Allen: Quarterback Decision Coming in the Near Future

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers held their second scrimmage on Friday morning inside Memorial Stadium. After last week, Indiana head coach Tom Allen said that the team would not disclose a starting quarterback to the public until kickoff against Illinois, but would internally make a decision shortly after the team’s second scrimmage.

“We may take a couple days after we get through all of this. We still have two more days of practice before we're kind of out of fall camp and into Illinois prep. So, we're not there yet. So, definitely we'll be making a decision in the near future.” Allen told reporters on Friday.

The battle for the coveted QB1 spot is between Jack Tuttle and Connor Bazelak. Both of whom showed signs of progress in Friday’s scrimmage.

“I think continuing to understand our system is a big deal, and I haven't really strayed from the three things that I'm really looking for from them.” Allen said.

The coaching staff is looking for three qualities in their starting quarterback. First, is understanding and having command of the offense. Allen called that step “continues to grow each week as each day passes”

Second, is taking care of the football. Something IU quarterbacks did not do well in 2021.

“The ability to protect the football. That's going to be a big variable in this decision.” Allen said. “You know how much peril you put your whole team in when you don't protect it and when you make poor decisions. So, I'm continuing to see those. I think that's becoming a little more clear with each one of those guys and where they're at and I think that's got to be a huge priority.”

Finally, it’ll be who wins the locker room.

“Number three is winning the confidence of the locker room.” Allen explained. “I think that happens on a consistent basis. It happens just from having interactions, happens on how you play every day, the trust that's built over time. I think both of those guys continue to grow and execute some of our offense, both continue to do some good things in moving the ball down field and getting the ball in the end zone, which is huge.”

So who will win the quarterback battle? Allen, gave his answer on Friday.

“Whoever we feel has those three qualities and is able to do that consistently well, and I think that, as you would expect, they're growing in those areas in understanding what you're doing.” Allen said. There is no question defensively we do enough things to make that challenging for them at times, which is good. Make them have to be able to do a lot of things and allow them to execute the offense at a high level which is not easy to do. I don't think, just because of the multiplicity of things we try to present with them. But, at the same time, that's part of it. We'll see a lot of the same stuff. The progress has been good, and we're anxious to get to make a decision and move forward”