2017 Spring Practice Preview: Quarterbacks

Richard Lagow showed that he could hold his own in Big Ten play, however turnovers and his performance in the Foster Farms Bowl left to door open for a QB competition. Image: Cam Koenig HoosierHuddle.com

Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

When the 2016 season ended in heart breaking fashion at Levi’s Stadium two things where clear about the quarterback situation at Indiana. One, that sideshow wildcat Zander Diamont would not be back for the 2017 season after retiring and two, starting quarterback Richard Lagow had left the door open for a massive quarterback competition in spring practice with his performance against Utah.

Goodbye Hollywood

Fan favorite and the Legs part of the ‘Bacon-n-Legs’ package decided to step away from football. Zander Diamont provided sparks for the Hoosier offense in his three-year career in Bloomington. There was the game-winning touchdown against Purdue in 2014, the 79-yard touchdown run against #1 Ohio State in 2015, and the long touchdown pass in the Foster Farms Bowl in 2016. Indiana will miss the explosive running ability that Diamont brought to the table and the fans will miss the fire and passion he showed on the field. However, his production is not irreplaceable. His 6.26 yards per carry average led the team, but the Hoosiers can find some one to pick up his 39 carries and 244 yards. He did hit some big pass plays over the middle, but not nearly enough to be a legitimate passing threat. Fans will miss Diamont, but the Hoosiers offense should be able to find a way to manage without him with the quarterbacks they have on the roster.

The Quarterback Competition Contestants

The Front-Runner: Richard Lagow

Quarterback Richard Lagow came to Bloomington from Cisco Community College to try and fill the giant shoes left by Nate Sudfeld, who graduated and is now on the roster of the Washington Redskins. The end results of Lagow’s 2016 campaign were not as bad as everyone made them out to be. The Hoosiers finished 6-6, won four Big Ten games, kept the Old Oaken Bucket, repossessed the Brass Spittoon (against Michigan State), and earned a Foster Farms Bowl appearance. Lagow threw for 3,362 yards and 19 touchdowns. But, and this is a gigantic but, Lagow had issues with consistency.

Lagow completed just 57.8 percent of his passes and threw 17 interceptions, including five in a 33-28 loss to Wake Forest at home. His propensity to turn the ball over and make that way-too-risky throw has re-opened the door to a quarterback competition. The Hoosiers go as Lagow goes. In their six wins in 2016 Lagow completed 64.6 percent of his 164 passes for 1,500 yards while tossing 10 touchdowns and only six picks. Conversely, in IU’s seven losses, we saw his completion percentage drop to 53.6 while throwing for 1,862 yards on 274 attempts with nine touchdowns to go along with 11 interceptions.

Lagow is at his best hitting his underneath receivers and then going over-the-top when defenses crowd the line while being asked to throw under 30 times per game. The Hoosier offense will need to avoid just letting Lagow sling it around the yard.

While starting all 13 games last season for IU is extremely valuable, there are some hurdles Lagow will have to clear in order to keep his job as QB1. First, he must learn the new offense that Mike DeBord is bringing in from Tennessee. Second, he must fix his mechanics throwing the football. Finally, Lagow must learn to take better care of the ball. Do those things, and that will shut the door on the competition.

The Challengers: Austin King and Peyton Ramsey

The two quarterbacks who are poised to take the throne from Lagow are redshirt sophomore Austin King and red shirt freshman Peyton Ramsey. Neither have played a down of colligate football, but both have a unique skill set that could help the Hoosiers in 2017 or beyond.

Georgia native Austin King will be entering his second spring practice with the Hoosier program. The 6-foot-2 quarterback was the 29th best quarterback in the country coming out of high school according to 247Sports and threw for 2,370 yards as a senior in 2014. King redshirted as a freshman in 2015 and did not see any game action last year.

During last summer’s quarterback competition, his name was dropped several times by former head coach Kevin Wilson. The departed head coach said King “has a lot of talent for a young guy. He has just been inconsistent at coming to work. He has actually been really good, but he had a period of not being good” during fall camp prior to last season. King showed that he has a strong arm in fall camp. He has the tools to be the starting quarterback, however he needs to put it all together.

The other challenger, redshirt freshman Peyton Ramsey, is the one who has fans murmuring about his potential under center in the future for IU.  Alex Compton talked about Ramsey in our Redshirt Preview earlier in the week and had this to say, “if Ramsey can show he is athletic enough to extend and make some plays with his feet and is able to master another playbook”, he could be a sleeper to win the job. Ramsey’s ability to be a dual-threat could give him a bit of an advantage on King and even the playing field a little bit with Lagow. Both offensive coordinator Mike DeBord and head coach Tom Allen have stressed the need for the offense to have a quarterback defenses have to account for.

The Long Shots: Danny Cameron

If you like underdog stories, then you are probably rooting for Danny Cameron to surprise people and have a legitimate shot at the starting job. The career back-up will be a redshirt junior in 2017 and has appeared in one game. Cameron’s strengths come from being a smart football player. He doesn’t wow any one with his throwing ability and is a true pocket-passer.

The Situation

The quarterback competition will probably go into fall camp, especially when incoming freshman Nick Tronti arrives on campus, but spring practice will be a chance for these four signal callers to separate themselves from Tronti and learn the new offense. Richard Lagow should come out in front and an open competition is not the worst thing in the world for Lagow, but the gap is closing fast on his lead and he better be ready to hold off the challengers.

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