The game plan for the Iowa Hawkeyes has been simple and successful for the past few decades under Kirk Ferentz. The Hawkeyes win a lot of games by taking care of the ball, playing the field position game, and carefully choosing the right time to strike.It works, albeit in a mundane, sloggy way at times. That said, Iowa could be ushering in a confident quarterback with a gunslinger mentality in Jeremy Hecklinski.

The reviews from spring practice have been high on his ability to push the ball down the field.With that comes risk, something Iowa is very risk-averse to offensively. Hecklinski is balancing the proper risk versus reward when it comes to downfield passes."Probably just taking less risks. I take a lot of risks at practice and stuff and it pays off a lot and there's sometimes where it doesn't, so I'm just trying to find that happy medium to where I am throwing touchdowns and not throwing interceptions," Hecklinski said.Jeremy Hecklinski was asked what the coaches want him to work on"Probably just taking less risks.

I take a lot of risks at practice and stuff and it pays off a lot and there's sometimes where it doesn't, so I'm just trying to find that happy medium" pic.twitter.com/PVZMLVhlSI— Collin Carrithers (@c_carrithers33) April 16, 2026"Definitely higher on good plays, I would say. Not a whole lot of picks, but they happen," Hecklinski said when asked about the ratio of good to bad plays during spring practice.As Iowa nears the end of spring practice with the open practice set for Saturday, April 25, Jeremy Hecklinski and Hank Brown remain in a quarterback competition that is unlikely to see a starter named until fall camp rolls around.Contact/Follow us @HawkeyesWire on X (formerly Twitter) and like our page on Facebook to follow ongoing coverage of Iowa news, notes and opinions. Follow Riley on X: @rileydonald7This article originally appeared on Hawkeyes Wire : Iowa football QB Jeremy Hecklinski balancing risk versus reward