IOWA CITY, Iowa (KCRG) - The Iowa football team has a question at quarterback this week. As the Hawkeyes get set for their Friday night game against Washington, they could be without starter Hank Brown.
Brown dealing with shoulder sprain
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Brown has a mild shoulder sprain in his throwing shoulder, suffered Saturday against Ohio State. He says he’s feeling better and plans to try to play on a short week against Washington Friday night, but nothing is guaranteed.
“There’s still a process with it. You know, I wouldn’t say we’re fully back to normal by any means, but, you know, we’re making progress a ton,” Brown said. “Sunday morning waking up, it definitely felt sore, and we’ve made a ton of progress since then. Being able to lift my arm by my shoulder and be able to throw it a little bit.”
Head coach Kirk Ferentz said the good news for Brown is that he’s gotten a lot of reps over the last several weeks.
“He’s really limited what he can do right now, and, you know, so we’ll see. But we can’t count on him, that’s for sure,” Ferentz said. “I think that would be really short-sighted on our part. The other good news is that Jeremy (Hecklinski)’s done a great job. He really has.”
Backup quarterback Jeremy Heklinski was not made available to the media.
Running game a focus
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No matter who is under center, the Hawkeyes have to get their running game going. In two Big Ten games, they are averaging 48.5 yards per game on the ground, last in the conference.
Running back L.J. Phillips Jr. said the offensive line is blocking well and that it’s on the backs to create yards.
“Those guys are blocking their tails off, and as a running back, you’ve got to run hard and create your own holes sometimes. They’re doing everything they can. They’re going up against really good players,” Phillips said. “That’s the hardest position is being an offensive lineman, so, you know, we’ve got to make their job easy. Shame on me if I can’t get them extra yards because I’m running soft.”
Offensive lineman Leighton Jones said the team isn’t concerned.
“No one’s pressing the emergency buttons. We just got to keep going and keep playing together,” Jones said. “You know, a lot of the stuff we’re seeing is, you know, one guy is losing, falling off late. We just got to keep going and finishing.”
What’s ahead
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Iowa and Washington is set for 8:00 PM central in Husky Stadium. The game will be broadcast on FOX or FS1.
Iowa will head into a bye week before facing Minnesota on October 24th.
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