Ricky Stanzi doesn’t hesitate to point out his own mistakes. He knows they’re one of the biggest reasons Iowa found itself battling in so many close games last season.

The Hawkeye signal-caller threw 15 interceptions in 2009, tying for the Big Ten’s highest mark.

Couple that with five of the 11 games in which he started being decided by a touchdown or less — and Stanzi realizes his decision-making must improve this year.

“I’d like to erase some of those [mistakes],” the Mentor, Ohio, native said at the team’s media day on Aug. 6. “Make it easier on the defense and not put them in bad situations.

“I could feel like I forced things [offensively last season], I could feel like … it doesn’t matter. It happened. In order to stop it, you have to make that decision not to.”

His decision is clear to his teammates and coaches.

Stanzi — who has amassed an 18-4 career record as Iowa’s starting quarterback — held true to his reputation as a tireless worker as he frequented the Hayden Fry Football Complex this summer to watch film.

Just ask the two quarterbacks who sit behind him on the depth chart, redshirt sophomores John Wienke and James Vandenberg. Both often spend time studying film with the Iowa starter. Wienke said he’s able to sit there for three hours, but Stanzi is a different story.

He often spent as many as eight hours in the film room on any single day during the summer.

Vandenberg, who called Stanzi a great role model, said his elder counterpart’s propensity for honing his quarterbacking craft is contagious.

“He’s the most driven guy on the team,” Vandenberg said. “He’s been in that complex all summer. Every day, all summer, trying to study film, get edges on opponents, fix his own mistakes.”

Work ethic aside, Stanzi still manages to keep things light when it’s not time to be serious.

Vandenberg said he thinks Stanzi is capable of impersonating “anybody in the world,” whether it be teammates, celebrities, or even head coach Kirk Ferentz.

That laid-back attitude helps nurture the quarterbacking trio’s chemistry, which all three describe as being great.

“I don’t know how it is at other [schools], but I know that we’re all good friends, and that makes it a lot easier to tolerate being in the same room, to help each other out on the field,” Stanzi said. “We’re all competing — don’t get me wrong. But at the same time, we’re helping each other out.”

Ferentz may not be aware of Stanzi’s knack for impersonation, but he is aware of the quarterback’s ability to lead the Hawkeyes.

The 12th-year head coach maintained the team’s lasting respect for Stanzi is born out of the quarterback’s commitment to getting better.

“He’s worked so hard, and he’s been so strong as a team leader beyond playing,” Ferentz said. “[The] only thing I worry about [with] him sometimes is trying to do too much, trying to put more on his plate than he needs to, and that’s good. I would rather try to govern a guy than encourage him.”