Indiana Will Give All Quarterbacks a Fair Shot, But Won't Draw the Process Out

Written By Alex Compton 

While there will obviously be a starting quarterback named at some point, Coach Wilson gave no indication of that happening any time soon during Tuesday’s availability. He joked around on Monday in Chicago that Indiana will indeed use a quarterback this season, but we still don’t know who will take the first snap on September 1st in Miami after two days in the Windy City. Richard Lagow, Zander Diamont and Danny Cameron were all listed as co-starters on the new depth chart, and Wilson did little to indicate that this was untrue. 

“I think [Diamont] has had an awesome summer, and I think Lagow has had a really strong summer too. It’ll be interesting when those two guys start going against each other because they didn’t during the spring.”

He doesn’t think the naming of the starter is far off, but said they just need more time. While not even hinting at a starter, Wilson did mention multiple times that his goal here is to wrap up the competition up in a timely manner to avoid “dragging it out”. Indiana has needed multiple quarterbacks regularly over the last few seasons, so the challenge of the summer will be getting the starter ready while also preparing the backups for game action. 

“I don’t know if they have a ways to go as much as we need time. I don’t think it’s fair to anoint someone until they have earned it. They have to earn the respect of the guys.”

“I don’t want to drag it out, but I know we’re going to need more than one. We’re going to develop them all.”

The three guys vying for the job all have very different games and personalities, but Coach Wilson is looking for two things above all when evaluating the QBs. 

“It’s the ability to take care of the ball and get the team in the end zone. Last year we had 161 more plays than Ohio State and 229 more plays than Penn State, yet we had the fewest turnovers. We had more plays than everybody, and the fewest sacks. It’s the ability to manage the offense, and distribute the ball.”

The strength of this team may not be the quarterback play, and Wilson is well aware of this. Instead of putting pressure on the signal callers to make plays, he is getting them to concentrate on giving the ball to any one of the dynamic players that the Hoosiers will have on offense, and relying on them to make the plays instead. 

“We’ll always play to different strengths, we can emphasize a little more run, we can emphasize a little more pass based on what the guys can do. But they have got good surrounding parts, and it’ll be interesting. When a guy is trying to win the job, he thinks he has got to take shots. We’re trying to teach them how to take care of the ball. Sometimes an incomplete pass is not bad versus trying to stick one in there. Just a lot of simple things where we take the thinking off and they can just manage the team.”

So stop let’s worrying about who the starting quarterback will be and see how it plays out. With the grind of an entire Big Ten season it is more than likely the Hoosiers will have to play multiple quarterbacks, that is just how football is now. With camp opening up in a few weeks, there is still no timeline for naming the starter and for Coach Wilson, that’s just how he wants it this offseason.