A Huge Get: The Impact of Landing Jack Tuttle

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

While the 2019 recruiting class has been shaping up to be very impressive, the IU staff was in pursuit of a key piece: a quarterback they believed could make a difference. Several graduate transfers were mentioned on message boards and the Hoosiers offered a few high school seniors. However, a name from the not-too-distant past came out of nowhere and IU has officially announced they have added former four-star signal-caller Jack Tuttle. Tuttle was offered by Indiana during his high school career as he has family connections to Indiana University. A top prospect from California, Tuttle chose Utah early on in his recruitment but things did not go as planned upon his enrollment with the Utes.

Prior to the season getting underway, Tuttle chose to transfer and Tom Allen and his staff showed him enough to entice him to Bloomington. In high school, Tuttle had offers to Alabama, Arizona, LSU, Nebraska, USC and several others. He is a terrific addition on paper. But what does his addition mean for the Hoosiers, in 2019 and beyond?

The current opinion of people with knowledge of the transfer situation is that Tuttle will become eligible for the 2019 season and he will have four years to play four seasons although nothing has been officially determined. He plans on enrolling at Indiana in January of 2019 and be with the team for spring practice.

That is a huge help for his development. Tuttle has a massive arm that should fit very well with Indiana’s wide receivers. Allen described Tuttle as “really strong-armed throws. Being able to get (the ball) into some tight windows that are hard to defend. He’s a guy I think works extremely hard. We were impressed initially by his weight room work ethic, which coach Ballou has a pretty good feel for a guy’s mental toughness and ability to have a certain type of mindset and preparation.”

He is not a “scrambler” but his high school highlight film showed a player capable of making plays with his legs and escaping the pocket to extend plays. Indiana head coach Tom Allen has been impressed, but not surprised by Jack Tuttle’s ability to run. After a spring practice Allen said “he can pull the ball on the zone read and get first downs and make you pay for not honoring that. So yeah, he’s definitely more athletic than I thought just by watching his film, but at the same time he ran track in high school.”

The Hoosiers now have two quarterbacks that I think any IU fan should feel very good about. Michael Penix is recovering from an ACL injury that cost him his freshman season and it is unlikely he will be ready for any contact during the spring. That will give Tuttle an edge on the talented QB from Florida but the competition between the two is going to be fierce.

Peyton Ramsey’s place on the depth chart is now very much in question and he will have to show major improvement in his ability to throw downfield and in his accuracy on anything more than a ten-yard throw. The arm strength was an issue in 2018 and if it cannot be drastically improved, I think Ramsey is a clear third-choice behind Tuttle and Penix. Does that lead to Ramsey transferring? We shall see. Having an experienced player that the coaches trust would be a benefit but if Ramsey left for a more direct path to playing time, it would be understandable.

Looking at the offense today, Tuttle’s addition makes the offseason battle at the position incredibly interesting and I would expect both Tuttle and Penix to get a lot of repetitions as the coaching staff attempts to decide which player gives them the best chance to win. Make no mistake though, the ceiling for Indiana football just get higher for the foreseeable future.

This article was updated on April 4th, 2019.