Confidence Is Key For New Iowa Hawkeyes QB Mark Gronowski

Mark Gronowski hasn't yet taken a D1 rep and he's still recovering from surgery. He's already talking like Iowa's starting quarterback, though.

Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski (11) lines up under center during a drill at practice Thursday, April 3, 2025 in Iowa City, Iowa. | Julia Hansen/Iowa City Press-Citizen / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

New Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski still has to get healthy enough to be able to play in the 2025 season. He has surgery on his right throwing shoulder in January to fix an issue that plagued him throughout the season last year at South Dakota State.

His biggest challenge this spring is getting back to full strength, though he did recently reveal that he's started throwing again. From there it's getting into the swing of offensive coordinator Tim Lester's system, which he borrowed from his time in the NFL as a senior analyst for the Green Bay Packers in 2023.

The good news, per Gronowski, is that he's already very familiar with Lester's NFL-like scheme, because it's similar to what he ran for the Jackrabbits. The reads and concepts are similar. It's just the language that he has to get down.

That takes time, of course, and it's hard to do when you're not actually playing or practicing the game. He has been getting mental reps this spring, though, watching what the quarterback does while standing behind the line of scrimmage in practice.

“It's been really beneficial overall,” Gronowski recently said, according to Chad Liestikow of The Des Moines Register. “Just going through all the footwork, going through all the handoffs, going through all the drop backs and even pointing to where I'm going to throw.”

Mental reps are great and all but ultimately Gronowski is going to have to go out there and win the starting job. He's the odds-on favorite to do it because he flashed superstar potential in four seasons at SDSU, but until he wins the job, this is all theory.

What he does have going for him — other than the back-to-back FCS national titles he won for the Jackrabbits in 2022 and 2023 — is the confidence of a championship-winning quarterback.

“The biggest thing as a quarterback is just being confident," he explained. "If you're confident in the huddle, you're calm in the huddle for everyone around you (it) can bring the confidence up around you. And then also just having that quick decision making, and that comes with confidence.”

Gronowski threw for 10,330 yards and 93 touchdowns while also rushing for 1,767 yards and 37 touchdowns in his South Dakota State career, so the expecations are high for him at Iowa.

Again, getting healthy is step one. The way he's talking right now before ever taking a DI snap suggests that he'll be just fine for the Hawkeyes thanks to his confidence, though.