Iowa QB Oddly Absent from Team Ceremony in Latest Twist

This Iowa Hawkeyes quarterback was conspicuously absent from the team's Senior Day ceremony before Iowa faced the Nebraska Cornhuskers.

Iowa's Cade McNamara, left, hands off to Kaleb Johnson during the first quarter in the game against Michigan State on Saturday, Oct. 19, 2024, at Spartan Stadium in East Lansing. / Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

What exactly is going on between Cade McNamara and the Iowa Hawkeyes?

The senior quarterback has not played since Oct. 26 due to a concussion he suffered during a win over the Northwestern Wildcats, but he was apparently healthy enough to practice this week.

And remember: last week, Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said that McNamara would be physically ready to go against the Maryland Terrapins, but then, the school released a statement saying that Ferentz misspoke and that McNamara was not medically cleared.

Following that, McNamara was removed from the Hawkeyes' depth chart leading into the team's season finale against the Nebraska Cornhuskers, which made the fact that he practiced this week even weirder.

To put the cherry on top, McNamara was not announced or displayed on the field during Iowa's Senior Day ceremonies before the Nebraska matchup, per David Eikholt of 247 Sports.

That even though McNamara was on the field prior to the ceremonies.

Maybe McNamara is trying to disassociate himself from the team, because something very strange is going on between the signal-caller and the Hawkeyes.

The 24-year-old transferred to Iowa from Michigan in December 2022. There was a ton of hype surrounding McNamara heading into his first season at Iowa City, but he was a massive disappointment and played in just five games before tearing his ACL.

There was hope that McNamara would respond in a big way this year, but he threw for just 1,017 yards, six touchdowns and five interceptions through eight starts before going down with the concussion.