Hoosiers Need to Unleash McCulley Should He Start Against Maryland

Written by Matt Smith

The Hoosiers offense has been struggling all season, whether it is the play calling, the players execution, or the schemes, something needs to change. Last week the Hoosiers lost their second string quarterback Jack Tuttle in the first quarter. This led to true freshman Donovan McCulley to get snaps.

“I think that with the unknowns that you have with Jack, you have to just fully prepare him mentally and physically and from a reps perspective. We'll see how the week plays itself out as far as how much that happens with Jack.” Allen said. ”The bottom line is you know Jack's obviously played and gotten a lot of reps in the past, where Donaven needs to get as many reps as possible. You have to have that mindset. He's going to be the guy, and then we'll see what happens. Bottom line is that would be the approach is to get him ready and get Grant ready as well. Those two guys have to be getting the majority of the reps and getting themselves in position to play. So that's going to be the approach.”

Should McCulley be called on to start, the Hoosiers need to take the training wheels off. McCulley did not have the entire offense playbook on his side against the Buckeyes and he struggled because of it.

“When you’re in the moment, you are just trying to help him. Call plays that he feels comfortable with and that he’s repped in practice,” offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan said. “I think you are just trying to problem solve, you go into the game knowing certain plays that he feels comfortable with.”

According to Sheridan, when the Hoosiers went down, they did not think they were in trouble at any point during the game. It was more about worrying about what he can do to help the players who are coming in due to injuries.

McCulley has impressed coaches during the season, but he has not seemed quite ready yet. However, it is now time to expedite the process.

“I think repetition, certainly the elements in the game on Saturday, wasn’t the easiest to handle as a freshman quarterback,” Sheridan said. 

As a true freshman, there were expectations that McCulley was going to red shirt, however his development has been sped up due to the injuries to both Michael Penix and Jack Tuttle. Earlier in the season, McCulley was running the scout team in order to develop and stay sharp.

Another storyline throughout the season has been the play of the offensive line. The line gave McCulley no time to throw the ball, constantly forcing him out of the pocket.

“I think everybody needs to elevate, everybody needs to improve, coaches and players,” Sheridan said. “We need to play more consistently, there were moments that we did a nice job and there were moments that we didn’t and that’s at every position.”

Sheridan said there were mistakes at every position that contributed to the poor play of the offense. There were dropped snaps and illegal procedure calls as well. Sheridan said it is easy to blame the offensive line, but every position needs to play better.