Iowa

Iowa football: Who is Brendan Sullivan, Hawkeyes’ new QB1? He hates to lose

Published

1 year ago

October 30, 2024

Iowa football: Who is Brendan Sullivan, Hawkeyes’ new QB1? He hates to lose

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.”

Video: Kirk Ferentz on Brendan Sullivan, Cade McNamara and more

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.

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.”

Video: Logan Jones on what QB Brendan Sullivan brings to Iowa football

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.

“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.”

Video: Brendan Sullivan ahead of 1st career Iowa start: ‘Foot on the gas’

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.

“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.

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

Source link

Click to comment

Iowa

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Published

4 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Wrestling-Women

March 5, 2026

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

March 5, 2026

Kylie Welker chats with NCAA Digital’s Sophie Starkey about the success of Iowa women’s wrestling and the possibility of winning the inaugural NCAA sanctioned championship.

Source link

Iowa

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Published

16 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

Source link

Iowa

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

Published

1 day ago

March 4, 2026

Press Room

Man sentenced for killing 4 people appeals his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court

CEDAR RAPIDS, Iowa (KCRG) – Luke Truesdell’s attorney has filed as of Sunday to appeal his sentence to the Iowa Supreme Court.

Truesdell was sentenced last week to three consecutive life sentences plus 50 years for the deaths of four people killed in rural Linn County.

A jury convicted Luke Truesdell, 36, in November on the first-degree murder of Brent Brown, 34; his girlfriend, Keonna Ryan, 26, of Cedar Rapids; and Amanda Parker, 33, of Vinton. They also found him guilty of second-degree murder in the death of Romondus Cooper, 44, of Cedar Rapids.

His attorneys previously argued multiple reasons for a retrial that could potentially be brought up again.

They said that one juror was overheard talking about news on the case.

They also said the prosecutors inflamed the jury, rather than focusing on the facts.

His lawyers said there is no direct evidence that Truesdell committed the murders.

Truesdell’s defense also pointed to Truesdell’s father, Larry Tuesdell, who was found covered in blood at the scene but never fully investigated. Authorities have not been able to locate Larry.

The state disagreed, citing overwhelming evidence including DNA on the murder weapon, eyewitness testimony and video of Truesdell entering the garage where the four people were found dead.

Source link