Allen Has Announced His Starting Quarterback Internally as Season Opener Nears

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

We have white smoke billowing out of the chimneys at Memorial Stadium (not really) as Indiana head coach Tom Allen announced on Tuesday that he has named a starting quarterback for the Hoosiers season opener against Illinois.

“We have made a decision as we said we would, following the second scrimmage, and have talked to the individuals involved. It's not going to be made public [at this time]. At the same time, those guys know, and it will be reflected in our practice reps tomorrow.” Allen said via Zoom.

The Hoosiers coaching staff never planned to announce a starting quarterback publicly ahead of their season opener. Allen knows what is at stake and, even if some people think it’s silly, he is going to keep this decision in-house until warmups on September 2nd.

The battle was mainly between Jack Tuttle and Connor Bazelak Allen and the offensive coaches had two scrimmages and nearly a dozen practices to see who had the upper hand. While it wasn’t announced, Allen went into depth about the battle itself.

“It was very close. It was a very, very long detail process we went through and just the collective as a whole group, obviously, I gotta make the final call and the buck stops with me on that, but at the same time, you know, it was a it was a group decision.” Allen said of the situation.

Not only does IU have offensive coordinator Walt Bell coaching the quarterbacks, running backs coach Craig Johnson spent a decade in the NFL coaching quarterbacks. It would seem like IU left no stone unturned.

“At the end of day, you gotta make a decision, you only can pick one. So that's what makes it really hard. You wish it didn't have to make you know that you can play to them, but that's not how it works. And that's how we're going to do so. So you have to make those tough calls. But yeah, very, very detailed. Much for much just let make decision. I get it a huge decision for our program and and I know how hard those guys that worked and everybody's work so I'd be sensitive to that as well but it's definitely a long process to came to make a decision.” Allen explained.

Hoosier fans will have to wait until September 2nd to find out who Allen and his staff tabbed to kickoff a very important year.