Hoosiers Have Great Recruiting Day, But Not Finished Yet, Especially with Quarterbacks

It was the best recruiting day in the history of Indiana football, and coach Tom Allen is thrilled with the Hoosiers' haul. But he also said Wednesday that they are nowhere near finished, and are still actively recruiting quarterbacks, both in the prep ranks and in the transfer portal.

Tom Brew | Dec 16, 2021

Hoosiers Have Great Recruiting Day, But Not Finished Yet, Especially with Quarterbacks /

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — During the course of the season, Indiana coach Tom Allen often talks about coaching right up to kickoff. It's the same with recruiting, and then some. Even though the Hoosiers had the best recruiting day in school history on Wednesday, Allen and his staff kept right on working.

There are still gaps to fill, most notably at quarterback, where the Hoosiers ''took a detour'' in the past week. Michael Penix Jr., a three-year starter who's been injured most of his four-year career, decided to transfer to Washington for his final season. And Texas high school quarterback Josh Hoover, who had been committed to Indiana since June, jumped ship to TCU last week.

Indiana signed 25 players on Wednesday, but no quarterbacks. There's still work to be done in that area, and there is a plan in place. Results could happen before the early signing period ends on Friday, or it could happen again in February during the next signing period.

"We're in the process of executing that plan,'' Allen said. "We definitely took a detour within the last week, but the bottom line is we plan to sign a transfer quarterback as well as a high school quarterback. That's the plan. We're working on that just relentlessly, and that's a big part of everything we're doing, and even this morning, this afternoon, the rest of the day, into the weekend and the next week and the week after that.

"We've 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. I feel good about the plan, but we've 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.''

There are several big-name experienced college quarterbacks in the transfer portal, and the Hoosiers are talking to several of them. The best unsigned high school quarterback in the country — four-star Tanner Bailey of Gordo, Ala. — was in Bloomington for an official visit last weekend and was quiet on signing day Wednesday. He decommitted from Oregon last week after coach Mario Christobal left for Miami.

Losing Hoover hurt — he's ranked 39th nationally among quarterbacks; Bailey is 14th — but he was the only commit that didn't sign on Wednesday other than Lawrence North wide receiver Omar Cooper, who opted to wait to sign.

"Most of these guys were committed to us for a long time and stayed the course, which I really appreciate, and it means a lot to us,'' Allen said. "It just shows you what they feel about our program and where we're at.''

Allen said Wednesday that he has had conversations with 2021 backup quarterback Jack Tuttle, and he said he "expects Jack to be here'' in 2022. Tuttle saw action after Penix went down with a shoulder injury, but then got injured himself (foot) and missed most of the rest of the season.

Allen also said he talked with true freshman Donaven McCulley when the got back off the recruiting trail. McCulley was thrown into the fire after Penix and Tuttle went down, and he struggled.

Allen admitted McCulley wasn't ready to play. He couldn't get to Bloomington until the summer because he was playing high school basketball at Lawrence North, and simply didn't have the reps to be ready so quickly.

"We actually just sat down (Tuesday) and talked and I was just checking in on him,'' Allen said. "We just talked ... through everything and we kind of laughed, like, hey, you know what, we didn't expect you to be playing like that, and he's like, 'no, I sure didn't either.'

"He just needs time, time to be developed. We thought we would have that time, but obviously that did not happen. He didn't come here mid-year, he came over the summer, and we all know what that creates, so now he has a chance to be able to be more fully developed. He's going to dive into that and have a great next several months here and get into spring football and just be developed with fundamentals and learning a new offensive system. Obviously, he's going be one of the guys competing for the starting position.''

McCulley admitted he was overwhelmed during Indiana's final stretch, but Allen said the damage isn't permanent.

"I think we'll know more in time, but I don't think he's been fractured,'' Allen said. "I think his confidence was hit and it was hurt, without question, because he was thrust into a position that he was probably not ready for yet, in fairness to him.

"But I do know that he does have a lot of core confidence, and he's been awesome throughout all of it and continued to stay the course and do everything he could to get ready each week. But I do think he just needs a full off-season to really, truly be developed as a quarterback and go through all the read progressions and the fundamentals of making those plays when the pressure is on, because he can obviously do it in a practice setting. Now we've got to get it to translate to where he can make those reads and make those high-level decision making that's going to happen on game day. I'm really excited for this offseason for Donaven. He needs it.''

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