Former Iowa QB Jake Rudock Officially Transfers to Michigan
Fox Sports- QB Jake Rudock, who started the past two seasons at quarterback for Iowa, is transferring and the ex-Hawkeye has been told by the Big Ten his waiver to be eligible to play in 2015 has been approved, a source told FOX Sports Wednesday morning. Rudock visited Michigan last week and intends to play for the Wolverines. The 6-foot-3, 210-pounder threw 16 touchdowns against just five interceptions last season while competing 62 percent of his passes for over 2,400 yards. He also earned Academic All-Big Ten for the second straight year. Despite Rudock ranking second in the Big Ten in completion percentage and fourth in passing efficiency while playing in 12 games last season, the Hawkeyes struggled in 2014 and coach Kirk Ferentz had opened up the quarterback competition with C.J. Beathard. As a graduate transfer, the Fort Lauderdale native would be immediately eligible in 2015, but there was a gray area on this move since it would be within the conference. When Rudock was coming out of high school, then-Miami offensive coordinator Jedd Fisch tried to make a late run to land the quarterback, but Rudock opted to stick with his commitment to Iowa. Fisch is now the quarterbacks/wide receivers coach and passing game coordinator at Michigan.
I just saw this come across Twitter and thought I’d mention it. Two year starter at Iowa and 5th year senior Jake Rudock is officially transferring out of Iowa and going to Michigan. Nothing unexpected if you’ve been following the story. Rudock requested a transfer after Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz named CJ Beathard the starting QB in January. To Ferentz’s credit, he allowed an unrestricted transfer meaning Rudock was allowed go anywhere including within the B1G and play right away. I have no ill-will towards Jake Rudock and no Iowa fans should. He got put in a situation where he was told, after two years of being the starter, that he no longer would be and wanted to transfer. If you wanna blame someone blame Ferentz. The dude could not have fucked up the handling of two QBs any worse than he did last season.
Scouting report? He’s a decent sized guy a 6-3. He’s smart. Each of his two years starting his completion percentage hovered around 60%. He can run when he needs to. He’s not fast by any means but he can get himself out of trouble with a good feel for scrambling. Nothing flashy. As far as I know he’ll be going into Michigan with by far the most experience of any QB there so that bodes well for him. On the negative side, those 60% completion percentages could be pretty skewed because the dude refuses to throw the ball downfield. Lots of short check downs and 5 yard routes. It was the most frustrating thing about watching him at Iowa. Whether his unwillingness to throw it deep was the function of a shitty offensive coordinator is an argument that can be made. Also, interceptions were an issue for Rudock in 2013 where he threw 13 of them. He bounced back by throwing only 5 in 2014. All in all, he’s a decent college quarterback who could likely excel if put in the right system but he’s not gonna blow you away.
#TheHarbaughEffect (hope I did that right)