Iowa Football: Four things to know about new Hawkeyes’ quarterback Brendan Sulliva

Iowa football has added a new quarterback to the room.

On Wednesday, Northwestern transfer quarterback Brendan Sullivan announced his commitment to Iowa.

He has two years of eligibility remaining.

This was a much-needed boost to the quarterback room for Iowa as it provides depth and an insurance policy at the backup quarterback spot behind Cade McNamara.

Sullivan has Big Ten experience and has been successful in a number of starts, which is a major step up.

Here are four things to know about Sullivan.

Iowa wanted to go after a quarterback in the transfer portal with experience and of all the quarterbacks in the transfer portal who seemed realistic, Sullivan checked all of the boxes.

The 6-foot-3, 225-pound quarterback completed 69% of his passes with the Wildcats, totaling 1,303 yards and 10 touchdowns with five interceptions over the course of two seasons. He also showcased an ability to gain yards with his legs, rushing the ball 129 times for 257 yards and two touchdowns the past two seasons.

He has two years of eligibility remaining and has started 12 games for the Wildcats the last two years.

Sullivan had a PFF passing grade of 58.6 last season. The year prior, he had a passing grade of 61.7, with a completion percentage of 74 percent as he completed 71-of-96 passes for 589 yards, four touchdowns, and three interceptions.

In addition to Cade McNamara, Iowa has more starting quarterback experience in the Big Ten in the room, which the Hawkeyes needed with McNamara’s injury history. Sullivan will also make the room better and will have a chance to start in 2024, while also being the frontrunner to start in 2025.

Sullivan’s best performance last season was against Maryland. He completed 16-of-23 passes for 265 yards, two touchdowns, and also ran for 56 yards while being sacked five times.

That’ll do.

Sullivan also had a broken sternum in the 2022 season after taking a big hit in the pocket.

Sullivan is a product of Davison, Michigan, and was a three-star quarterback coming out of high school.

Sullivan was mainly being recruited by MAC schools until Indiana and Northwestern came in and offered, and he eventually took the offer from the Wildcats.

One of the MAC schools that was recruiting him heavily was Western Michigan, and the head coach of Western Michigan at the time was now Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester.

Lester has seen Sullivan as a great fit in Western Michigan’s offense and now he is the type of quarterback to help put the Iowa quarterback room in a better place under the direction of Lester.

Here is Sullivan’s high school scouting report, via Allen Trieu of 247Sports.

“Sullivan offers a lot of tools here. He has above average size, is a good athlete who can make plays with his feet and solid arm talent. On top of that, I really like the intangibles of a guy who can be a leader on the football field and on the basketball court. He took a team who had never won a state title to the Division I state title. That definitely counts for something. Having seen him throw in person, I always wondered why more Power Five schools had not jumped in. Indiana and Northwestern were smart and the Wildcats get a guy here who I actually compare some to their recent transfer Peyton Ramsey, who is also a guy with some athleticism and intangibles.”