Jake Rudock (file photo)
The Iowa football team opens spring drills without Jake Rudock at quarterback. The two year starter for the Hawkeyes may be transferring after C.J. Beathard was named the starter just days after a lopsided loss to Tennessee in the Taxslayer Bowl.
“He’s in a really unique position, not totally unlike Cody Sokol a year ago. He’s exploring some other options at this point with our support — not encouragement, but support — and we’ll work through the process,” head coach Kirk Ferentz says. “So, until he decides what he’s going to do definitively, we’ll just keep him outside the program at this point.”
Ferentz who took the unusual step of releasing a depth chart in early January and says talking about the quarterbacks was part of the reason for doing that. He says if Ruddock’s heart isn’t with being at Iowa, then he should go somewhere else. If Rudock leaves it would leave the Hawkeyes without an experienced backup at quarterback. “I said many times publicly last year that it was a really close competition, that’s unusual when you have that….I know I said we had total confidence in both guys. I can’t say that right now the way the depth chart is,” Ferentz says. He says a lot of positions are that way and to have three potentially starting quarterbacks like Ohio State is a “really unusual circumstance.”
Ferentz says Rudock is able to transfer to any school, even one in the Big Ten as they have signed a release with no strings attached. “If he choses to leave, I want him to have opportunities, I think that’s the only fair way to do this, the best thing for him,” Ferentz says.
The Hawkeyes conclude drills with an open practice on April 25th.