For the first time in three years the Iowa football team will be without an experienced quarterback heading into next season. Drew Tate is gone and sophomore Jake Christensen is the heir apparent and even started one game last season when Tate was injured.

Hawkeye coach Kirk Ferentz the lack of a experience at that spot won’t change anything in spring practice. He says they’ll throw the guys in and see how they handle things. Ferentz says Christensen should be able to handle things a little better, and he says the biggest thing is learning to handle the blitzes in a game situation.

Christensen’s competitors for the job are Arvell Nelson, Richard Stanzi and Adam Farnsworth. Ferentz says if one of the two redshirt freshmen would play, they might have to tweak the offense. But, he says they don’t want to limit things too much. Iowa’s spring game is April 14th.