Brandon Snyder will not play his final season in a Hawkeye uniform.
Snyder will leave the Iowa football program to find an opportunity that will offer more playing time, head coach Kirk Ferentz announced July 31.
“Brandon is a fifth-year senior who has earned his undergraduate degree and wants to see as much playing time as possible,” Ferentz said in a release. “We are allowing him to be released, which means he can play for another team immediately.”
Snyder has made a big impact at safety for the Hawkeyes when healthy, but he has spent most of the past two seasons recovering from torn ACLs.
In his first and only game in 2017, Snyder picked off an Illinois pass and returned it 89 yards for a touchdown.
“I have given Iowa everything I have inside of me, but at this time, I believe God is leading me elsewhere,” Snyder said in a text to the Des Moines Register. “I am submitting to his will and accepting that I am meant to be somewhere else.”
Snyder was listed as a co-starter in Iowa’s most recent depth chart, and he was set to compete in a loaded position group with Amani Hooker, Jake Gervase, and Geno Stone.
“We appreciate Brandon’s goal to play his full senior year,” Ferentz said in a release. “We wish him the very best and thank him for his grit on the field.”