IOWA CITY — By the time he caught the ball, Iowa football tight end Johnny Pascuzzi already had a roughly six-yard head start on Brendan Sullivan.

Sullivan, who had just faked a toss, rolled to his right and pushed a pass to Pascuzzi, could’ve very well let his contributions to the play end right there. Instead, Sullivan turned on the jets, racing down the field and, despite the disadvantage, passed Pascuzzi to become a lead blocker.

“It wasn’t an official race, but you could probably say he’s faster than Pascuzzi,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “I guess that was the takeaway. But it says something about his personality, too, him wanting to get down there and help the play. He could have stood there and been a spectator, but he threw the ball and then he started basically trucking down the field. That, to me, was being a good teammate.”

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Kirk Ferentz discusses a variety of topics ahead of Iowa’s matchup with Wisconsin.

Iowa had planned to give Sullivan extended playing time in Saturday’s win over Northwestern. But an injury to Cade McNamara meant that Sullivan would take over full-time. He finished the game with 79 passing yards, 41 rushing yards and one touchdown on the ground, helping lead the Hawkeyes to a 40-14 win over his former program.

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That extra effort block epitomizes who Sullivan is.

“Just the way I was raised,” Sullivan said. “My dad taught me to play the game with full effort, full confidence and just control the controllables. And so that’s something I can control — is helping my guy get more yards. If that’s going to help the team out, I’m going to do that every time.”

And now comes the next phase of Sullivan’s growing role. With McNamara out on Saturday due to a concussion, Sullivan will make his first career start as a Hawkeye when Iowa hosts Wisconsin.

“He embraced what it means to be an Iowa Hawkeye,” said center Logan Jones. “He does it at such a high level and he plays with so much passion. That’s the kind of guy we want. We want a physical guy, who plays hard and is competitive. He’s brought that since day one. That’s who he’s been. That’s his identity.”

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Logan Jones discusses QB Brendan Sullivan ahead of Iowa’s matchup with Wisconsin.

That’s what he showed at Davison High School in Michigan.

During his junior season, Davison was playing Lapeer in the playoffs. Lapeer, who was hosting the game, used motorcycle sounds to celebrate home touchdowns. So when Sullivan ran in a touchdown in the first quarter, he pretended to rev a motorcycle, mocking the opponent’s tradition.

Davison won that game and went on to capture a Division I state championship.

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“He’s just a competitor,” said Davison coach Jake Weingartz. “Quarterbacks usually don’t freaking run their mouth and talk s— and flex on dudes. He just lets it rip, which gains the trust of his teammates and teammates’ respect. He’s just a dawg.”

Sullivan used to think he was going to play basketball in college, not football. He confirmed Tuesday that he can still do a windmill dunk.

“It’s not gonna be backed by a lot of guys, but I’d make the argument that I’m one of the best (basketball players) on the team,” Sullivan said.

Deontae Craig is among those Sullivan named in the mix for that crown. Upon being suggested he probably doesn’t want to be on the block with Craig, who is listed at 6-foot-3 and 266 pounds, Sullivan answered:

“I’d challenge him,” he said with a laugh. “He can hear this. Any part of that court, I’ll challenge him.”

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QB Brendan Sullivan discusses a variety of topics ahead of his first career start for Iowa football.

But it was football where he found his future. At Davison, Sullivan used to meet with Weingartz at lunch to watch film, habits that he has shown since arriving at Iowa. In July, Sullivan said he typically got to the facility around 5:30 a.m., did Bible study, watched film and then did a stretching routine.

Sullivan isn’t afraid to demand excellence from others, either. One time during practice in high school, a receiver didn’t run a route correctly and “B freaking lit his a– up,” Weingartz said.

Sullivan was mostly pursued by non-power conference programs, and even the recruiting process with Northwestern took some creativity. Because so much was shut down due to COVID-19, Sullivan and Weingartz went to an elementary playground for a workout. Weingartz FaceTimed Northwestern’s offensive coordinator at the time so he could see Sullivan doing drills.

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“You could see like swingsets in the background,” Weingartz said. “It was nuts.”

After his time at Davison, Sullivan spent three seasons with the Wildcats. In two of those seasons, Sullivan began the season as a reserve but ended up starting multiple games. There is so much value in that now that Sullivan finds himself in a similar situation at Iowa.

Despite joining the Hawkeyes program after spring practice, it didn’t take long for Sullivan’s bravado to become evident. His trash talk even caused some friction.

“I like letting the defense know when we’re playing pretty well and they didn’t like that one day,” Sullivan said. “So it got a little heated and then kinda went on from there. It’s all love, it’s all fun and I love that part of the game.”

Sullivan was beaten out for the starting job by McNamara but still managed to carve out a role on offense. In Iowa’s third game of the season against Troy, Sullivan was utilized around the goal line, a specialized package that was widely successful and continued throughout the year. Then he earned extended playing time against Northwestern.

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At one point in that game against the Wildcats, Sullivan had exerted himself so much that when he tried to deliver a play in the huddle, Jones couldn’t even understand what he was saying.

“He’s obsessed with the game,” Weingartz said. “He’s obsessed with getting better. The kid is a competitor to the 8,000th degree. He f—ing hates to lose. Like you watch him on the field — he’s got a s— ton of swagger.”

Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at ttachman@gannett.com