logo
Iowa football QB Mark Gronowski leads the pack of best Big Ten returning quarterbacks

Iowa football QB Mark Gronowski leads the pack of best Big Ten returning quarterbacks

USA Today2 days ago

Iowa football QB Mark Gronowski leads the pack of best Big Ten returning quarterbacks
As the summer months continue to slowly creep by as the 2025 college football season kickoff looms, there is a growing sense of expectations and excitement surrounding the Iowa Hawkeyes and the noise they could potentially make this fall.
The reason for the anticipation rests on the shoulders of their new quarterback, South Dakota State Jackrabbits transfer Mark Gronowski. Expected to be one of the most impactful transfers in the Big Ten, the Hawkeyes and their faithful are hoping that he can continue the dominance that he showed at the FCS level while winning two national championships.
Mark Gronowski's arm talent and running ability are undeniable, and that combination of skill sets has him ranked as the top returning quarterback in the Big Ten entering 2025, per Pro Football Focus.
While at South Dakota State, Mark Gronowski threw for 10,330 yards and 93 touchdowns while adding 1,767 rushing yards and 37 rushing touchdowns on the ground to prove that defenses have to game plan for him in a multitude of ways.
Other Big Ten quarterbacks returning in 2025 that could lead their teams to a successful year, or even a College Football Playoff run, include Penn State's Drew Allar, UCLA's new QB Nico Iamaleava, Indiana's new QB Fernando Mendoza, and Luke Altmyer, the signal caller of the Illinois Fighting Illini.
Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Riley on X: @rileydonald7

Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Former Wisconsin basketball center adds to his list of NBA workouts
Former Wisconsin basketball center adds to his list of NBA workouts

USA Today

time22 minutes ago

  • USA Today

Former Wisconsin basketball center adds to his list of NBA workouts

Former Wisconsin basketball center adds to his list of NBA workouts Former Wisconsin Badgers center Steven Crowl is compiling a long list of NBA workouts. Crowl, whose Badgers tenure concluded with an NCAA Tournament Round of 32 loss to BYU in late March, has reportedly worked out with the Golden State Warriors, New Orleans Pelicans, Charlotte Hornets and Denver Nuggets over the past few weeks. The 7-foot center's most recent workout came with the Pelicans on Thursday, per The Athletic's Will Guillory. Crowl worked out alongside North Carolina's R.J. Davis, Arkansas' Johnell Davis and Kansas' Hunter Dickinson. Earlier this week, the Hornets worked out former Badger Chucky Hepburn alongside Crowl, per Hornets beat writer Rod Boone. The two spent three seasons in Madison together from 2021-24. Crowl isn't the only former Badger to dip his toes into NBA waters this offseason. Star guard John Blackwell worked out with the Chicago Bulls, Milwaukee Bucks, Portland Trailblazers and Philadelphia 76ers before withdrawing from the 2025 NBA draft in late May. The Minnesota native started 141 of his 153 career appearances in five seasons from 2020-25. In those contests, the veteran averaged 9.7 points, 5.6 rebounds and two assists off a 52.5% shooting rate from the field, 36.3% mark from 3 and 82% clip from the charity stripe. During Wisconsin's 27-10 output this past season, Crowl started all 37 games and logged per-game averages of 9.9 points, 5.3 rebounds and 2.4 assists. He did so while shooting 54% from the field, a strong 41% from 3 and 82% from the free-throw line. At his size, Crowl's shooting ability is an unquestionable commodity in the NBA. Given modern spacing and skill at the center position, the former Badger's progression as a shooter, especially from the top of the key, headlines his potential professional portfolio. Nonetheless, Crowl's odds of being picked in the 2025 NBA draft or signing with an NBA franchise are slim. The workouts will expose him to some NBA personnel, but his most likely route revolves around a career oversees. Contact/Follow @TheBadgersWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Wisconsin Badgers news, notes and opinion

A $2.8 billion settlement will change college sports forever. Here's how.
A $2.8 billion settlement will change college sports forever. Here's how.

Boston Globe

timean hour ago

  • Boston Globe

A $2.8 billion settlement will change college sports forever. Here's how.

