Cade McNamara pushes back on rumors
This week the rumor mill was churning fast and furious regarding Cade McNamara and his status with the Iowa football program.
McNamara sustained a concussion in the first half of the game against Northwestern. He was replaced by Brendan Sullivan, who finished that game and remained the starting quarterback against Wisconsin and UCLA before exiting the game against the Bruins with a sprained ankle. He was replaced by Jackson Stratton as McNamara had not been cleared to travel and return to action.
Which brings us to Monday and the release of the two deeps. During the bye week Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester had said on Tuesday that McNamara was working his way back and they were waiting for imaging on Sullivan’s ankle. Late in the week it was reported that Sullivan would miss the rest of the regular season due to the ankle injury.
The two deeps were released and McNamara was listed as the starter and Stratton as his backup. On Tuesday, Kirk Ferentz started walking things back with regard to McNamara. He said that he practiced on Sunday and had been cleared to play.
“Still processing back. He has been cleared to play, and whether or not he can play effectively or not, we will see.”
When we spoke to Iowa center Logan Jones on Tuesday during the players media session, he said that McNamara was naturally rusty at his first practice back.
From that point on the rumor mill starting churning that McNamara had quit the team, which he pushed back upon on Friday afternoon.
“It has come to my attention that members of the media are circulating rumors about my current status with the Iowa Football Team. These are ridiculous accusations and 100% false. My status is the same as it always been – a proud member of this football team.”
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It should be noted that the statement released by McNamara came from him personally and was not released by the University of Iowa.
He then went into greater detail about his issues recovering from the concussion.
“I have NOT been cleared to play yet,” he wrote, which seems to somewhat run counter to what his head coach said on Tuesday.
“I was cleared to participate in practice on Sunday but had an adverse reaction, which is common for someone coming out of protocol.”
He detailed doing lifting and attending meetings when he is able, but that he could not practice starting Monday. McNamara also said that he was unable to travel with the team to Maryland. But, he remained hopeful that with continued work with concussion doctors that he would be able to be under center for Iowa’s final home game against Nebraska.
Bottom line, according to McNamara he hasn’t left the program and he is still trying to return to the Hawkeye team, potentially as soon as next week. As for this week, Stratton will start with Marco Lainez back from a hand injury, serving as his backup, with true freshman Kyler Gerardy as the emergency third string signal caller.
