IOWA CITY - Iowa’s quarterback situation is still up in the air, and the answer may not come until late in the week.
Hank Brown is listed as “questionable” for No. 20 Iowa’s trip to Washington on Oct. 9 after leaving the Ohio State game in the third quarter with a sprained AC joint in his throwing shoulder. Brown said the injury happened when he was driven into the turf and landed on his shoulder, and he said the recovery is moving in the right direction.
“I got landed on,” Brown said. “My shoulder was underneath me.
Their defensive lineman landed on me and put some pressure on my shoulder ... I'm just continuing to get better, and it's progressing a lot.”
Even so, there’s not much time before Friday night’s game in Seattle, and Brown has missed significant practice time since the injury. Ferentz didn’t sound ready to pencil him in.
“Based on what I know thus far, it'd be foolish to say he's starting,” Ferentz said Tuesday. “If he does, great.”
Brown said he’s been working with Iowa’s training staff to determine whether he can go against Washington, and he was able to throw during Tuesday’s practice. Still, he made it clear the process isn’t finished, especially with a bye week coming right after the game.
“I think there's still a process with it,” Brown said. “I wouldn't say we're fully back to normal by any means, but we're making progress a ton.”
He added that the final call belongs to the coaches, and that he’s taking the situation one day at a time.
“I'd say there's definitely still a little bit of question, for sure,” Brown said. “But I'm just trying to focus on taking it day-by-day and be able to just do everything I can on my part to be able to be prepared.”
If Brown can’t go, the spotlight shifts to Jeremy Hecklinski. The third-year quarterback has spent the preseason and the first two weeks of the season locked in a battle with Brown for the starting job. He replaced Brown in the fourth quarter against Ohio State and completed all five of his passes for a touchdown.
Hecklinski still hasn’t made his first collegiate start, but Ferentz said he has been pleased with how the younger quarterback has handled the backup role.
“I know he's had to be disappointed the way things turned out, but it's a real credit, I think, to him and his character the way he's practiced,” Ferentz said. “That's what he should do, but it's not always that easy to do what you're supposed to do.
He's really practiced well. I think that showed up on Saturday.”
Iowa and Washington will begin releasing player availability reports Tuesday under Big Ten rules, with updates coming daily until the game-day report is posted two hours before kickoff at 6 p.m. CT.
Ferentz also offered a few other injury updates. Defensive back Tyler Brown is “out for a while” after missing Saturday. He had already been sidelined for most of training camp, missed the first two games, then played against Northern Iowa and at Michigan before appearing to get hurt again.
Defensive back Ty Hudkins is questionable for Friday after playing in four games this season and making four tackles against Ohio State.
Ferentz said defensive back Zach Lutmer should be available after dealing with cramping in the second half against the Buckeyes.
Defensive back Deshaun Lee, who Ferentz also said left the game with cramping, said Tuesday that he tweaked his hip against Ohio State. He also said he has been practicing with the team.
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