Jack Tuttle to Start at Quarterback for Indiana Against Penn State

Connor Bazelak has started every game at quarterback for Indiana this season, but Indiana has made a switch to Jack Tuttle for Saturday's matchup with Penn State.

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana has made a quarterback change.

Jack Tuttle will start for the Hoosiers in their 3:30 p.m. ET kickoff against Penn State. 

Connor Bazelak was wearing shorts and a hoodie during pregame warmups, so he will not be available for Saturday's game against Penn State. Dexter Williams, Brendan Sorsby and Grant Gremel are the remaining quarterbacks in uniform for Indiana.

Tuttle entered the transfer portal before Indiana's game at Rutgers, but he's still with the team for the remainder of the 2022 season. Tuttle was named a team captain before the season, but lost the starting quarterback competition to Bazelak during the offseason.

"I love my teammates and I'm not going to leave them in the season,'' Tuttle told HoosiersNow.com publisher Tom Brew in an exclusive interview when he announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal on Oct. 17. "I know there are a ton of other people in the NCAA who leave in the middle of the season and I'm not going to do that. Nor will I let this be a distraction or affect how I prepare and lead the team. This just gives me the best chance to play next year and be in the best spot."

Tuttle joined Indiana in 2019 as a transfer from Utah, and he's appeared in 14 games with eight starts as a Hoosier. Tuttle has never won the starting job at Indiana, but he replaced an injured Michael Penix in 2020 and led the Hoosiers to a 14-6 win at No. 16 Wisconsin. In three seasons, Tuttle has thrown for 819 yards with a 55.9 completion percentage, four touchdowns and six interceptions. 

"He'll be getting his MBA from our Kelley School of Business, so doing everything we can to help him finish up that way, but has a desire to want to play his final year, so doing everything I can to support him in that," Allen said on Oct 17. "He's been a great leader for us. He's been a great teammate, and I don't expect that to change. He and I are on the same page with that, and I have a lot of love and respect for Jack. Appreciate all he's done for us. He's going to finish out with our team and do everything the right way, as he's always done, and I don't expect anything to change along those lines."

Bazelak has started all eight games during the 2022 season, leading the Hoosiers to a 3-5 record. Bazelak has completed 208 of 379 pass attempts for 2,099 yards, 12 touchdowns and nine interceptions. Through eight games, Bazelak is seven yards shy of Indiana's total passing output in 12 games in 2021, and he's third among Big Ten quarterbacks in passing yards. But he's struggled with accuracy and turnovers, completing 54.9 percent of passes, which ranks last in the Big Ten and 116th in the Football Bowl Subdivision. 

Bazelak transferred from Missouri to Indiana before the season. In three years at Missouri, he threw for 5,084 yards with 23 touchdowns, 17 interceptions, and a 66.4 completion percentage in 20 starts and 24 total appearances, including SEC Co-Freshman of the Year honors in 2020.

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