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BLOOMINGTON — An annual rite of spring has been a new quarterback competition for the Indiana football team.
There’s a fresh round of optimism this year with the program hiring Curt Cignetti, a coach with a proven history of developing quarterbacks. The same is true of the brain trust he hired — offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan and quarterbacks coach Tino Sunseri — to guide the competition.
The one part of the cycle that hasn’t changed is the influx of new talent.
‘We totally redid the roster.’ Inside Curt Cignetti’s first 3 months as IU football coach
Indiana signed former MAC Offensive Player of the Year Kurtis Rourke (Ohio) out of the transfer portal while adding a pair of quarterbacks from the high school ranks — four-star recruit Tyler Cherry and former JMU commit Alberto Mendoza.
Center Grove grad Cherry was the No. 233 ranked player in the 2024 signing class and No. 6 in-state prospect, according to 247Sports composite rankings. The one-time Duke commit reopened his recruitment right as Cignetti arrived in Bloomington.
“Right now, quarterbacks are attracted to us because, when you put — 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,” Cignetti said, on early signing day.
The two holdovers from last year are Tayven Jackson and Broc Lowry. Jackson threw for 914 yards with two touchdowns and five interceptions in five starts last season. Lowry redshirted as a true freshman.
That group minus Mendoza, a summer enrollee, will be competing for the starting job this spring.
‘It’s all going to be earned on the field’
The ‘Maple Missile,’ Kurtis Rourke won MAC Offensive Player of the Year in 2022.
Cignetti’s priority in the portal was landing a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/nothing-promised-know-iu-football-112924992.html
Author : IndyStar | The Indianapolis Star
Publish date : 2024-03-21 11:29:24
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