Indiana football keeping details on QB battle behind closed doors during spring practice

BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti is keeping a lid on the quarterback rotation he's using Saturday for the team's first scrimmage of spring practice, but that's not a completely unexpected development.

Cignetti hasn't shared much in the way of specifics about the position battle through the first two-plus weeks of spring camp.

Ohio transfer Kurtis Rourke, redshirt sophomore Tayven Jackson and four-star signee Tyler Cherry are competing for the starting job this spring. Cignetti told The Herald-Times before the season he expected the competition would continue into fall camp.

"I'm not going to tell you about the quarterback rotation, from here on out I may not be very open about it," Cignetti said.

More:Spring practice: What you need to know about Indiana football’s high stakes QB competition

Though he did add that he's been "impressed" with Rourke's progress.

"He just looks like the last two practices he's been functioning like a high level quarterback," Cignetti said.

Rourke brought much-needed experience to the quarterback room out of the transfer portal. The former MAC offensive player of the year has made 33 career starts. His best season came in 2022 when he threw for 3,256 yards,  25 touchdowns and only four interceptions.

Cherry, who was the No. 233 overall ranked recruit in the 2024 signing class, continues to get reps with the first- and second-team offense, but the coaching staff isn't rushing his development.

The 6-foot-5, 215-pounder was a two-year starter at Center Grove with 5,462 passing yards, 56 passing touchdowns and 68.5 completion percentage. He was 23-4 as a starter and led the team to a state title as a junior. 

"He's not ready," Cignetti said. "He does throw the ball to the right guy a lot. The arm strength and the accuracy need to improve, but for freshman to come in and find the open receiver, doesn't always get him the ball. Keep plugging along, he gets better every day. Great summer, fall camp, we'll see, right?"

Cignetti downplayed the overall importance of the scrimmage —IU's eighth practice of spring camp — since he structures each of his practices to simulate game-like conditions minus the tackling. The Hoosiers will have two more scrimmages in April including the spring game on April 18 at Memorial Stadium.

"To me a scrimmage is just another practice, but the players out on the field on their own," Cignetti said. "I really haven't even thought much about the scrimmage yet."

Michael Niziolek is the Indiana beat reporter for The Bloomington Herald-Times. You can follow him on X @michaelniziolek and read all his coverage by clicking here.