| No. 8, 16 | |
|---|---|
| Position | Quarterback |
| Class |  |
| Major | Health and human physiology |
| Personal information | |
| Born: | March 15, 2001 Greenwood Village, Colorado, U.S. |
| Height | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) |
| Weight | 200 lb (91 kg) |
| Career history | |
| College | |
| Bowl games | |
| High school | Cherry Creek (Greenwood Village, Colorado) |
| |
Alex Padilla (born March 15, 2001) is an American former college football quarterback. He played for SMU and Iowa.
Padilla was born on March 15, 2001, in Greenwood Village, Colorado. He played high school football at Cherry Creek High School. During his time at Cherry Creek he was a four-year letterman in football and baseball and led the football team to four straight playoff appearances, and finishing as state runner-ups as a senior in 2018. Padilla was 40–12 as a starter, he holds the school's record for touchdown passes in a season with 40 as a junior and holds the record for passing yards in a season with 2,678 also in his junior year. He was named first-team all-conference in his junior year as well as first-team all-state honors. [1]
In Padilla's senior year he threw for 1,951 yards and 24 touchdowns, which was good enough to earn first-team all-state honors once again along with being a first-team all-conference player. [2] That year he led the team to a 12–2 (4–1 in 5A Metro East) record only losing against Grandview High School 21–28 in overtime and in the championship game against Valor Christian High School 14–24. [3] [4] Padilla was a three star recruit and he committed to play for the Iowa Hawkeyes on June 14, 2018. [5] [6]
| Name | Hometown | High school / college | Height | Weight | Commit date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Alex Padilla QB | Greenwood Village, Colorado | Cherry Creek High School | 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m) | 190 lb (86 kg) | Jun 14, 2018 | |
Recruiting star ratings: Scout: N/A Rivals:  247Sports: ESPN: | ||||||
| Overall recruiting rankings: 247Sports: 1150 | ||||||
Sources:
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In 2019, Padilla was redshirted and did not see action in any games. [7]
In 2020, he was the backup to Spencer Petras. [8] He saw his first career action in a 49–7 win over Michigan State where he was threw two passes for one completion and twelve yards, along with two rushing attempts for seven yards. [9] He only appeared in one other game against Minnesota in a 35–7 win but did not record any stats. [10]
In 2021, Padilla was once again backing up Petras. [11] He saw significant action against Northwestern after Petras got injured, completing eighteen of 28 pass attempts and had no touchdowns or interceptions in a 17–12 win. [12] Padilla made his first career start against rival Minnesota where he went eleven of 24 for 206 yards and two touchdowns in a 27–22 win. [13] He made his second consecutive start against Illinois going six for seventeen for 83 yards and an interception in a 33–23 victory to improve Iowa's record to 9–2. [14] Padilla made his third and final start of the season against Nebraska, going six for fourteen for 76 yards in the first half before getting pulled in favor of Petras in a 28–21 win, the team's third in a row. [15] He returned back to his back-up role for the team's game against No. 2 Michigan, but did see action after an injury to Petras. Padilla went ten for fifteen for 38 yards and one interception in a 42–3 losing effort to the Wolverines. [16] He did not see playing time in Iowa's 17–29 loss to Kentucky in the 2022 Citrus Bowl. [17] He won the Next Man In Award and was named Academic All-Big Ten. [18] [19]
In 2022, he was named the back-up to Petras. [20] Padilla saw his first action of the season after coming late against Ohio State where he went five for ten for 32 yards and one interception in a 10–54 loss. [21] Ahead of Iowa's game against Northwestern, the team's depth chart showed either Padilla or Petras would start. [22] Petras was decided as the starter prior to the game. [23] On November 29, 2022, Padilla decided to enter the transfer portal. [24] [25]
On January 20, 2023, Padilla announced his intention to transfer to SMU. [26] [27]
| Season | Games | Passing | Rushing | |||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| GP | Record | Comp | Att | Pct | Yards | Avg | TD | Int | Rate | Att | Yards | Avg | TD | |||
| Iowa Hawkeyes | ||||||||||||||||
| 2019 | DNP | |||||||||||||||
| 2020 | 2 | 0−0 | 1 | 2 | 50.0 | 12 | 6.0 | 0 | 0 | 100.4 | 2 | 7 | 3.5 | 0 | ||
| 2021 | 9 | 3−0 | 55 | 112 | 49.1 | 636 | 5.7 | 2 | 2 | 99.1 | 17 | -25 | -1.5 | 1 | ||
| 2022 | 2 | 0−0 | 21 | 43 | 48.8 | 173 | 4.0 | 1 | 2 | 81.0 | 9 | -35 | -3.9 | 0 | ||
| SMU Mustangs | ||||||||||||||||
| 2023 | 3 | — | 5 | 7 | 71.4 | 59 | 8.4 | 0 | 0 | 142.2 | 0 | 0 | 0.0 | 0 | ||
| Career [28] | 16 | 3−0 | 82 | 164 | 50.0 | 880 | 5.2 | 3 | 4 | 96.3 | 28 | -53 | -1.9 | 1 | ||
Padilla is the son of Alison and Mike Padilla. [29]
The Iowa Hawkeyes football program represents the University of Iowa in college football. The Hawkeyes compete in the West division of the Big Ten Conference. Iowa joined the Conference in 1899 and played their first Conference football season in 1900. They are a Division I Football Bowl Subdivision (FBS) member of the National Collegiate Athletic Association. The Hawkeyes play their home games in Iowa City, Iowa, at Kinnick Stadium, with a capacity of 69,250. The Hawkeyes are coached by Kirk Ferentz, who is in his 25th season as the head coach and is the longest current tenured head coach in NCAA Division I FBS. The Hawkeyes have won 13 conference championships. Iowa has been ranked #1 in the AP and Coaches Poll 15 times.
Kirk James Ferentz is an American football coach. He is the head football coach at the University of Iowa, a position he has held since the 1999 season. From 1990 to 1992, Ferentz was the head football coach at the University of Maine. He was also an assistant coach with the Cleveland Browns and Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League (NFL). Ferentz played college football as a linebacker at the University of Connecticut from 1974 to 1976. Since 2017, he has been the longest tenured FBS coach with one program. Ferentz is the all-time wins leader at Iowa.
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