Led by Big Ten coach of the year Curt Cignetti, the Indiana Hoosiers coaching staff has had four straight quarterbacks earn conference player of the year honors going back to their time at James Madison and now they have Kurtis Rourke as a second team B1G honoree.
Senior graduate transfer Kurtis Rourke has an amazing senior season for the Hoosiers, Rourke completed 70.4 percent of his passes for 2,827 yards, 27 touchdowns, and four interceptions over 11 starts this season, going 10-1.
The only other start at quarterback was 6-foot-4, 210 pound redshirt sophomore Tayven Jackson.
Jackson started his career at Tennessee, before transferring to Indiana after his freshman season. Jackson completed only 3 of 4 passes for 37 yards during his freshman season at Tennessee in 2022, playing behind starter (Detriot Lions) Hendon Hooker and (New England Patriots) Joe Milton III.
He started the 2023-24 season before being benched, he completed 78 of 128 passes for 914 yards with two touchdowns to five interceptions last season.
He stayed put as backup quarterback but did replaced Rourke this season when he went down with a thumb injury in the Nebraska game. He started against the Washington Huskies in a 31-17 win.
Jackson a former four-star, went 11-19 with 124 yards, 1 touchdown and 1 interception on 57.9 % passing.
Tayven Jackson is the projected starter at this point but Cignetti will likely dip his feet in the transfer portal to find a new signal caller to at least compete with Jackson.
Along with Jackson, Indiana also holds 3 quarterbacks on their roster including Roman Purcell, Alberto Mendoza and four-star quarterback Tyler Cherry. I expect Cherry one of the most highly touted quarterbacks in Indiana state history to also get a look at quarterback too.
While the transfer portal does not officially open until Monday, Dec. 9th players have the ability to put their name in so that they are able to be recruited by other programs once they become available.
There are some really good names in the transfer portal currently, it's early in the process but we will take a sneak peak at who Curt Cignetti and Indiana could land next year at quarterback for the Hoosiers program.
1. Texas A&M QB, Conner Weigman
In his three seasons at A&M, Weigman had 2,694 passing yards and 19 touchdowns while completing 60% of his passes. He threw seven interceptions, including five this season. Weigman’s time as an Aggie was injury ridden. After earning the starting role last season, he suffered a season-ending foot injury in the fourth game of the season. This year, he sustained a sprain to the AC joint and a concussion.
Weigman will have two years of eligibility left in his career.
2. UAB QB, Jacob Zeno
Quarterback Jacob Zeno is entering the transfer portal as a graduate transfer, per reports. Zeno started his career at Baylor, he spent the last three seasons with the UAB Blazers. He passed for 4,666 yards passing with 31 touchdowns and 17 interceptions over three seasons.
He will be seeking a seventh year of eligibility from the NCAA and will turn 24 years of age.
3. USC QB, Miller Moss
During the 2024 college football season at USC, Moss put together a solid year. He completed 64.4 percent of his pass attempts for 2,555 yards, 18 touchdowns, and nine interceptions. Moss also scored two touchdowns on the ground per Trojans Wire
Moss shined in games versus LSU and Michigan this season and will be entering his senior season.
4. Oklahoma, QB Jackson Arnold
Arnold started the 2023 season as Oklahoma's back backup to Dillon Gabriel in 2023. With tons of hype as a five-star prospect, Arnold started the 2024 season but was benched midseason for freshman Michael Hawkins Jr.
He finished the year with 1,421 passing yards, 444 rushing yards, 15 total touchdowns (12 passing and three rushing) and just three interceptions.
The 20 year old sophomore has three years of eligibility remaining.
5. Stanford QB, Ashton Daniels
In 33 career games played at Stanford, Daniels has thrown for 3,986 yards and 21 touchdowns while also adding on 1,117 yards on the ground and nine rushing touchdowns.
After seeing limited action in his true freshman season in 2022, Daniels broke out as a sophomore in 2023 where he completed nearly 59% of his passes for 2,247 yards with 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions per Stanford Cardinal on SI