Former South Dakota State QB Mark Gronowski reportedly gets 7-figure NIL deal from Iowa

FARGO Former South Dakota State quarterback Mark Gronowski didn't have to head to the NFL to earn a big payday.

Gronowski landed a lucrative NIL (name, image, likeness) deal from the Iowa Hawkeyes reportedly worth seven figures, according to NBC 5 Chicago's Mike Berman.

ADVERTISEMENT Its huge for my life and my familys life and kind of starting out life with some extra money in your pocket can really set you up for the long term," Gronowski told Berman in a recent television interview.

Gronowski announced he entered the transfer portal after this past season with the Jackrabbits.

He played four seasons at SDSU and guided the program to two NCAA Division I FCS national championships for the 2022 and 2023 seasons.

With one year of college eligibility remaining, Gronowski decided to play for the Hawkeyes of the Big Ten Conference instead of enter the NFL Draft.

He announced his committed to Iowa on Jan.

7 via social media.

At the next level in the NFL, nothings guaranteed," Gronowski told Berman.

With the NIL and everything like that you have a lot more opportunities and lot more guarantees within that.

During this past season, Gronowski accepted an invite to the East-West Shrine Bowl and appeared headed toward entering the NFL Draft.

The Athletic's draft analyst Dane Brugler projected Gronowski to be a late-round draft selection.

Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz recently revealed that Gronowski would not participate in spring football for the Hawkeyes due to an injury and having surgery.

Gronowski won't start on-field team workouts until June.

Mark played last season with a common football-related injury, Ferentz said in a recent release.

While he could have continued to play through the injury, Mark is choosing to have a procedure to address the issue, and we support him in his decision.

Our sports medicine team thoroughly reviewed his records and has confidence he will be fully rehabbed in time to participate in our summer program.

Mark will participate in all non-practice team activities while he recovers.

ADVERTISEMENT Gronowski said he received strong interest from college programs once he entered the transfer portal.

The crazy thing was just all the text messages and the phone calls I was getting," Gronowski told Berman.

"I had over 100 missed texts and probably 20 missed calls on just the first day I was in the portal.

The 6-foot-3, 230-pound Gronowski passed for 10,309 yards and 93 touchdowns in 55 career games for the Jackrabbits.

He tied former North Dakota State quarterback Easton Stick for the most QB wins in FCS history with 49.

Gronowski led SDSU to the FCS semifinals this past season.

The Jackrabbits lost 28-21 to eventual FCS champion NDSU.

In 2023, Gronowski won the Walter Payton Award, which is given to the top offensive player in the FCS.

Gronowski was ranked No.

19 in ESPN's transfer portal rankings.

South Dakota sports talk radio host Nate Brown also recently interviewed Gronowski after his Iowa commitment.

ADVERTISEMENT Gronowski said Ferentz was one of the reasons he chose the Hawkeyes.

Ferentz reminded Gronowski of former SDSU head coach John Stiegelmeier, who led the Jackrabbits when Gronowski started his SDSU career.

"They have a great coaching staff there," Gronowski told Brown.

"Coach Ferentz he's very similar to Stig in a lot of ways, and he tries to build a culture that was very similar to Stig's.

When I went there it really felt like South Dakota State as well." Gronowski played for head coach Jimmy Rogers for two seasons at SDSU.

Rogers recently took the head coaching job at Washington State.

Gronowski, from Naperville, Illinois, said playing close to home was also a factor in his Iowa decision.

Iowa City, Iowa, is around 200 miles west of Naperville.

"I wouldn't have changed anything I did at South Dakota State, going there in the first place, but Big Ten football was always the dream growing up," Gronowski told Brown.

"To have the opportunity, I wanted to take advantage of it." Gronowski said Iowa has a winning culture and added, hopefully, he would like to add an FBS championship to his two FCS national titles.

"We won a lot of football games at South Dakota State and I want to continue that at Iowa," Gronowski told Brown.

ADVERTISEMENT COMMITTED!! #GoHawkeyes #LFG pic.twitter.com/HJdHHKPHkN.

This article has been shared from the original article on mitchellrepublic, here is the link to the original article.