Mark Gronowski Commits to Iowa

Mark Gronowski announced Tuesday afternoon that he was committing to Iowa Football. The Naperville, Ill. native also was considering entering the NFL Draft. 

The Hawkeyes landed Auburn transfer Hank Brown last month. The program then missed on former Penn State signal caller Beau Pribula after getting him on campus. He ended up at Missouri.

Gronowksi entered the portal late last month after the two-time defending FCS champion Jackrabbits were eliminated in the semifinals. He visited the Hawkeyes last week. Early NFL Draft projections showed him being a mid-to-late-round pick.

The Walter Payton Award, the FCS equivalent of the Heisman Trophy, went to Gronowski last year. Posting a 49-6 career record as the SDSU starter, he's thrown for 10,903 yards with 93 against 20 interceptions. He's added 1,767 and 37 scores on the ground.

Gronowski (6-3, 230) isn't leaving SDSU or putting the NFL dream on hold to be Iowa's backup. In addition to a large sum of NIL money, he must have been given some assurance that he'd be No. 1 on the two-deep, much like what happened when Iowa landed Michigan transfer quarterback Cade McNamara before the 2023 season.

Adding the SDSU star could lead to departures from the Hawkeye QB room. The portal giveth and it taketh away.

Northwestern transfer Brendan Sullivan played behind center for all the 27-24 loss to Missouri in the Dec. 30 Music City Bowl. He was backed up by Colorado State transfer Jackson Stratton. Brown and incoming freshman Jimmy Sullivan joined the team for bowl practice.

Like Gronowski, Sullivan has one year of eligibility remaining. He said before the bowl game that he wanted to stay at Iowa even though the program was pursuing quarterbacks like Pribula in the portal.

Iowa slowed down SDSU and Gronowski during the 2022 season-opener at Kinnick Stadium. He completed 10 of 26 passes for 87 yards and had -21 rushing yards. The Hawkeyes won a defensive tussle, 7-3.

The Hawkeyes air attack has been in shambles the last several seasons. It bottomed out this year as they ranked 131 out of 133 FBS schools in passing offense.