Jeremy Hecklinski striving to be the Hawkeyes’ top quarterback

IOWA CITY, Iowa — After completing just one pass for Iowa last season, the sophomore signal-caller finds himself in an intense competition to win the starting job, and there’s still work to do.

Jeremy Hecklinski is no stranger to battling for a job, and feels it comes with the territory of the position he plays. Although the Hawkeyes are less than a week away from their season-opener, Coach Kirk Ferentz is still figuring out if it’s going to be Hecklinski, or Hank Brown to lead the offense.

The former Wake Forest gunslinger understands that it’s a process, and requires patience, so Hecklinski continues to grind hard in practice, knowing that it’s bringing out the best in him.

“I’ve been in a quarterback competition since high school, to here, and I was in a competition at Wake,” Hecklinski said. “Being a quarterback is a never-ending competition, because only one guy steps out on the field, so you always gotta have that competitive nature in you.”

Despite battling it out on the gridiron, Hecklinski and Brown are actually good friends off the field, as well as the other quarterbacks like Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald. They’re all a close-knit group in Hecklinski’s eyes, or better yet a brotherhood, and enjoy doing the simple things together like watching movies, UFC fights, and playing video games.

However, when it comes to practice Hecklinski is all business, so he’s polishing his skills, and soaking up Tim Lester’s playbook like a sponge. Footwork, recognizing defensive coverages before the snap, and delivering the ball out in traffic, are just a few aspects of Hecklinski’s game that he believes is improving.

“The goal has been just to take care of the ball, play your best to your ability and lead the team, and those goals will never change,” he said. “Those are forever goals because those are forever goals as a quarterback, and I feel like I’ve been working on it, and I’ve been doing well.”

With Iowa shifting focus to game preparation for Northern Illinois, Hecklinski is trying to make the most out of his opportunities with the No. 1 offense. Every snap is crucial in his mind, and the more reps he gets the more comfortable Hecklinski feels operating Lester’s system.

“It’s just an unwavering confidence of believing in oneself, benefiting from that, and I believe in what I can do with my skill set,” the Georgia native said. “I never really had a doubt going into a game, or anything like that.”

There’s no denying that Mark Gronkowski set the bar high for what it takes to lead the offense last season, so whoever wins the job has to keep the wheels rolling. Ferentz is not known for playing musical chairs with his quarterbacks, unless there’s some sort of injury, so everyone in the room has to keep their heads on a swivel.

The fans also want to know who the starter is going to be, considering there’s high anticipation for the upcoming season, and the Hawkeyes lamding at No. 21 in the AP Poll. Regardless, Hecklinski refuses to take his foot off the gas, knowing that all of his hard work is about to pay off. At the end of the day, Hecklinski is confident that he has what it takes to win on the field, and that alone should separate him from the rest of the bunch.

“My ability to progress, do things faster, and my ability to identify coverage and know where I need to the put the ball.”