Nate Stanley grew up a fan of the Chicago Bears. He’ll have to trade in his orange and navy for some purple and gold after the Minnesota Vikings drafted the former Hawkeye quarterback in the seventh round of the 2020 NFL Draft.

Stanley was the 244th overall selection in this year’s draft.

Stanley went 27-12 over his three years as the starting quarterback for Iowa. He led the Hawkeyes to a 3-0 record in bowl games. Stanley ranks second in program history in career passing touchdowns (68), passing yards (8,302), and completions and attempts (637-1,155).

The Menomonie, Wisconsin, native was one of 10 senior quarterbacks who were finalists for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm Award last season. Stanley was an honorable mention All-Big Ten performer last season.

Stanley was a three-year team captain for the Hawkeyes, becoming only the second player in program history to be a permanent team captain for three seasons.

Despite being a seventh-round pick, Stanley’s ability to run a pro-style offense should give him an advantage in his effort to make Minnesota’s roster.

“I think that learning curve once I get into the NFL won’t be as steep for me,” Stanley told The Daily Iowan last week. “There’s some things that I’ve done that somebody is gonna have to learn on top of learning the playbook on top of learning the terminology. So I definitely think that gives me an advantage moving forward.”