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

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. 

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.

Cherry was the No. 233 ranked player in the 2024 signing class and No. 6 in-state prospect, according to 247 Sports 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’

Cignetti’s priority in the portal was landing a quarterback with experience. Rourke fit the bill as a three-year starter with 36 games under his belt (33 career starts).

While Cignetti admits that Rourke’s extensive experiences gives him a leg up in the competition, don’t anoint him QB1 just yet.  

"It's all going to be earned on the field, nothing is promised,” Cignetti said, in a sit-down interview with The Herald-Times. 

He’s quick to point out that he’s twice started two mid-year freshman enrollees during his career (Philip Rivers at NC State and Davis Cheek at Elon) and had “great years” with them running the offense. 

The structure of the competition will follow the same script that’s worked for Cignetti in the past. 

"Usually what I do with the quarterback competition, we give a guy a day, we just rotate them in spring,” Cignetti said. 

None of the quarterbacks will go live. 

According to Cignetti, the staff usually has a good idea of who the starter will be within the first two weeks of fall camp. Indiana’s quarterback competition lasted the entire offseason last year — from spring into the fall — and even spilled into the regular season.

More:Why new quarterback Kurtis Rourke got reps at Indiana football's 2024 pro day

‘I think he's got a chance to be special’

Rourke put up some eye-popping numbers in 2022. He threw for 3,256 yards,  25 touchdowns and only four interceptions. He ranked in the top 10 nationally with 296.0 yards per game (No. 10), a 69.1 completion percentage (No. 8) and 9.2 yards per attempt (No. 4). 

He won MAC Offensive Player of the Year, but his season ended on a down note when he suffered a torn ACL in a late season win over Ball State. 

The injury is part of the reason why his numbers last season weren’t quite as impressive.  

“He wasn't able to train going into his senior year and played 15 pounds heavier, wasn't in the same kind of shape,” Cignetti said. 

Cignetti, who spends many of his days and nights watching film, stressed the importance of that body of work back when he signed Rourke. 

"Knowing how to play quarterback is a lot more than just having an arm and accuracy and making a few outstanding plays,” Cignetti said. “A lot of their greatest plays go unnoticed. A guy gets in a jam on first and ten, he gets you back to second and ten. He doesn't take a sack, doesn't fumble, doesn't throw an interception.”

That might not give Rourke much of a leg up if Cherry is as ready as he seems. 

Cignetti chooses his words carefully when discussing the Center Grove alum, but it’s clear he’s made an impression during his two-plus months on campus. 

“He's put on about 15 pounds since he's here,” Cignetti said. “He's under 10 percent body fat. He's a quick thinker. He's got talent.” 

Cherry’s bio lists him at 6-foot-5, 215-pounds, but those measurements haven’t been updated since he enrolled. 

He has some impressive game film as well even though it’s from his decorated preps career. He went 23-4 as a two-year starter and set career records at Center Grove with 5,462 passing yards, 56 passing touchdowns and 68.5 completion percentage. He led the team to a state title as a junior. 

“Tyler Cherry, I don't want too much pressure on him,” Cignetti said, with a pause. “I think he's got a chance to be special.”

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.