Spencer Petras
University of Iowa
Quarterback
On the confidence from the team heading into the season:
“We are all excited to get out there and compete. You never know how good a team is going to be until you get out there and the bullets are really flying. I am proud of the guys for how we have done so far. We still have quite a bit of improvement left to go — quite a bit of time really — three weeks before the first game is more time than you think to improve. We are all focused on that. We’ll see where it gets us.”
On who could have big seasons for the offense:
“We have a lot of guys practicing really well. Everyone’s working hard. Start with Arland and Nico, the receiving room, two guys that have played a lot. Arland not as much but that’s just because he was a freshman last year. Sam and Luke in the tight end room, the two vets… happy with how they have done thus far. Leshon and Gavin, they’re the veteran running backs to this point, where I still think of them as young. They’re working hard running the ball hard. I am excited to see what they can do this year.”
On growth during his time at Iowa:
“That’s all experience. A large part of my issues I had in the 2020 season came from gripping the bat too hard. If you go up there trying to hit a homerun, you’re probably going to strike out, and as a young guy, especially, you want nothing more than to go out there and throw five touchdowns a game and have every play be perfect. As you mature and get more experienced, you learn that’s not the way to play. It’s not the best way to play. Sometimes, the best play on 3rd-and-10 is to throw the check down and let your running back make some yards. It’s stuff like that, and the only way to learn that and really learn the importance of that is through experience. I have been lucky to have a good amount of experience at this point.”
On competing against the Iowa Defense every day at practice:
“That’s great. From a quarterback perspective, one of the things they do really well is they disguise their coverage better than any team I’ve played in my last two years, so it forces a quarterback to have really disciplined eyes. They’re not going to show you what they’re doing. They’re going to hold it to the last possible second. It’s great to go against a defense like that. They have a lot of really good athletes. A lot of good players. So if I’m sloppy with ball placement or timing, they make you pay. And that’s good because it’s the same way in Kinnick Stadium on Saturdays.”
