Mark Gronowski has already lived a full quarterback life before his first Cy-Hawk week at Iowa, guiding South Dakota State to back-to-back FCS national championships in 2022 and 2023 and winning the 2023 Walter Payton Award before transferring to the Hawkeyes in January 2025. The move gave Iowa a veteran voice to steady an offense seeking answers, and his debut carried the footprint of a caretaker as he went 8-of-15 for 44 yards and a touchdown with 39 rushing yards and another score in a 34–7 win over UAlbany, a first step rather than a final word.

Ask him why he plays, and Mark Gronowski points past the huddle to his older brother, Ryan, who lives with epilepsy and an intellectual and developmental disability. The relationship that taught him patience long before any playbook did. Rya

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