Jeremy Hecklinski starts for Iowa vs. Washington tonight

Iowa had been leaning this way all week. The report landed Friday morning, hours before kickoff.

Pete Thamel

@PeteThamel

Sources: Iowa will start Jeremy Hecklinski tonight at Washington. Hank Brown is not expected to play, but could end up available in an emergency role. This will mark Hecklinski’s first college start, as he’s a third-year player who transferred from Wake Forest.

The key phrase is 'emergency role.' Brown is not ruled out, but Iowa is not counting on him. He sprained the AC joint in his throwing shoulder in the fourth quarter of last Saturday's 31-14 loss to Ohio State. Kirk Ferentz said early in the week that building the plan around Brown being available would be 'short-sighted.' A Friday game in Seattle after a Saturday loss leaves a sore shoulder about 6 days to heal. That was never much time.

Losing Brown hurts. He threw the game-winning touchdown on the final play of Iowa's 20-19 win at Michigan on September 26, and he has 832 passing yards and 5 touchdowns this season. He also beat out Hecklinski for the job after the 2 of them split reps in the preseason. Hecklinski isn't some walk-on getting thrown in. He's a guy Iowa seriously considered starting in August.

He's also the only quarterback who moved the ball against Ohio State. After Brown went down, Hecklinski went 5-for-5 for 67 yards on Iowa's only touchdown drive of the day, finished off by a 2-yard Braeden Jackson run, and then hit Reece Vander Zee for the 2-point conversion. That's 1 garbage-time drive against a backed-off defense. It's also the most efficient quarterbacking Iowa got all afternoon.

Hecklinski is a third-year player. He spent his true freshman season at Wake Forest before transferring to Iowa City, and he'd played in 3 games this year before tonight. So there's no real tape of him running the offense for 4 quarters, and that cuts both ways. Washington doesn't have much to prepare for. Iowa doesn't really know what it has either.

There's plenty on the line for both teams. No. 20 Iowa comes in at 4-1 and 1-1 in the Big Ten, and a loss would mean 2 straight in conference play. Washington is 3-2 and 0-2 in the league, so it's desperate for its first Big Ten win in front of its home crowd. Anyone who bet this game early in the week was betting on a coin flip at quarterback, and that question just got settled late.

Things to watch: whether Iowa lets Hecklinski throw it or keeps him on a short leash and leans on the run game and defense, which would be very Iowa. Also whether Brown is suited up and warming up on the sideline. If Hecklinski struggles early, people will start asking how much of an emergency it has to be. If he plays well, Iowa could have a real quarterback decision once Brown's shoulder is healthy.