Black hat. Black sweatshirt. Black pants. Iowa football’s Brendan Sullivan did his best to be incognito. Yet as soon as he opened the glass door of the Hawkeyes’ practice facility and stepped into the mid-morning sunlight, his attempted disguise proved worthless.
A swarm of TV cameras descended. Phones and microphones jabbed toward his mouth, hanging on to every word the 22-year-old had to offer.
Welcome to life as a Power Four starting quarterback.
The position of QB1 has never been a stable one for Sullivan. After spending three years at Northwestern, the senior transferred to Iowa last May without a guarantee he would see the field. But Sullivan’s place on the depth chart didn’t change who he is. When he makes his first start in 52 weeks on Saturday night against Wisconsin, Sullivan’s routine stays the same.
“Every week I’ve tried to prepare like I’m a starter,” he said. “Just trying to have a little more confidence going into it, that, ‘OK, I’m in this position for a reason, and I’m gonna do what I gotta do.’”
If anything, Sullivan’s promotion to the top spot after starter Cade McNamara’s concussion only amplified what he brings to the Hawkeyes: a dynamic spark under center.
“He goes hard. He goes one speed,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said of Sullivan. “He acts like a football player, a total football player, not a specialist.”
Growing up in Davison, Mich., Sullivan never pigeonholed himself to the quarterback position. An all-around athlete, Sullivan played wide receiver his first season on varsity before taking over under center as an upperclassman in high school.
“I love having the ball in my hands every play,” Sullivan said. “Being able to have the ball and make the decisions when the game’s on the line.”
Yet Sullivan never thought he would have to decide if he wanted to play collegiate football. Standing at 6-foot-4, he played basketball in high school and always thought his future would be on the hardwood.
“Just a couple games into my junior year, I started getting college [football] coaches texting me, and I was, like, ‘What the heck is going on?’” Sullivan recalled.
The potential those coaches saw in Sullivan proved correct. The quarterback would earn all-state honors at Davison High School, guiding the Cardinals to a Michigan Division I state title—the first in program history. Over his prep career as a starting quarterback, Sullivan’s squad lost only two games, as the quarterback threw for over 3,000 yards and 33 touchdowns.
Even with the early hype, Sullivan’s scholarship offers didn’t expand beyond the Mid-American Conference until Northwestern called late in the recruitment process. A three-star recruit, Sullivan verbally committed to the Wildcats on June 4, 2020, but didn’t play a down for them until Oct. 8, 2022.
Sullivan’s collegiate debut coincidentally came against the Badgers. With the Wildcats down four touchdowns at halftime, Sullivan relieved starter Ryan Hilinski and produced 114 passing yards and a team-best 33 yards on the ground.
Ask Sullivan what he remembers from that contest, though, and the quarterback doesn’t paint a nostalgic picture. His team lost big, rendering his performance moot.
Sullivan wound up starting four games that season but once again found himself as a backup in 2023 after losing a preseason battle to Ben Bryant. After Bryant suffered an injury midseason, Sullivan started four straight games – alternating between subpar performances amid losses and head-turning showings in victories.
For Ferentz, it was Sullivan’s contest against Maryland that caught his eye. Against the Terrapins, Sullivan compiled a season-high 265 passing yards and two touchdowns on a 69.6 completion percentage. But what impressed Ferentz more when Sullivan arrived in the transfer portal was his ability to learn.
Despite being a few months behind Iowa’s other quarterbacks in terms of adjusting to new offensive coordinator Tim Lester’s scheme, Sullivan adjusted on the fly, rising from QB3 in July to McNamara’s backup ahead of the 2024 season opener.
“You watch the guys in the summer program, and he’s leading the group in sprints, those types of things,” Ferentz said. “Basically anything you’re doing, he’s going full speed and really getting after it … He’s a guy who commands respect for performance.”
For Iowa center Logan Jones, Sullivan has brought a competitiveness and physicality emblematic of Hawkeye football. The lineman explained how, in one of Sullivan’s first padded practices, the quarterback made a run to the corner of the end zone, got hit and popped right back on his feet talking trash.
“I like letting the defense know when we’re playing well,” Sullivan said. “It’s all love and fun. I love that part of the game.”
As Sullivan engaged in a war of words with the defense, his offensive teammates swarmed in, ready to protect their guy.
“It’s a bold move for a guy who shows up in June,” Jones said. “Announcing his presence on authority like that.”
Sullivan doesn’t shy away from contact in regular season games, either. After earning mop-up duty or subbing in for red-zone series over Iowa’s first eight games, Sullivan got his first extended look on Oct. 26 against his former team.
Ferentz said he planned on rotating in Sullivan at some point during the contest, but after McNamara took a hit and couldn’t return, the 7-3 score deficit was left to Sullivan – who was more than willing to put his body on the line for his teammates.
In Iowa’s opening drive of the second half, Sullivan rolled out of the pocket and found tight end Johnny Pascuzzi on a short toss. Pascuzzi took the ball up the sideline for a 40-yard gain, but he got some help, as Sullivan’s No. 1 jersey flashed, sprinting upfield and blocking an oncoming defender.
“That’s just the way I was raised,” Sullivan said. “My dad taught me the game, to play with full effort, full confidence, and just control the controllables. That’s something I can control.”
Ferentz joked Sullivan’s block wasn’t perfect – but the quarterback’s teammates were plenty motivated by what they saw.
“You want to play for a guy like that,” Jones said, “It definitely inspired our offense.”
As seen in his assistance of Pascuzzi, Sullivan has the mobility to match his physicality. Just this season, Sullivan already has as many rushing scores and nearly half of his total rushing yards from his Northwestern days.
Coupled with star running back Kaleb Johnson, Sullivan will be a key piece to an Iowa ground game that ranks first in the Big Ten in rushing yards.
While Ferentz said he hoped McNamara could return to action next week, Sullivan will have a prime-time opportunity to prove his worth for the Hawkeyes, not just this season, but also in 2025 after McNamara graduates. But just as he was in his first collegiate start, Sullivan puts his personal priorities second.
“Foot on the gas from here on out— we gotta keep getting better,” Sullivan said. “We got a lot of goals for this team and this season,, so we have to keep trying to retain those.”
How to watch Penn State vs Wisconsin:
- When: Saturday, November 2
- Where: Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa
- Time: 7:30 p.m. ET (Pregame coverage begins at 7:00pm ET)
- Watch: NBC, Peacock
About the Author
Matt McGowan is a junior at the University of Iowa and has been on the staff of The Daily Iowan, the university’s student newspaper, since his freshman year. With The Daily Iowan, Matt has covered women’s tennis, men’s wrestling, and other sports. He has been on the football beat since the spring of 2022 and is the editor of The Daily Iowan’s Pregame edition, a weekly print solely devoted to football. Check out his story on Yahya Black’s evolution into the Hawkeyes’ vocal leader.
