Cignetti, Staff Promote Their Past Successes To Sell New Quarterbacks on Indiana

New Indiana football head coach Curt Cignetti, along with offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri, have a strong track record with quarterbacks. In a few short weeks, they’ve already landed three new quarterbacks, including Kurtis Rourke, Tyler Cherry and Alberto Mendoza.

Jack Ankony | Dec 20, 2023

Cignetti, Staff Promote Their Past Successes To Sell New Quarterbacks on Indiana /

In this story:

Indiana Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana athletic director Scott Dolson made a focus of his coaching search clear when he introduced new head football coach Curt Cignetti on Dec. 1.

"We really wanted someone also who had worked with quarterbacks,” Dolson said. “Quarterbacks was really important to us."

Throughout former Indiana coach Tom Allen’s tenure, the quarterback position was a revolving door, especially in his final seasons. Michael Penix Jr. suffered four season-ending injuries as a Hoosier, and unproductive play from his backups led to Indiana playing nine different quarterbacks from 2019-23. The Hoosiers never could find the long-term answer.

Dolson is banking on Cignetti’s strong track record with quarterbacks as the solution in Bloomington. Contributing to a 52-9 run at James Madison, Cignetti and his staff developed three consecutive quarterbacks into all-league talents.

In 2021, Cole Johnson set the school's single-season records for passing yards, touchdowns and completions and won CAA Offensive Player of the Year. When James Madison moved up to the FBS and Sun Belt Conference in 2022, Todd Centeio won Offensive Player of the Year. And Jordan McCloud won Sun Belt Player of the Year this season.

Offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri have made the jump with Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana, and Cignetti spoke highly of both of them Wednesday. Their relationship dates back to Pittsburgh from 2009-12, when Sunseri played quarterback and Shanahan was one of his top wide receivers. Sunseri also has experience at Alabama as a graduate assistant from 2019-20, where he worked with future first-round NFL Draft pick quarterbacks Tua Tagovailoa and Mac Jones.

They’ll try to repeat that quarterback development with a new crop they’ve already recruited in a few short weeks at Indiana. Meeting with media on Wednesday, the beginning of the early signing period, Cignetti said his time at Indiana has “been a whirlwind, really. I would call this 20 days of 4th and 1.”

Cignetti said he’s been living in a university-owned house and hasn’t seen Bloomington during daylight yet. He wakes up at 4:30 a.m. most mornings and stays in his office recruiting as late as 12:30 a.m.

“Caught flack from my wife for working too late, made her kind of understand the importance of this time period, which I think is a hugely important time period for determining what kind of team we have in the fall,” Cignetti said. “So pretty good that a 60-year-old guy can still go at it like that, although I do think I fell asleep for a half second this morning on the way to work, hit a curb and blew my tire. My car dealer is not going to be real happy with me."

That hard work has paid off. The Indiana staff secured a commitment from Ohio transfer quarterback Kurtis Rourke, who joins Indiana with one year of eligibility and likely has the upper hand to start Week 1 against Florida International. Behind him, Cignetti landed class of 2024 recruits Tyler Cherry, the nation’s No. 17 quarterback from Center Grove High School in Greenwood, Ind., and Alberto Mendoza, ranked 87th among quarterbacks out of Columbus High School in Miami.

“Right now, quarterbacks are attracted to us,” Cignetti said. “Because when you take four different guys in five years and they're all Player of the Year in the conference and they all have different styles, they recognize that you do a great job of developing quarterbacks. That's a credit to Tino Sunseri, our quarterback coach, and Mike Shanahan, offensive coordinator, and I'm involved in that a little bit too."

The trio of Rourke, Cherry and Mendoza completes what currently stands as a five-scholarship quarterback room, along with redshirt sophomore Tayven Jackson and redshirt freshman Broc Lowry. Indiana’s 2023 starting quarterback Brendan Sorsby has transferred to Cincinnati, and Dexter Williams II is in the portal.

Cignetti said he didn’t have an exact number of quarterbacks he wanted to add this offseason, but he was looking for someone to come in and be “the guy.” That seems to be Rourke, though the job hasn’t been won yet. Cignetti mentioned multiple times Wednesday that he prefers productivity over potential when looking for transfers, and Rourke brings just that.

As a fifth-year senior in 2023, Rourke earned second-team All-Mid-American Conference (MAC) honors. Standing at 6-foot-5 and 216 pounds, he completed 195-of-307 passes (63.5%) for 2,207 yards, 11 touchdowns and five interceptions. Rourke was the MAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2022, when he completed 244-of-353 passes (69.1%) for 3,257 yards and 25 touchdowns, all career-high numbers. His four interceptions were a career-low.

“Kurtis Rourke knows how to play quarterback,” Cignetti said. “While he's got to do it between the white lines at Indiana, I fully expect him to do it. I think he's going to be a great player for us. But everything's earned, not given.”

Cignetti is also excited to see how far Sunseri can take Jackson, who played in six games for the Hoosiers in 2023. Jackson was a four-star recruit out of Center Grove High School, and he joined Indiana last season after one year at Tennessee, though he lost the starting job to Sorsby. Jackson finished the year completing 78-of-128 passes (60.9%) for 914 yards, two touchdowns and five interceptions.

“Last year's offense was pretty fundamental and basic, fairly simple,” Cignetti said. “I think ours will probably have a lot more pass concept volume and other things, which I think will put the defense in conflict more. Now we've got to execute it.”

Cherry will leave high school early to join the Hoosiers for spring practice, but Mendoza will not. At 6-foot-5 and 205 pounds, Cherry is the sixth-highest ranked recruit in program history and second among quarterbacks, behind Donaven McCulley. He was originally committed to Duke, but Cignetti was quickly able to flip Cherry to Indiana in his short time coaching the Hoosiers.

Cignetti said Cherry and Mendoza are similar in a lot of areas, but what makes them special is their ability to quickly process information and make good decisions. A must in modern college football, both can make plays outside the pocket with their legs, Cignetti said.

And paramount to Indiana’s new coach, they’re winners. Mendoza led Columbus to back-to-back Florida state championships, while Cherry won state as a junior in 2022 and went 11-2 as a senior.

“Their teams win, and they win big,” Cignetti said. “And they're both really smart. Excited about both of them.”

Related stories on Indiana football