Cade McNamara is officially leaving the Big Ten behind. On Saturday, the former Michigan and Iowa quarterback revealed where he'll transfer to for the 2025 season.
McNamara started his college career at Michigan. In 2021, he completed 64.2 percent of his passes for 2,576 yards with 15 touchdowns and six interceptions. Though he helped the Wolverines make the College Football Playoff that season, he was replaced by J.J. McCarthy in 2022. Towards the end of the year, he transferred to Iowa in hopes of revitalizing his career. Unfortunately for the 6-foot-1 quarterback, that didn't happen.
In 2023, McNamara suffered a season-ending knee injury. In two seasons with the Hawkeyes, he had 1,522 passing yards with 10 touchdowns and eight interceptions. Last month, he announced that he would enter the transfer portal for the second time in his career.
So, where is McNamara heading? According to Pete Nakos of On3, the former Big Ten quarterback is signing with East Tennessee State.
Instead of congratulating McNamara on this move, college football fans mocked him for joining a program in the Southern Conference.
"Damn. What a downfall," one fan said in response to the news.
"Time to fill out some job applications lil bro," another fan tweeted.
"Tough to watch this kind of career trajectory," a social media user wrote.
"Sad downgrade," a fourth person said.
East Tennessee State went 7-5 this past season. Jaylen King was the top quarterback for the Buccaneers, throwing for 1,536 yards with nine touchdowns and 11 interceptions. He also had 422 yards and five scores on the ground.
In theory, McNamara should be able to thrive at East Tennessee State. After all, he won't be facing Big Ten defenses on a weekly basis anymore.
At the end of the day though, no one expected McNamara to finish his college career in the Southern Conference.
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