Indiana Football: In age of transfers, Peyton Ramsey rewarded for staying

In a new era of college football players transferring to get more playing time, Peyton Ramsey stayed and was rewarded for it.

It has been just over a year since the new redshirt went into effect and it has been great, but led to a ton of transfers. The rule was intended to let freshmen have the chance to play up to four games without losing a year of eligibility. It allowed them to get their feet wet without burning a year for which they probably weren’t going to play that much anyway.

What was not intended was for the wave of transfers to hit after losing their job or not getting as much playing time as they thought they might. A loophole was brought up this year when players started redshirting when they thought it was a lost season for the team.

Most famously Kelly Bryant of Clemson left the team after four games when Dabo Sweeney replaced him with Trevor Lawrence. Instead of staying and trying to work his way back into the lineup he left the team and eventually transferred to Missouri. There have been others, but he was the most noteworthy one so far.

Other quarterbacks have left after losing their job and not even worrying about the four games. Justin Fields (Georgia to Ohio State) and Tate Martell (Ohio State to Miami) are the biggest names to go that route.

Last year, though, Jalen Hurts stayed at Alabama and it paid off when he helped the Crimson Tide win the SEC Championship game when Tua Tagovailoa got hurt. Hurts would transfer this year to Oklahoma, but at least he stayed the season and was in all accounts a great teammate.

The Hoosiers own Peyton Ramsey was in a similar situation this year when he lost the starting job, one he had all of last year, to true freshman Michael Penix Jr. Ramsey could have been mad and said ‘forget this place’ and transferred to a school where he could be their starting quarterback.

Instead, he stayed, watched Penix have a great start to the year and still remained a steadying force behind him. Instead of pouting, he bided his time and when Penix, unfortunately got hurt, he got his chance.

Ramsey came in and helped the Hoosiers hold off Maryland on the road and then for an encore had one of the best games of his career in their win at Nebraska. The stats were great and the win was even better, but the thing that Ramsey showed was if you stay, things can work out. He showed loyalty to the program and right now he is helping them have their best season in decades.

Penix may start when he is healthy and Ramsey may go back to the bench. But Ramsey has proven to be a great teammate and an invaluable piece to the Hoosiers. Without him, they may not have won at Nebraska or be favored when they take on Northwestern this weekend.

In an era of bailing on your team, Ramsey stayed and for that, he was rewarded.