The NFL began unrestricted free agency in 1993. Once a player’s contract expires, they are free to sign with any team they choose. Nearly 30 years later, the NCAA finds itself in a similar situation – just not with contracts. Yet.
With players having immediate eligibility in the transfer portal, the Dec. 9 opening window date brought a mass exodus around the sport, from backups looking for more playing time or stars in search of a national title.
“The avalanche is really coming,” said Iowa football chief of staff and general manager Tyler Barnes on Dec. 4, the national signing day for incoming high school players..
For Barnes and others in his position, it’s not just about recruiting talent from other schools, but retaining talent on your own team. Just another item on the offseason to-do list.
But, like it or not, Barnes can’t keep everyone, even those who want to stay.
Iowa fans may cringe at the “Drive to 325” mantra that haunted former offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz’s final season in 2023. Two years later, the tune has become more ominous. As the Hawkeyes approach the 2025-26 school year, the phrase will be “Cut to 105.”
As mandated by the settlement of the House v. NCAA court case over the summer, NCAA sports will now have roster caps as opposed to scholarship limits. For Iowa, this year’s 128 spots will be reduced to 105, the limit for college football.
“Just the craziness of we’ve got 128 free agents on our roster right now,” Barnes said. “That’s the reality. It is what it is.”
Keeping. Cutting. Adding. Iowa football will have to balance these tasks this winter – not to mention having to prepare for the upcoming Music City Bowl against Missouri. Welcome to the new era of college football, where a bowl game illuminates beyond the metallic glint of a trophy. Rather, it showcases the haves, have-nots, and soon-to-be-hads.
Iowa has been no stranger to the transfer portal in recent years, but has had varying degrees of success. Short-term investments like offensive lineman Rusty Feth and linebacker Nick Jackson paid dividends, while potential long-term solutions like wide receiver Kaleb Brown were pitfalls.
Perhaps the Hawkeyes most notable acquisition from the portal – former Michigan quarterback and Big Ten champion Cade McNamara – fell short of expectations due to two knee injuries, a torn quad, and a concussion. The setbacks all felt worse knowing that head coach Kirk Ferentz committed a recruiting violation when courting McNamara – costing Ferentz to miss his first game at the helm in Iowa City when Iowa opened this season against Illinois State.
Given this fluctuation, it’s reasonable to view the portal as a gamble, but Ferentz has confidence that he can build mutual relationships. The head coach explained that portal players are usually older, more mature, and more definitive in what they want in a football program and academics.
“We are what we are,” Ferentz said. “If it is attractive enough for a prospect and attractive enough for him to come and take a look and get a better feel of things, then that’s good. And if not, we’ll move on and find some guys that are interested.”
If the Hawkeyes have one identity, it’s that they are no haven for quarterbacks. From 2019 to 2023, every Iowa quarterback recruit has entered the portal. All three quarterbacks from last season have departed. Junior Brendan Sullivan is the only scholarship quarterback left on the roster after Marco Lainez announced his entry into the transfer portal.
“We would be fools not to at least see what’s available and see what might be of interest,” Ferentz said of acquiring a quarterback via the portal.
This year’s portal class offers plenty of options, but they are dwindling as talented arms are swept up by other schools.
For instance, Miller Moss of USC, who completed 64.4 percent of his passes for 2,555 yards, 18 touchdowns, and nine interceptions for the Trojans this year, committed to Louisville on Dec. 14. Texas A&M quarterback Conner Weigman opted to head to Houston Dec. 11.
Still, other options remain, including second-year Maalik Murphy of Duke, third-year Thomas Castellanos of Boston College, and second-year John Mateer of Washington State.
Castellanos played in eight games and threw for 1,366 yards this season, but Murphy and Mateer each averaged more than 200 pasing yards per game and combined for 55 touchdown passes.
