IOWA CITY — Cade McNamara’s “biggest goal” for the 2024 may seem relatively straightforward at first glance.

“I just want to play like me,” the Iowa quarterback said.

McNamara’s pursuit to play at a McNamara-esque level — more specifically, his ability to even attempt that pursuit — already resembles a modest sign of progress for the sixth-year quarterback after back-to-back years of injuries inhibiting him from fulfilling his potential.

McNamara’s last fully healthy football season — or at least healthy-enough season to play every game — was three years ago.

In 2022, the then-Michigan quarterback suffered a season-ending injury to his right knee. A year later as a Hawkeye, he made it to Week 5 before suffering a season-ending injury to his left knee in the Iowa’s win over Michigan State.

“I’m just really hoping that everything stays the course,” McNamara said at Iowa’s media day on Aug. 9. “I’ve been very healthy so far.”

Of course, there’s the question of what exactly does a McNamara-esque level of performance look like.

In his 2021 season as Michigan’s starting quarterback, he completed 64.6 percent of his passes and threw 15 touchdowns versus four interceptions. His 2022 numbers were down — 14-of-25 with one touchdown and one interception — but that was with a minuscule sample size, as he backed up J.J. McCarthy in two of the three games.

Then McNamara completed a career-low 51.1 percent of his passes for the Hawkeyes in 2023 while throwing four touchdowns and three interceptions. But those five games followed a preseason quad injury that seemed to linger.

McNamara said he did “not really” ever reach the point of playing like himself in 2023.

“You can’t move as well,” McNamara said as he discussed playing through the injury. “Your reactions are a little slower. … We didn’t really do much stuff on the run really until the week that I got hurt.”

If McNamara can produce at a 2021 level, it would be an obvious game-changer for the reigning Big Ten West champions. Iowa has not completed 60-plus percent of its passes in a season since 2015, when the Hawkeyes went 12-0 in the regular season and appeared in the Rose Bowl.

But any prognostications based on McNamara’s Michigan and Iowa numbers carry a few asterisks.

When McNamara completed 64.6 percent of passes in 2021, he had the benefit of throwing to eventual 2024 NFL Draft picks Roman Wilson and Cornelius Johnson at wide receiver and Erick All at tight end. He also worked behind a Joe Moore Award-winning offensive line and benefited from a formidable rushing offense.

Iowa’s change to new offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s Shanahan-style system is another wild card. If the scheme proves to be effective in games — a big “if” — a 60 percent completion rate would be much more feasible for an Iowa quarterback in 2024 than in past seasons.

Having already spent five years playing college football, McNamara’s knowledge of opposing coverages also could be an asset in 2024.

“He knows when the blitzes are coming, and he can change protections,” Lester said. “He’s really done a good job of using that to help us move forward as an offense.”

McNamara did not put fans’ minds at ease earlier this month when he frequently struggled to connect on what should be high-percentage passes during Iowa’s Kids’ Day open practice on Aug. 10.

It was McNamara’s first open practice since being medically cleared this summer. He was “really limited” in spring practices.

“He’s thrown seven-on-seven, things like that, but it’s still not real football,” Ferentz said on Big Ten Network less than a week after McNamara’s underwhelming open practice. “You have to get out there, and you have to operate. You’ve got to be on the field with 11 people on your side and their side.”

Ferentz also was optimistic about McNamara’s improvement when talking to reporters on Thursday, saying McNamara has “done a really nice job” and had a “really good week.” He said that McNamara would be Iowa’s first-team quarterback “if we were playing tomorrow.”

Raimond Braithwaite, Iowa’s head strength and conditioning coach, said on The Gazette’s Hawk Off the Press podcast earlier this month that McNamara has “gotten a lot stronger.”

“He’s definitely all the way back, and he’s ready to compete at a really high level, which he’s doing in practice day in, day out,” Braithwaite said.

Braithwaite has particularly had an eye on McNamara’s “overall strength and resiliency.”

“I want to make sure that he’s fully prepared for the rigors of playing that position,” Braithwaite said, “because you’re going to get knocked around, you’re going to get hit and you have to be strong enough.”

For now, though, McNamara can at least enjoy being healthy enough to be on the football field. When he took his first set of team reps after being medically cleared, he “had the butterflies for the first time again.”

“It’s been so long since I’ve had that,” McNamara said with a smile. “That’s the stuff that reminds you of how much you love the game.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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