The Indiana football program suffered a big loss on Tuesday as starting QB Michael Penix will miss the rest of the 2019 season.
After a fantastic campaign in which Indiana Football is 7-2 and bowl eligible, starting quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will miss the remainder of the 2019 season after undergoing surgery.
According to an IU press release:
"“Indiana redshirt freshman quarterback Michael Penix Jr. will miss the remainder of the 2019 regular season and the postseason with a right sternoclavicular joint injury. Penix underwent surgery on Monday and it was determined following the surgery that he will not return for the remainder of the year.”"
The injury was suffered last week against Northwestern and was one of multiple games this season in which Penix got banged up. On the year, Penix was 110-of-160 through the air at a 68.8 percent clip throwing for 1,394 yards with 10 touchdowns.
This is a tough loss for an Indiana program having a historic season with just Penn State, Michigan and Purdue left on their schedule. As much as this hurts Indiana, they have an amazing replacement in Peyton Ramsey, however.
Ramsey has just as many attempts through the air as Penix this season with, 157 attempts and has seen action in seven games thus far. Ramsey also has a completion percentage just under 72 percent and has nine passing touchdowns on the season. This is just a minor setback for an Indiana program that is definitely heading in the right direction.
This is what Coach Tom Allen had to say about Penix:
"“He’s worked extremely hard and had a great season. He’ll recover from this and get bigger and stronger this offseason. Mike has a very bright future with the Hoosiers.”"
This is the second straight season ending injury for Penix as he tore his ACL last season during a game against Penn State. Look for him to come back even better next season, with an added weight program looking to be a point of emphasis for the lefty in the offseason.