Former Auburn QB Hank Brown is committing to Iowa through the transfer portal

Brown comes with three years left on his contract

IOWA CITY – Former Auburn quarterback Hank Brown has committed to Iowa football through the transfer portal, he announced Friday afternoon.

Brown comes to Iowa City after two years at Auburn and has three years of eligibility remaining.

He appeared in four games this season, starting against New Mexico and Arkansas. He had an impressive performance against New Mexico – completing 17 of 25 passes for 235 yards and four touchdowns – but then threw three interceptions against Arkansas. Overall, he completed 62.8 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and three interceptions.

A three-star recruit from Lipscomb Academy in Nashville, Brown had offers from Illinois, Minnesota and Pittsburgh before ultimately choosing Auburn. His high school coach was former NFL quarterback and current UAB head coach Trent Dilfer.

“He’s a B-plus to A-plus player in all areas of quarterbacking,” Dilfer told WJOX-FM in Birmingham, Alabama, earlier this year. “The things people want to talk about the most – his arm talent is 8, 8.5. Its accuracy is 9.5. His attitude is a 9. He won’t bat an eyelid in the SEC.”

Brown is the portal’s first player to commit to Iowa since the end of the 2024 regular season. That follows a visit to Iowa City on Thursday that included watching the Cy-Hawk men’s basketball game with tight end Addison Ostrenga.

Brown will join a quarterback room that lost Cade McNamara, Marco Lainez and James Resar to the portal this cycle.

That likely puts the Auburn transfer in competition with former Northwestern quarterback Brendan Sullivan and former Colorado State quarterback Jackson Stratton for playing time in 2025. Iowa will also have two new freshmen at the position – Jimmy Sullivan and Ryan Fitzgerald.

Stratton and Fitzgerald are backup players, so despite Brown’s addition, the Hawkeyes still only have three scholarship quarterbacks for their 2025 season. The portal will be open until December 28th, but athletes can still commit after that date.

Comments: [email protected]

Sign up for our curated Iowa Hawkeyes athletics newsletter at thegazette.com/hawks.