running. The compliance office has 48 hours to comply with the player’s request and that request cannot be refused.

Once a player’s name shows up in the portal, other schools can contact the player. Players can change their minds at any point and withdraw from the portal. However, once a player enters the portal, the current scholarship no longer has to be honored. In other words, if a player enters the portal but decides to stay, the school is not obligated to provide a scholarship anymore.

The database is a normal database, sortable by a variety of topics, including (of course) sport and name. A player’s individual entry includes basic details such as contact info, whether the player was on scholarship and whether the player is transferring as a graduate student.

A player can ask that a “do not contact” tag be placed on the report. In those instances, the players don’t want to be contacted by schools unless they’ve initiated the communication.

The portal has been around since Oct. 15, 2018 and the new calendar cycle within the portal begins each August. For example, the 2021-22 cycle started Aug. 1. During the 2020-21 cycle, 2,626 FBS football players entered the transfer portal (including walk-ons). That comes after 1,681 entered during the 2019-20 cycle and 1,709 during the abbreviated 2018-19 cycle. In comparison, 1,833 Division I basketball players entered the portal during the 2020-21 cycle after totals of 1,020 in 2019-20 and 1,063 in 2018-19.

On3’s Drew Schott contributed to this article.