Tim Lester discusses Hecklinski, Brown, future of QB position at Iowa
The Hawkeyes’ second-year offensive coordinator spoke ahead of the ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Vanderbilt, and quarterbacks were a big topic.
TAMPA, Fla. — Old-school baseball fans who remember the 1990s Atlanta Braves will appreciate the comparison that Iowa football offensive coordinator Tim Lester made when referring to Hawkeyes redshirt freshman quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski.
“I compare him to Greg Maddux,” Lester said Dec. 26, after Iowa’s first on-site practice ahead of the Dec. 31 ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Vanderbilt. “He has every pitch in the book.”
Hecklinski has become an interesting and exciting element for Iowa fans. He represents the potential future of football, beyond the 2025 season. His ascent to No. 2 quarterback midseason was one of the reasons that the Hawkeyes seem content at QB going into transfer-portal shopping season.
“He can layer a ball. He’ll sidearm (and throw from) every slot,” Lester said. “Maybe not the fastball like the rest of the pitchers on the Braves back then, but he does some really unique things. He has a great understanding of defenses, and he can manipulate them with his eyes. It’s been fun.”
The reason Iowa’s backup quarterbacks were a hot topic five days before none of them is likely to play against No. 14 Vanderbilt was because December bowl prep is always a big time of information-gathering for Iowa’s coaches.
Under Kirk Ferentz, December is annually a crucial period to get younger players a lot of practice reps to build for the program’s future. Twenty-three bowl invitations in the last 25 years have been vital to Iowa’s consistent development and ability to have new players ready for the following season.
Lester was able to affirm in December that he expects to have a good starting-QB battle in March and April and perhaps August between Hecklinski (the Wake Forest transfer who will be a sophomore) and Hank Brown (the Auburn transfer who will be a redshirt junior).
If Hecklinski is the Maddux of the conversation — the crafty, accurate producer — then Brown might be John Smoltz, who was known for racking up big strikeout totals. Brown has the stronger arm of the two and is taller, at 6-foot-4 (to Hecklinski’s 5-11).
Yet Lester’s biggest teaching point to Brown during December has been to “play like you’re 5-11.” In other words, Lester wants Brown to play use his legs and hips more, rather than being too stiff in the pocket.
“I think the biggest thing that he’s improved on is the ball is coming out faster and where he wants it to go, because of his knee bend,” Lester said. “He’s playing a little bit lower.”
December has also been important for true freshmen Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald (yes, the son of new Michigan State coach Pat Fitzgerald plans to stay at Iowa). As Lester joked, most of their fall was spent getting yelled at by defensive coordinator Phil Parker while running the scout team.
For the past month, they’ve been able to fully focus on the Iowa offense. Lester is interested to see which of the two can secure the No. 3 spot in spring practices.
Lester also has incoming freshman quarterback Tradon Bessinger, the No. 11 overall quarterback in the 2026 class, arriving in June. He realizes that there can always be a transfer-portal surprise, but the expectation is that the room is set with those five.
The past three seasons, Iowa has relied upon transfer-portal additions to lead the quarterbacks room — from Cade McNamara to Brendan Sullivan to Mark Gronowski. It’s been a patchwork operation at times.
“You’re going to have a first-year starter at some point, unless you just continue to buy (in the portal) every year,” Lester said. “And man, thank God we have Mark. He did an unbelievable job. I don’t think it’s (a world) you can live in.
“It’s going to be exciting for me to have someone in Year 2 in the offense. It’s a big difference.”
For Lester, being set and healthy at quarterback will be a welcome change to start the new year. Lester has had to adapt to four different starting quarterbacks, and even though Gronowski went the distance this season for the Hawkeyes, his campaign was interrupted and altered by a left-knee injury suffered vs. Indiana.
For now, it looks like it’ll be Hecklinski vs. Brown for 2026. They’ve had their battles over the past five months. Brown started in front and got crucial snaps against Indiana, and Hecklinski nudged ahead entering Iowa’s Oct. 11 game against Wisconsin. In December, one guy would get heavy reps one day, the other the next day.
“The whole time it was close,” Lester said. “And so I’m excited for spring. There was a lot of competition this December, too, but spring will be a huge opportunity for both of them. I’ll give them both equal reps with each group, and we’re going to see who can do the job better. I think they’re both very capable.”
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has served for 31 years with The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Chad is the 2023 INA Iowa Sports Columnist of the Year and NSMA Co-Sportswriter of the Year in Iowa. Join Chad’s text-message group at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on X.
