Since transferring to the Hawkeyes during the January transfer window, Mark Gronowski has been a big topic of discussion. During his four-year career at South Dakota State before joining the Hawkeyes, Gronowski was one of the best quarterbacks in the FCS.
Gronowski amassed 10,330 passing yards and 94 touchdowns with a 63-percent completion percentage. He also tallied 1,767 rushing yards and 37 touchdowns.
He won the FCS Heisman Award in 2023 and was the runner-up for the award in 2024
Gronowski also won back-to-back FCS National Championships in 2022 and 2023 and set the FCS career wins record with 49.
After accomplishing everything he could at the FCS level, Gronowski entered the transfer portal and was immediately ranked as one of the top quarterback transfers on the open market.
On3 Sports ranked him as the No. 53 overall transfer and the No. 8 quarterback in the transfer portal. 247 Sports ranked him as the No. 93 overall transfer and the No. 10 quarterback in the transfer portal
After all the accolades and career pedigree that Gronowski brings to the Hawkeyes, one analyst feels that is not enough to be a top Big Ten quarterback.
NEW: Top 10 College Football Big Ten Quarterbacks via @Andy_Staples🎯
— On3 (@On3sports) July 15, 2025
Do you agree? 🤔https://t.co/YJSVnKUeJC pic.twitter.com/2sAQpqigOB
On3 Sports' Andy Staples has Gronowski ranked as his No. 10 overall Big Ten quarterback, which is laughable.
He has Gronowski ranked below two freshmen quarterbacks, Julian Sayin and Bryce Underwood, and while they were highly-ranked coming out of high school, they have not thrown a pass in college football.
Staples also ranked him below Washington's Demond Williams Jr., who showed flashes as a freshman, but does not have the pedigree that Gronowski does.
Fernando Mendoza took a big step last season, passing for over 3,000 passing yards, but we still do not know what he will do for Indiana this season.
Dante Moore is another candidate who has hype, but we do not know if he will have sustained production.
I also do not know why Dylan Raiola keeps popping up on these lists, but here we are.
There is no question Gronowski should be in the top four of this list, and given the names on the list, there is an argument that is is the No. 2 overall quarterback behind Drew Allar.
Gronowski and the Hawkeyes do not care about ranking lists and will prove doubters wrong when the 2025-2026 season begins.