Iowa Football Defense Gives First-Hand Look into Quarterback Competition

Will the Iowa Hawkeyes decide their starting quarterback during fall camp? For the sake of Iowa fans, this team, and my own sanity on this website, we can only hope.

Dragging this out to this point is borderline tough, but if this goes into the regular season, there are no rules anymore.

Who is winning the quarterback competition, though? Jeremy Hecklinski had the lead, but Hank Brown has since closed the gap. Zach Lutmer, Iowa's star defensive back, gave his first-hand insight into both.

Zach Lutmer discusses Iowa's quarterback competition

Iowa's defense has seen both of these two quarterbacks more than anyone else. If a group of players is to have insight, it's guys from this unit, and Zach Lutmer is the best one to provide that.

A veteran of this defense, he knows how to read offenses, read quarterbacks, and what to look for. At Big Ten Media Days, he gave some details about what Hecklinski and Brown bring to the table.

"I would say they are both different quarterbacks, and you are thinking different things at times when they are in there.

"Hank is a super relaxed, calm dude. He gets the job done. He's going to go out and throw the deep ball now. He has put that into his game. He's shown it throughout the spring.

"And Jeremy's the same way. He's always been that guy that's going to throw it deep, and he's going to make plays on his feet when he needs to.

They've both given us challenges through the spring, and it's super fun to see the battle and how close it is," Lutmer said about Iowa's quarterback competition.

What to take from Zach Lutmer's comments?

First and foremost, Zach Lutmer gave the best answer possible. It was a well-spoken answer commending both quarterbacks.

What stood out to me about his comments is his first mention about Hank Brown was Brown's deep ball, which is something not many have thought about.

Lutmer mentioning Hank Brown adding the deep ball to his arsenal is an intriguing prospect, which might make this quarterback competition closer than expected.

As for Jeremy Hecklinski, Lutmer mentioned his ability to extend plays with his feet and get yards on the ground when needed. We saw this aspect of quarterback play elevate Iowa's offense last year.

Does Jeremy Hecklinski's ability to move the ball on the ground as well as through the air give him the inside edge? My intuition says yes, ever so slightly.

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