Iowa hasn’t seen those types of statistics since Nate Stanley in 2019, the last Hawkeye quarterback to have a 300-yard passing game. In the 61 games since then, an Iowa quarterback has thrown for more than 200 yards only 14 times.
The Hawkeyes’ quarterback search has already landed new additions. Auburn second-string quarterback Hank Brown visited Iowa on Dec. 12 and took in Iowa men’s basketball’s game against Iowa State. A day later, Brown committed to the Hawkeyes.
Brown, who attended the same high school as offensive coordinator Tim Lester, spent two seasons with the Tigers in backup duty. Over four games, he completed 65 percent of his passes for 535 yards, six touchdowns, and three interceptions.
While it remains to be seen if Iowa will continue to add at quarterback, Ferentz said his team wouldn’t be locked into one play style under center, pointing out that the Hawkeyes had success with both pocket passers and dual-threat options.
“We’ll just keep an open mind and see what’s available and not bound ourselves to any – it doesn’t have to be an FBS player,” Ferentz said. “We’re just looking for somebody that will lead the team and move the team. Brendan has done a good job of that.”
Nevertheless, Ferentz maintained there would still be some “parameters.” For Barnes, the future at quarterback belongs to Lester as he enters his second season at Iowa.
Lester, a former quarterback at Western Michigan, was the main coach behind walk-on Jackson Stratton’s arrival at Iowa. After watching Stratton throw during a workout in San Diego and leaving impressed by Stratton’s arm strength, Lester offered the then-Colorado State quarterback a preferred walk-on spot.
After Sullivan went down with an ankle injury in the second half against UCLA, Stratton stepped up in his home state of California and led Iowa down the field for a game-tying touchdown drive. He started the final two games of the season and finished the season with 21-of-35 passing for 219 yards, one touchdown, and no interceptions.
“There are certain characteristics that Tim really wants to see,” Barnes said. “But a huge part of the quarterback thing that people don’t really talk about is you can be the most talented guy in the world, but in between the ears is where it’s all going to take place.”
For Barnes, the key is processing information. He said on campus visits, quarterbacks will have to recite play calls and identify the proper offensive assignments. This all feels like “drinking out of a fire hose,” just like it did for Sullivan when he arrived in Iowa City over the summer.
Ensuring that new quarterbacks become well-adjusted to the offense is one of the reasons why Lester isn’t going on the road for recruiting this offseason. He wants to be hands-on with Iowa’s quarterbacks this spring, which will include Sullivan as well as incoming scholarship quarterback Jimmy Sullivan.
Jimmy Sullivan, a 6-foot-2 three-star recruit from Fort Wayne, Indiana, fielded offers from Illinois, Michigan State, and Minnesota. 247 Sports composite rankings have him at the 74th-best quarterback in the class of 2025.
While tantalizing fans with his mobility this season, Brendan Sullivan has only completed 24 passes in an Iowa uniform, in part due to his second-string status behind McNamara and his ankle injury in November. A strong showing against Missouri will be Sullivan’s final chance to update his resume as Iowa prepares to reform under center.
Quarterback isn’t the only position under scrutiny as the calendar flips to 2025. Iowa’s offensive line had an improved season, conceding less than half of the sacks it allowed in 2024, but could see new faces.
While center Logan Jones opted to use his final year of eligibility for next season, long-time starting left tackle Mason Richman will depart, and first-team All-Big Ten guard Connor Colby is a projected NFL draft pick and will have to determine his future soon.
Another veteran wide receiver like Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill could be considered as well. The Iowa receiver with the most catches after is true freshman Reece Vander Zee with 14.
The same can be said for the defensive side of the ball. Starting linebacker tandem Jay Higgins and Jackson will play their final collegiate game in Nashville. In the secondary, defensive backs Quinn Schulte and Sebastian Castro can’t return for next season. Other defensive line seniors like Yahya Black and Deontae Craig have yet to decide if they want to return for another season.
