Since Mark Gronkowski committed to Iowa football on January 7, 2025, Hawkeye nation has been counting down the days for the transfer quarterback to debut in the black and gold. That day finally came on Saturday in the 34-7 win against Albany at Kinnick Stadium.
His performance: 8-of-15 passing for 44 yards and one touchdown along with 11 carries for 39 yards and one touchdown. His longest throw was to Jacob Gill in the second quarter.
The first career receiving TD for @WetjenKaden 😎#Hawkeyes
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) August 30, 2025
Gronowski was quick to point out that his performance was a dud. But he also gave himself some grace.
“I’m disappointed in how I played today. But, you know, this season, it’s a whole journey,” Gronowski said. “Keep improving every single week. Me and the receivers are going to continue to get better every single week.”
When the Hawkeyes did their pregame ritual of running out the tunnel holding hands, Gronowski was isolated on the jumbotron with an uneasy look in his eyes. Going from South Dakota State’s Dana J. DykHouse Stadium with a max capacity of around 19,000 to Kinnick Stadium’s 69,000 max capacity can be overwhelming for any player.
Kirk Ferentz said postgame that he approached the transfer earlier in the week to describe the magnitude of representing Iowa football on home turf.
“Sometimes you get to play through that experience,” the head coach said. “I think this will benefit him moving forward.”
The lack of air yardage wasn’t all on Gronowski, though. He and Ferentz noticed how the Albany defense was playing back, trying to prevent any long passes over the top. As a result, Iowa played to its natural strength: run the ball.
Six different Hawkeyes combined for 310 total rushing yards on the night, with redshirt freshman Xavier Williams logging a team-high 122 rushing yards and a touchdown on 11 attempts. Gronowski’s mobility aided such performance.
“Having a dual-threat quarterback definitely helps a lot,” Williams said. “It’s definitely something I haven’t really seen before… I think tonight was a really good start.”
This experience was new for everyone, in a sense. Center Logan Jones has never played with a quarterback that possesses the ability to run like Gronowski. He put things in perspective while giving the fifth-year transfer his flowers.
“Things weren’t perfect for any of us, right?,” Jones said. “He did a great job, especially the leadership role as a quarterback. When things aren’t always going perfect, he knows how to get us together and get going to put together some good drives.”
All in all, Gronowski’s first outing as a Hawkeye wasn’t pretty by any stretch, but it still resulted in a win nonetheless. A win is a win, take them how it can be taken. But there’s better football to be played down the road.
“Personally, I need to be better all-around,” Gronowski said. “But there’s still a lot of good that came out of it. So just continue to progress on the good and fix the bad when we get into film tomorrow.” Takeaways from Mark Gronowski’s first game as a Hawkeye