QB1 has spoken. New Hawkeye quarterback Cade McNamara spoke to Iowa reporters for the first time since his transfer. His message to the public was clear: Doubt us at your peril.

“This is a chip-on-your-shoulder type of program,” McNamara said. “That was very intriguing to me … the culture that Kirk Ferentz has created here is awesome. I’m just so happy to be a part of it. I think I gel into it nice. I’m just going to continue to do everything I can to prove myself to my teammates.”

A teammate that he’s already well acclimated with is tight end Erick All — who transferred to Iowa weeks after McNamara did. The two won a Big Ten championship together in 2021, defeating their current team in the process. Thanks to him, we got to learn about Cade McNamara the golfer.

“He’s just a huge competitor,” All said. “When we golf — when he gets really mad he throws his club at the cart.”

Both are still rehabbing from lower body injuries. McNamara said he’ll be practicing and a full-go by late spring. We also learned from defensive end Joe Evans that McNamara has a dog named Grizzly who is “super cute.”

Sixth year senior receiver Nico Ragaini is going to have to get accustomed to catching passes from a new quarterback. But his first impressions of Cade the person — pretty good.

“He’s a great guy,” Ragaini said. “What sticks out to me so far is how much of a leader he is. You can tell that everyone on the team respects him. When he talks in team meetings he sounds extremely intelligent.”

But back to Cade’s decision. A huge influence on coming to Iowa was McNamara’s relationship with QB coach Jon Budmayr, who actually made him his first Power 5 offer when he was working at Wisconsin.

“What started it for me was Coach Budmayr,” McNamara said. “He’s a guy I’ve had a relationship with for a really long time. Coach Bud, Brian and Kirk showing me how I can fit into this thing. Looking at the pieces we already have is huge.”

Money doesn’t hurt either.

“Swarm did have a huge influence on it, but I know I wasn’t chasing money.” McNamara said.

And now he’ll be chasing a Big Ten championship with different threads. He said today that that’s the definition of success, and the long term goal they’re chasing. Who knows — maybe Iowa and Michigan will turn Indianapolis into the “Cade McNamara Bowl” in December.

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