Iowa football: What backup QB announcement means for future of program

Spencer Petras has officially won the Iowa football team’s backup quarterback battle, for now. This could decision could shape the future of the program.

There was an incredible quarterback battle going on this spring and summer for the Iowa football team. No, Nate Stanley’s job was never in question, but who would be the next in line to replace the soon to be the three-year starter was.

Redshirt sophomore Peyton Mansell had been battling with redshirt freshman Spencer Petras and, to a lesser extent, incoming freshman Alex Padilla for the backup quarterback job. Nine months after the last Iowa football game and two depth chart releases later, we finally have an answer.

The backup quarterback is going to be the younger Spencer Petras.

And this could have quite literally shape the Iowa football program’s future. Before we get into that, it’s important to first say there is a lot more football to be played, and a lot can happen between now and next season, but at this point, Petras won the job and looks like the frontrunner for next year. Again, I want to reiterate A LOT can happen. Mansell very much has a chance to win the job back this year or even next year.

As Kirk Ferentz said in his press conference, this battle was tight and still is:

"But we’ll play the week out and see how that goes, too. In that competition as you can read between the lines, it has been pretty close all the way through. We’ll wait and see on that one. But right now Spencer would be the first guy in the game"

But let’s play out the hypothetical if this decision holds steady into next year. For now, Peyton Mansell is the third-string quarterback, and if he were to stick around next year (and lose the quarterback battle), he could possibly be a backup for his entire Iowa career. Or he could transfer and see an opportunity elsewhere (his wife currently plays softball at Baylor). Another intriguing option though is a position switch.

Coming out of high school, Mansell was considered a dual-threat quarterback, and we’ve even seen that during Iowa football games where he has as many rushing attempts as passing attempts. Could we see him switch to wide receiver like former Iowa quarterback Ryan Boyle did for a season?

For Alex Padilla, he is almost, without a doubt, getting redshirted this season, which will set up an intriguing quarterback battle next summer with incoming four-star quarterback Deuce Hogan, and another possible situation similar to this years.

Last season, Petras was a four-star recruit, but staff decided to redshirt him and Mansell played out the season as the backup as a redshirt freshman. If Mansell does decide to leave (if he doesn’t win the job next season), Padilla could be in line to be the backup for Spencer Petras, allowing Hogan to redshirt. This would help separate the classes out a bit from a quarterback perspective and set up another quarterback battle in 2021 or even 2022.

We’re getting a ways ahead of ourselves, but the point is, this is a big decision that could seriously shape the quarterback position for the next 5-6 years to come. In today’s college football world, quarterbacks don’t stick around if they aren’t getting playing time.