The last time an Iowa quarterback threw for more than 2,000 yards in a season was Nate Stanley back in 2019.

Heading into 2025, though, the Hawkeyes brought in transfer quarterback Mark Gronowski, and they are confident in his ability to lead this offense.

Mark Gronowski (OurQuadCities.com)

“I kind of bring it back to when I was a freshman coming into South Dakota State. I ended up winning the starting job there, and I was a freshman. I didn’t know anybody. I had to go build those relationships, and kind of taken that same approach here,” Gronowski said. “(I’m) building those relationships, not stepping too far out of my boundary, and trying to build that camaraderie with the guys on the team. Once you build those relationships and build that rapport you can kind of start holding people accountable, and they’ll start holding you accountable. It makes everyone better. That level of competition rises up around the team, and again, I’m able to start speaking in front of the team, start talking to more guys and have that outreach amongst everybody.”

For Gronowski, creating that team rapport goes beyond Iowa City.

“I ended up taking a couple of guys down to Dallas to go train and spend a weekend out there,” Gronowski said. “Just build a little camaraderie and also understand their routes and how they are running things. It was really good and beneficial for us to have that time together.”

One of the receivers on that trip was Jacob Gill, Iowa’s receiving yards leader last season.

“We got a great opportunity to just spend time together off the field and get to know each other,” Gill said. “(We) spent the days working out and stuff, just getting timing down and stuff and connections down. Then off the field, ya know, spending time to get to know each other, backgrounds. We met a few months ago, so just getting to know ins and outs of each other and that just helps with communication.”

Gronowski isn’t afraid of competition. He took part in the Manning Passing Academy this summer.

“A great opportunity to meet with a bunch of the other quarterbacks from around the country and kind of learn from them, pick their brain, learn about their routines and then also being able to learn from the Mannings,” Gronowski said. “Just being able to ask questions to them, learn about their routine, learn about their pre-snap reads. I find a lot of benefits from that, and it was a great time down there.”