When news broke that Iowa quarterback Joey Labas would be entering the transfer portal this offseason, Iowa fans were far from surprised. Despite leading the Hawkeyes to a bowl game win over Kentucky, Labas couldn't sniff the field this season for Iowa. Despite the injury to Cade McNamara, Kirk Ferentz told fans and the media that Deacon Hill gave Iowa the best chance at winning. We didn't see what the two quarterbacks did at practice. Well, that has now changed.

While Labas didn't exactly set the field on fire during his bowl game win, he did go 14 of 24 with one touchdown and no interceptions. Plus, he was mobile and showed he could escape the pocket. The throws he did make that day against Kentucky looked a lot better than what Iowa fans saw from Deacon Hill in 2023. So when Kirk Ferentz kept trotting out the old line that Hill looked better in practice than Labas, we all wondered just how bad this kid looked! Well, thanks to some newly unearthed practice video courtesy of Iowa Everywhere, it turns out Labas looked pretty darn good in practice.

 

So what does this video mean for Iowa football? It could mean that the Hawkeyes let a talented quarterback sit on the sidelines the entire year without getting a chance to prove himself. We don't yet know where Labas will land in the transfer portal. But if Iowa fans hear about him lighting it up, this video is fairly damning to the current state of Iowa football.

However, this is just one practice video. These throws by Labas look good, but I'm sure that Deacon Hill had plenty of throws that looked amazing in practice but just never showed up on the field on Saturdays. I personally still find it hard to believe that someone on the Iowa coaching staff wouldn't have spoken up and given Labas a chance if he truly was the better quarterback.

The sad thing is that Iowa fans will never really know the truth.

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