Iowa football injury updates on Hawkeyes Hank Brown, Tyler Brown

IOWA CITY — Iowa football quarterback Hank Brown continues to work back from injury.“Hank actually practiced today,” said Iowa offensive coordinator Tim Lester on Oct. 13. “On the sheet of paper, he wasn’t 100% practicing everything, but we weren’t really doing everything. He was out there throwing it around today, which was fun to see him throw the ball again.”After suffering an AC joint sprain in his right (throwing) shoulder against Ohio State, Brown was medically cleared for the game at Washington, but did not play — with head coach Kirk Ferentz saying, “It just wouldn’t have been smart.” Jeremy Hecklinski made his first career start and threw three touchdowns in Iowa’s 41-24 win.With Iowa on a bye week, Brown has more time to heal before the Hawkeyes' next game, which on the road against Minnesota on Oct. 24.“Hank’s still getting healthy,” Lester said. “It was great to see him throw the ball today. Even though he was only going to do a couple of things, it was coming out of his hand.”Lester said he doesn’t know who will start at quarterback against the Golden Gophers.Defensive coordinator Phil Parker didn’t have any update on when safety Tyler Brown could return. This comes after Ferentz said last week that the defensive back is "going to be out for a while." Tyler Brown has only appeared in two of Iowa’s six games as he deals with an injury.“Mentally, he’s staying into it,” Parker said of Tyler Brown. “So he knows when he is ready to go, that he has a chance to get back and compete and get on the field. It’s kind of like an unknown.”Iowa has started multiple players at free safety in Brown’s absence. Anthony Hawkins started three of Iowa’s four games without Brown. But Xavier Styles started against Washington. Not that all blame rests on the safeties, but Iowa has given up at least 276 passing yards in each of its last three games. Brown gave up a long touchdown against Michigan and Hawkins allowed another against Ohio State. Iowa has given up at least 320 passing yards with Tyler Brown sidelined in each of the last two games.“I think Tyler Brown was very excellent (with communication) when he was first doing it,” Parker said. “He had command of knowing what’s going on, and now you’ve got these other guys with Xavier (Styles) and Anthony Hawkins, they have to learn our system and the communication is a big part of that. So I think they’re growing every day. What I saw last week (vs. Washington), the way Xavier Styles moved around and he made some plays and was very active. He just needs to be a little more vocal. I think (Zach) Lutmer is trying to help him along a little bit.“They’ve been growing. I like to see it. They just need to be a little more vocal out there on the field and more confidence.”Follow Tyler Tachman on X @Tyler_T15, contact via email at TTachman@usatodayco.comThis article originally appeared on Hawk Central: Iowa football injury updates on Hawkeyes Hank Brown, Tyler Brown