In the battle for the starting quarterback position on the ISU football team, redshirt junior Jerome Tiller had many clear advantages.

He had spent three years learning under starter Austen Arnaud. He was the only ISU quarterback that had played a down of Division I college football. And he quarterbacked the team to perhaps its biggest victory in the last two seasons, a 9-7 upset of Nebraska in 2009.

However, as ISU head coach Paul Rhoads announced Saturday, the end-all disadvantage for Tiller involved his work in the classroom as he will be academically ineligible for the 2011 season.

“He’ll work immediately to get himself academically eligible for 2012,” Rhoads said. “He’ll participate in practice like everybody else, he’ll spend the 2011 season down with the scout team. We’ll re-evaluate as the season concludes and see where he goes from there.”

Along with Tiller, redshirt sophomore wide receiver Donnie Jennert also will be academically ineligible for the 2011 season.

“Both of those young men first of all have to take care of their academic work and get themselves back where they’re NCAA eligible, and then we’ll move into spring ball,” Rhoads said.

ISU offensive coordinator Tom Herman will now begin preparing junior Steele Jantz as the starting signal-caller for the season opener against Northern Iowa on Sept. 3. Herman became a mentor to Tiller after arriving with Rhoads in December 2008 following Tiller’s redshirt year.

“I’ve been part-time dad, part-time big brother, part-time uncle and part-time psychiatrist with him, and it’s a shame because I think the kid has really, really matured over the last two and a half years that we’ve been here,” Herman said.

“He’s got to deal with that and come to grips with it and be the best teammate he can be while he’s going through what he’s going through and continue to help us win in whatever fashion he can.”

Rhoads did not inform the media as to when he had received Tiller’s academic progress report or when he had informed Tiller of the news, but Tiller did tweet at 2:23 p.m. on Saturday, “Made a big mistake an bye I gotta suffer the consequences.” At 8 p.m. following Saturday’s scrimmage, Tiller also tweeted “Head extremely low.” Tiller was not available to speak with the media following Saturday’s scrimmage.

“I don’t know exactly when we found out for sure, obviously coach Rhoads didn’t announce it until today so I’m not exactly privy to all of that information, but as we were going through the process me and Jerome certainly had a lot of heart-to-hearts,” Herman said.

Senior tight end Kurt Hammerschmidt hadn’t had a chance to talk to Tiller before speaking with the media but he planned to talk with him about the situation.

“It is tragic and it hurts our team because I know how much he loves the sport and how much he loves the guys on our team,” Hammerschmidt said.