Iowa starting quarterback Hank Brown took a big hit as he released a pass toward the close of the third quarter against No. 6 Ohio State last Saturday. Brown would not return against the Buckeyes, making his status questionable heading into Friday night's quick turnaround at Washington (3-2, 0-2 Big Ten) in Week 6.
Iowa head football coach Kirk Ferentz commented on his quarterback's status during his Tuesday press conference.
"Injury-wise, probably the only two questionable guys right now are Hank Brown and then (Ty) Hudkins, so that's what we're looking at there," Ferentz said.
Ferentz was asked what the preparation will look like for Brown with it being a short week.
"The good news for Hank is he's gotten a lot of reps over the last X amount of weeks,
so that's good news. He's really limited in what he can do right now. So, we'll see. But, we can't count on him. That's for sure. I think that would be really shortsighted on our part," Ferentz said.
Brown told reporters earlier on Tuesday that he suffered an AC joint sprain.
"I'm gonna try to do everything in my power to be able to go out there... Trusting in our training staff, spending as much time as I possibly can in there to just work on it, rehab it and just continue to get movement in there to do whatever it takes to be out there on Friday," Brown said.
With Brown's status questionable, Ferentz and No. 18 Iowa (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) are confident if backup quarterback Jeremy Hecklinski needs to step in during the Hawkeyes' trip to Seattle.
"But the other good news is that Jeremy's done a great job. He really has. Complimented him yesterday in our team meeting. He went in and played really well. I think that's a real tribute to the way he's practiced. That was a very visible, we got a lot of back-and-forths on the depth chart, but everybody's watching the quarterback thing. So, I know he had to be disappointed with the way things turned out, but it's a real credit I think to him and his character, the way he's practiced. That's what you should do, but it's not always that easy to do what you're supposed to do. He's really practiced well. I think that showed up on Saturday. We're confident. As I've been saying, I feel like we have two good quarterbacks right now and I think that showed Saturday. So, we'll play whoever's ready to go," Ferentz said.
Hecklinski directed just the lone drive on Saturday against Ohio State, but he completed all five of his passes for 67 yards and it was Iowa's only touchdown drive of the game. The Hawkeyes capped that drive with a 2-yard touchdown run from Braeden Jackson.
On the season, Hecklinski is 18 of 32 (56.3%) through the air for 208 yards with one touchdown and one interception.
Meanwhile, Brown was 12 of 27 passing against Ohio State for 132 yards with one interception. Brown has started all five games thus far, completing 62.9% of his passes for 832 yards and five touchdowns against one interception. He has a rushing score as well.
Kickoff between Iowa and Washington is set for 8 p.m. CT and the game will be broadcast on Fox or FS1.
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This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire: Iowa football updates Hank Brown injury status entering Washington game
