Nate Stanley walked into the press conference after his final game at Kinnick Stadium, his eyes red and wet, holding back tears.

Iowa had just beaten Illinois, 19-10, to end the Illini’s four-game winning streak, and Stanley ran up the tunnel to the locker room for the last time, receiving a loud ovation from the student section that surrounded him.

The Hawkeye program had changed who he is.

After all the ups and downs, from posting nearly record-breaking numbers and winning two bowl games to losing winnable games and struggling on the road, there’s one thing Stanley has epitomized throughout his entire career: a Hawkeye.

“I can honestly say I don’t think I’d be the person I am today if I didn’t choose to come here,” Stanley said. “To play for Coach [Kirk] Ferentz, Coach [Ken] O’Keefe, and Coach Brian [Ferentz], they’ve really shaped me into the person I am. I’m truly thankful and blessed to play for those guys and to play in such a great organization.”

Stanley didn’t play the best game of his career against the Illini on Nov. 23, and his numbers didn’t come close.

The Menomonie, Wisconsin, native completed 18 of his 35 pass attempts for 308 yards and an interception.

But he provided big plays when the Hawkeyes needed them. Stanley averaged 17.1 yards per completion and finished with a career-high 22 rushing yards to help move the chains with quarterback sneaks and a naked bootleg.

“He’s just been an incredible human,” said kicker Keith Duncan, who broke the Big Ten single-season record for field goals in the game. “When you think of an Iowa Hawkeye, you think of Nate Stanley.”

Wide receiver Ihmir Smith-Marsette, who caught 4 passes for 121 yards, said Stanley is the same player every drive, no matter what happens before. That proved to be true Nov. 23.

After throwing a pick in the second quarter, Stanley bounced back on the next drive with a 29-yard completion to Smith-Marsette. It set Iowa up for a field goal after the Hawkeyes couldn’t cash in on a touchdown.

On the next drive, starting with 12 seconds on the clock, Stanley fired a 22-yard strike to Tyrone Tracy to get Duncan into field-goal range, and he gave Iowa a 13-7 lead heading into halftime.

While those sequences may not jump off the stat sheet like some of Stanley’s numbers, they’re indicative of what he brings to Iowa.

“I think the statistics certainly say a lot about what he’s done as a player,” Ferentz said. “But the thing I appreciate — and I think all of us appreciate, including his teammates — is just the guy he is every day. He works extremely hard. He’s a high-integrity guy. Mental toughness, physical toughness — all those things you hope you find in a football player, he’s got them.”

Stanley has received a lot of flak during his career with Iowa, but he’s been one of the best quarterbacks the program has seen from a statistical standpoint.

Now, as he closes the Kinnick Stadium chapter of the book he’s writing, he’ll enter the final two games of his career embracing something he’s possessed in all of his four years.

And he’ll have those memories forever.

“It’s something I’ll never forget — the friendships, the relationships, the throwing up during workouts, everything that we go through,” Stanley said. “It sucks in the moment, but when you look at the bigger picture and look at it with hindsight, it’s hard to keep your emotions in check.”