A: Grant House is a former Arizona State swimmer who sued the defendants (the NCAA and the five biggest athletic conferences in the nation). His lawsuit and two others were combined and over several years the dispute wound up with the settlement that ends a decades-old prohibition on schools cutting checks directly to athletes. Now, each school will be able to make payments to athletes for use of their name, image and likeness (NIL). For reference, there are nearly 200,000 athletes and 350 schools in Division I alone and 500,000 and 1,100 schools across the entire NCAA. Get Starting Point A guide through the most important stories of the morning, delivered Monday through Friday. Enter Email Sign Up Q: How much will the schools pay the athletes and where will the money come from? Advertisement A: In Year 1, each school can share up to about $20.5 million with their athletes, a number that represents 22% of their revenue from things like media rights, ticket sales and sponsorships. Alabama athletic director Greg Byrne famously told Congress 'those are resources and revenues that don't exist.' Some of the money will come via ever-growing TV rights packages, especially for the College Football Playoff. But some schools are increasing costs to fans through 'talent fees,' concession price hikes and 'athletic fees' added to tuition costs. Q: What about scholarships? Wasn't that like paying the athletes? A: Scholarships and 'cost of attendance' have always been part of the deal for many Division I athletes and there is certainly value to that, especially if athletes get their degree. The NCAA says its member schools hand out nearly $4 billion in athletic scholarships every year. But athletes have long argued that it was hardly enough to compensate them for the millions in revenue they helped produce for the schools, which went to a lot of places, including multimillion-dollar coaches' salaries. They took those arguments to court and won. Advertisement Q: Haven't players been getting paid for a while now? A: Yes, since 2021. Facing losses in court and a growing number of state laws targeting its amateurism policies, the NCAA cleared the way for athletes to receive NIL money from third parties, including so-called donor-backed collectives that support various schools. Under House, the school can pay that money directly to athletes and the collectives are still in the game. Q: But will $20.5 million cover all the costs for the athletes? A: Probably not. But under terms of the settlement, third parties are still allowed to cut deals with the players. Some call it a workaround, but most simply view this as the new reality in college sports as schools battle to land top talent and then keep them on campus. Top quarterbacks are reportedly getting paid around $2 million a year, which would eat up about 10% of a typical school's NIL budget for all its athletes. Q: Are there any rules or is it a free-for-all? A: The defendant conferences (ACC, Big Ten, Big 12, SEC and Pac-12) are creating an enforcement arm that is essentially taking over for the NCAA, which used to police recruiting violations and the like. Among this new entity's biggest functions is to analyze third-party deals worth $600 or more to make sure they are paying players an appropriate 'market value' for the services being provided. The so-called College Sports Commission promises to be quicker and more efficient than the NCAA. Schools are being asked to sign a contract saying they will abide by the rules of this new structure, even if it means going against laws passed in their individual states. Advertisement Q: What about players who played before NIL was allowed? A: A key component of the settlement is the $2.7 billion in back pay going to athletes who competed between 2016-24 and were either fully or partially shut out from those payments under previous NCAA rules. That money will come from the NCAA and its conferences (but really from the schools, who will receive lower-than-normal payouts from things like March Madness). Q: Who will get most of the money? A: Since football and men's basketball are the primary revenue drivers at most schools, and that money helps fund all the other sports, it stands to reason that the football and basketball players will get most of the money. But that is one of the most difficult calculations for the schools to make. There could be Title IX equity concerns as well. Q: What about all the swimmers, gymnasts and other Olympic sports athletes? A: The settlement calls for roster limits that will reduce the number of players on all teams while making all of those players – not just a portion – eligible for full scholarships. This figures to have an outsize impact on Olympic-sport athletes, whose scholarships cost as much as that of a football player but whose sports don't produce revenue. There are concerns that the pipeline of college talent for Team USA will take a hit. Q: So, once this is finished, all of college sports' problems are solved, right? A: The new enforcement arm seems ripe for litigation. There are also the issues of collective bargaining and whether athletes should flat-out be considered employees, a notion the NCAA and schools are generally not interested in, despite Tennessee athletic director Danny White's suggestion that collective bargaining is a potential solution to a lot of headaches. NCAA President Charlie Baker has been pushing Congress for a limited antitrust exemption that would protect college sports from another series of lawsuits but so far nothing has emerged from Capitol Hill. Advertisement

Ben Johnson envisions a big season for Bears DT Gervon Dexter
Ben Johnson envisions a big season for Bears DT Gervon Dexter

Yahoo

time2 hours ago

  • Yahoo

Ben Johnson envisions a big season for Bears DT Gervon Dexter

Chicago Bears defensive tackle Gervon Dexter could be in line for a big season in 2025. While Dexter has shown glimpses of his potenital, he hasn't had a breakout year just yet. But that could all change this year. This offseason, the Bears aded multiple veterans to reinforce the defensive line alongside Dexter, including signings defensive tackle Grady Jarrett and defensive end Dayo Odeyingbo, as well as drafting defensive tackle Shemar Turner. Advertisement Last season, Dexter got off to a fast start but his production declined when veteran defensive tackle Andrew Billings was lost for the season to a torn pec. Now, Dexter is positioned to have a productive season surrounded by key veterans. This week at minicamp, head coach Ben Johnson discussed Dexter's role this season and how he feels the entire defensive line can rise up as an entire unit. "It's hard to compare because I've only been with him now for, what, seven weeks, eight weeks?" Johnson said. "But, I can tell you this, just from afar, having called plays against him, he was a guy that really came on last year. You could feel it. With Billings being out last year, you could feel him grow into just a little bit more of, 'Hey, I need to step up here,' and you could see it. You can see it on the tape. There was growth. There was more production, particularly in the pass-rush game. "I think what we've seen here from the D-line room, as a whole, we've seen a lot of guys that are pushing, they're growing. I like to spend a lot of time down there during individual because it's not just great work, technique work they're getting, but they're coaching each other up along the way. as well. We have a great, cohesive unit. Then, when we get the pads on, it's going to be a really healthy competition, as well." On top of the player additions made to the roster, the Bears brought in defensive coordinator Dennis Allen and defensive line coach Jeremy Garrett to help maximize the roster. With the players in place, there's no reason we shouldn't see better production from the defensive line in 2025. Follow Bears Wire on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram This article originally appeared on Bears Wire: Bears HC Ben Johnson envisions a big season for DT Gervon Dexter

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into the world of global news and events? Download our app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store