Before he walks out of the tunnel for another rigorous football game, Mark Gronowski will take a moment alone, allowing him to mentally prepare himself for the challenging contest ahead.
While his game day meal varies each week, the music does not. Most of his teammates will listen to pump-up genres like rock and heavy metal to get themselves fired up for a game, but Gronowski prefers to keep it classical – literally. Though Mozart and Beethoven have certainly been worked into the rotation, the quarterback doesn’t have a favorite composer, instead choosing to load a random playlist on Apple Music and “press shuffle and just let it ride.”
“I’m always listening to classical music, nothing like head banging or heavy metal or anything like that, just because I like to calm my nerves and the emotions of the fans and and the people around me already get me going, enough, so just listen to classical music to calm myself as much as possible,” Gronowski said.”
Now, the 6-foot-2 Gronowski gets to perform his routine before playing in front of 70,000 roaring fans at Kinnick Stadium as an Iowa Hawkeye. It won’t be his first game at Kinnick (he was South Dakota State’s starter in 2022), but the pressure will be immense. The Hawkeyes have featured a revolving door of starting quarterbacks over the last few seasons, but they hope Gronowski is the man to reverse their offensive misfortunes.
Step one? A matchup against FCS foe Albany, a team Gronowski and South Dakota State dismantled by 59 points on the way to a second-straight national championship in 2023. While all eyes will be glued to Gronowski on Saturday, his focus is making sure the entire offense runs smoothly.
“Our goal is always try to get eight to 10 big plays throughout the game and just continue to be efficient on first down, work on what we’ve been working on, and just kind of see improvement throughout the game,” Gronowski said at media availability on Tuesday morning.
“I definitely feel like we we been taking the steps to start clicking, like, more more consistency, and just just knowing what we need to do,” second-year running back Kamari Moulton added.
That same sentiment is shared by head coach Kirk Ferentz, who is eager to see his new quarterback play.
“I know he’s excited, just like a lot of guys that haven’t played in Kinnick,” Ferentz said. “He has played in Kinnick, but not on our side. So just try and relax and play your best football the way you’ve been coached.”
Depth chart clarifications
The Hawkeyes released their first depth chart of the season on Monday, which Ferentz addressed during his press conference. One of the notable players Ferentz commented on was wide receiver Sam Phillips, who is listed as the No. 1 wideout on the depth chart. Phillips joined Iowa in January after a productive three-year career with Chattanooga, where he totaled over 2,000 receiving yards and nine touchdowns.
“Consistency is the first thing I would say,” Ferentz said. “He’s a really impressive guy. We met him first, him, his mom and dad, and I don’t want to say he’s better than we thought. But we thought he would be a good addition to our team. He’s out there every day and just works hard.”
The departure of standout left tackle Mason Richman left a major question mark at the position. Ferentz hinted that second-year Trevor Lauck is on track to earn the starting nod, though he said that third-year Jack Dotzler will also likely see action against the Great Danes.
“I think they both have earned it,” Ferentz said. “They both have done a good job. Sometimes it’s because you don’t have one and you’ve got to play two, but I think we have two guys that really have made significant ground and gained significant ground. Then we’ll just keep playing.”