Iowa has already ventured for possible replacements, as evidenced by its offer to Miami (Ohio)second-year Raion Strader, a 247 Sports four-star transfer. But the Hawkeyes weren’t successful in their pursuit. Strader signed with Auburn on Dec. 16.
“We’re definitely going to look and just see,” Ferentz said of the portal. “Probably at every position, but there are certain things that are a little bit more important.”
In the era of roster caps, however, a portal addition might require a roster subtraction.
“There’s tiers of guys,” Barnes said. “There’s been a lot of conversations had and hard conversations.”
Barnes identified three “populations” of Iowa players — those who want to transfer, those who want to fight for a roster spot, and others who want to stay on the team until fall camp, when they will leave the team and remain a student at the university.
“You certainly have to have those conversations to give these kids a heads-up because if they want to hit the portal now, you want to do it,” he said.
As of Dec. 11, 18 Iowa players have entered the portal, and that number will only increase before the first transfer portal window closes on Dec. 28.
While Ferentz didn’t rule out the transfer portal as an option, he maintained he didn’t want to construct his team entirely of players from other programs. Yet the problem from building within is that replacement candidates can use the transfer portal to find more immediate opportunities.
Most of the 15-plus Iowa transfer exits were walk-ons occupying low spots on the depth chart, and with those players no longer on the team, their future potential as Hawkeye contributors isn’t realized. Ferentz and Barnes don’t criticize players for wanting to move elsewhere, but amid all the departures, there’s more pressure to restock, either from the portal or high school ranks.
Yet even supplementation from the prep level looks different today. Iowa’s 2025 recruiting class features only 15 scholarship players and two walk-ons. Barnes attributed this small size to the impending roster cuts.
Considering Iowa’s past reluctance to start first-year quarterbacks, Jimmy Sullivan will most likely use a redshirt for 2025 and focus on his development. However, other players could make a more immediate impact.
Many consider defensive lineman Iose Epenesa as the crown jewel of the Hawkeyes’ incoming recruits. Standing at 6-foot-5 and 250 pounds, Epenesa is the younger of two older brothers, both of whom played for the Hawkeyes. The eldest, AJ, is now a defensive end on the Buffalo Bills.
Epenesa is just the second five-star to join the Hawkeye defense. The other is safety Xavier Nwankpa, who played in 13 games in 2022 as a freshman, including a start in the Music City Bowl against Kentucky.
“He’s one I wish were coming in January, but it’s fine,” Barnes said of Epenesa. “We’ll get him here in June and get him up and rolling.”
Similar to Vander Zee, incoming wideout Terrence Smith stands tall at 6-foot-4 and comes from a multi-sport background. Barnes praised his abilities to make contested catches and added that had Smith grown up closer to Chicago than his hometown Aurora, Illinois, he would’ve fielded far more offers than what he received.
The only wide receiver in the class, Smith could potentially pair up with Vander Zee next fall. But for Barnes, there’s more pieces to the puzzle.
“We’ve got a couple of bigger guys on the outside,” Barnes said. “Now the next goal is finding a guy that can really run. We’re looking for speed.”
Once again, another problem that could be addressed via the portal. It’s up to Ferentz, Lester, Barnes, and the rest of the coaching staff to balance these additions and subtractions. Looming over their heads is the 105 number, just another recent change to college football.
With revenue sharing – another piece of the House settlement – on the horizon for 2025-26, schools will have to pay athletes of all sports up to 22.5 percent of the revenue it made from the previous year. Just another variable as Iowa enters an offseason of unknowns.
“That’s something I probably spend a bulk of my day on every day,” Barnes said of revenue sharing. “It almost gets tiresome looking at the same spreadsheet and moving numbers around and playing with models a little bit.”
For Barnes, the ability to directly pay players is a tactic to retain them. Money talks, but so do opposing coaches and NFL scouts.
In a landscape of competing voices shouting to be heard, Iowa will have to register some decibels if it wants to make noise in the new year.