Yes Folks, Tom Allen Has a Plan For the Hoosiers Quarterback Room

Image: Indiana University Athletics

Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

The dust has settled from a chaotic but largely successful National Signing Day, which saw Tom Allen and Indiana sign the program’s highest rated class in program history by 247Sports records. 18 high school players signed their letters of intent while an additional seven joined the program by way of the transfer portal.

One missing position from the day’s events, however, was arguably the most important in the game: quarterback. This is likely to change before spring camp rolls around.

“I'll tell you exactly what the plan is,” said Tom Allen at his National Signing Day presser. “Definitely took a detour within the last week or so, but bottom line is we plan to sign a transfer quarterback as well as a high school quarterback. That is the plan. I'm working on that just relentlessly, and that's a big part of everything we're doing, and even this morning, this afternoon, rest of the day, into the weekend and the next week and the week after that.”

This will be a relief to hear for Hoosier fans, who saw Michael Penix Jr. enter the transfer portal and Josh Hoover back out of his verbal commitment. Penix was never able to stay healthy during his time in Bloomington and hoped a change of scenery would do him well; ultimately, he decided to join former offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer at Washington. Nick Sheridan’s departure as offensive coordinator also saw Hoover back out and commit to TCU instead, an option closer to home for him.

This leaves Indiana with just a few scholarship quarterbacks remaining: Jack Tuttle, Dexter Williams II, and Donaven McCulley. All have limited to no experience, and none of them have entered the season as “The Guy,” though Tuttle and McCulley have logged sporadic starts throughout their careers. Tuttle has the most collegiate experience, and Allen does expect him to return in 2022.

“I expect Jack to be here,” Allen added. “Yes, I do, and we've actually met as recent as yesterday to talk about that, and what the second semester is going to look like.”

However, Allen’s comments would lead one to suspect that the starting job for next year is still largely up for grabs. After a brief dead period, visits will soon be permitted again allowing Allen and his staff to get guys they are interested in on campus. These visits proved to be quite fruitful in the past couple weeks.

“Got a little window of time when you can bring guys back on campus in the early part of January, which is built in for this very purpose, so we'll take full advantage of that. There's a five-day window there where you can bring guys on campus before the second semester begins, and we're already in the process of lining up those visits at this point.”

In the high school realm, former Oregon commit Tanner Bailey appears to be the lone remaining quarterback target. Bailey made a visit in December and seemed to be impressed with what he saw. He would be a great addition, though likely wouldn’t be ready to start day 1 on campus.

The transfer market has numerous options available for a starter next season. FCS Incarnate Word’s Cameron Ward remains the highest ranked quarterback available, and Indiana has been mentioned with him, but he is not the only talent left on the board. USC’s Kedon Slovis was linked to Indiana by a family relation, DJ Matthews and Shaun Shivers have been active on Twitter recruiting Auburn’s Bo Nix, or Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez or Texas A&M’s Zach Calzada both project as good fits under what we expect from Walt Bell. The options are endless, and Indiana will certainly be exploring them. The Hoosiers are currently ranked as the 3rd best transfer market “class” in 247Sports’ portal rankings.
 
“Feel good about the plan. Got to execute it to the highest level. It's very critical. So yes, we will sign two quarterbacks here before this process is done.”

When visits are announced in the coming weeks, we’ll have a better idea of what to truly expect going forward in the Indiana quarterback room.