Without any context as to whether your golfing companions have any insider information, I would surmise that they are stating what seems obvious from report, that neither can separate from the other. Add to that what we have seen publicly from Brown (yips, bad feet, bad accuracy), and the fact that Heck seems to suck in practice, and its not hard to say we have two bad QBs.
I go back to what we all saw on Kids Day. Heck put on the best performance of any QB in the history of KF's Kid's Day. It did not look fluky and even if it was against a banged up first team and a lot against the second team, this is still Iowa's D run by Parker that has always owned the offense on every Kid's Day.
I can see the pessimism, but I don't think your golfing buddies, the fans, or even the coaches will know what we really have until we see them both play in live action.