Iowa Football: Is Spencer Petras ready to be the starter in Iowa City?

Unproven quarterback Spencer Petras is the heavy favorite to be the starter when the Iowa football team finally takes the field in 2020. With Nathan Stanley graduated and drafted to the Minnesota Vikings, all eyes turn to the redshirt-sophomore Spencer Petras.

Spencer Petras attended Marin Catholic Highschool in Kentfield, California. Marin Catholic has been a breeding ground for successful quarterbacks, with the best example of this being Rams starting quarterback Jared Goff who went onto have a successful career at the University of California before becoming the first overall pick in the 2016 draft. Goff broke nearly every passing record in Marin High school history, most of them still stand. The others? Those were beaten by, you guessed it, Spencer Petras.

Petras took the Marin offense over as junior, where he would go on to pass for over 3,000 yards, completed 56.4% of his passes and tossed for 33 touchdowns and just eight interceptions. The best was still yet to come. Petras’s record-breaking senior season, where the big quarterback terrorized defenses to the tune of 4000+ yards, a 63.9% completion percentage, and 50 passing touchdowns. Petras threw just two interceptions. All three breaking the season records set by Goff.

Petras is a big boy, listed at 6’5 230 pounds, and holy can this guy throw the ball. Petras has an arm as strong as you can ask, and paired with his incredible touch on deep balls, he could be special if he is utilized properly in Iowa’s pro-style offense.

Petras’ highschool highlight film looks like a pro day, 50+ yard throws dropped into buckets and fits it into tight windows as if the defense isn’t even there. And it shows with his results because he only threw 10 interceptions in two years despite 617 attempts.

Here are some of Petras’ more remarkable throws from his lucrative high school career:

50 yard touchdown across the field absolutely dropped in a bucket: pic.twitter.com/7UwsRDYkUC
— Lance (@lancepsports) May 27, 2020

Fits it in a tight window here which leads to a walk in touchdown: pic.twitter.com/OggkEqAgqq
— Lance (@lancepsports) May 27, 2020

Petras isn’t known as a scrambler but can get out of the pocket when he needs to. Racking up 533 rushing yards and 16 touchdowns in his high school career, while earning a four-year letter in track while competing in sprints and hurdles. Not a bad trait to have in the back pocket for a quarterback.

The big frame of Petras will certainly provide Iowa help in short-yardage situations, as Kirk has been known to use the ole quarterback sneak to pick up a first down on third/fourth and short (or three times in a row in the Holiday Bowl). Petras actually scored on a quarterback sneak early in the 2019 season, picking up a yard and six points against Middle Tennessee.

Petras was a star in high school, and now he has a chance to be a star in Iowa City. And he’ll have plenty of weapons to do so. Complimenting Petras’ cannon this season will be arguably the best wide receiver room in the history of Iowa football. Iowa receivers, tight ends, and running backs combined to catch 243 passes last season, 232 of those catches will return to Iowa in 2020. And as experienced as the wide receiver room is, they are just as (if not more) talented.

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Spencer Petras has the weapons, he has the arm but yet the nagging question of “how will he fare against the best college football has to offer” remains to be answered. And nobody will truly know until we see him in extended action. He has thrown only 11 passes in his college career, completing 6 of them for 25 yards, which is, to say the least concerning. Petras isn’t new to Iowa City, in fact, he has been in the program for two spring camps now and won the backup job last season over Peyton Mansell.

Spencer Petras may be unproven at the college level but the coaching staff believes Petras is ready to lead the Iowa Hawkeyes in 2020.