How Mark Gronowski’s injury, other factors impacted his path to Iowa football

IOWA CITY — Mark Gronowski could have taken a few different routes at the end of 2024.

The four-year starting quarterback at South Dakota State had one year of eligibility remaining, and his head coach (and many assistant coaches) left for Washington State.

Gronowski could have pursued the NFL draft. He could have followed his coaches to Washington State. He could have gone elsewhere via the transfer portal.

About three months after the two-time FCS national champion’s choice of the third of those options — with a commitment to Iowa — his first media availability as a Hawkeye shed light on the factors that contributed to Iowa’s high-profile transfer portal addition.

Gronowski “definitely talked to a lot of different scouts about my opportunities in the NFL” and the scouts “liked a lot of things about me.”

“I had opportunities at the Shrine Bowl, the combine and everything like that,” Gronowski said this week. “But they kind of saw the injury and everything like that, and I thought it’d be best for myself — and I could have played through it — but to get it right, get back to 100 percent and then have an awesome season next season.”

Gronowski’s injury misfortune required offseason shoulder surgery. While that may have been enough to affect his draft stock and sideline him from spring practices, Gronowski and others have expressed unequivocal optimism about his recovery.

“Definitely ahead of schedule right now,” Gronowski told reporters on Thursday.

Iowa was far from the only transfer portal suitor for Gronowski, who was the 2023 FCS Walter Payton Award recipient and threw 93 touchdown passes versus 20 interceptions in 55 career starts with the Jackrabbits.

“I think I had over 100 missed calls at one point, over 100 missed texts,” Gronowski said.

The Naperville, Ill., native gave “a couple schools here and there” serious consideration before committing to the Hawkeyes on Jan. 7.

“Especially my old coaching staff leaving (for Washington State), talking with them a lot,” Gronowski said. “But I thought Iowa ended up being the best fit.”

Gronowski repeatedly mentioned Iowa’s culture — a culture that has helped the Hawkeyes win at least eight games in each of the last nine full seasons — when explaining why the Hawkeyes were such a good fit.

“Having a Hall of Fame coach like Coach (Kirk) Ferentz, and also being very similar to what I had at South Dakota State team-wise,” Gronowski said. “Got a winning culture, and that’s why I ended up choosing Iowa.”

The Swarm Collective’s ability to offer a lucrative NIL deal perhaps did not hurt the Hawkeyes’ chances of landing the veteran quarterback either.

“It’s part of college football now,” Gronowski said of NIL. “You got to take advantage of it when you get the opportunity. But that wasn’t the sole decision process at all.”

After committing, Gronowski received a call from NFL tight end (and former teammate) Tucker Kraft, who is familiar with Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester from Lester’s time on the Packers’ staff.

The South Dakota State alum “told me all about Lester and how much he loved him as a coach.” Kraft also offered to answer any questions about the offensive scheme because “it’s the same thing” as what the Packers run.

“He has a lot of multiplicity to that offense, and you can do so many different things and run one play so many different ways,” Gronowski said of Lester’s scheme. “It’s a lot of fun.”

Exactly how much fun Gronowski and Co. can have in 2025 will shape what exactly his professional route will look like in 2026.

“I feel like I have an opportunity to show a lot — just the way that I can grow in an offense and learn a new offense,” Gronowski said. “Because obviously when you go to the next level, you got to learn a whole new offensive scheme.”

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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