A veteran quarterback is high on the Christmas wish for the IU football coaching staff.
After the departures of Connor Bazelak and Jack Tuttle, the Hoosiers lack experience at the critical position headed into the 2023 season.
A quick survey of IU’s current quarterback room makes it easy to see why coach Tom Allen and his staff are looking for a veteran signal caller.
Dexter Williams – Williams showed promise in his first action as an IU quarterback in late 2022. But a major knee injury against Purdue has him in rehab for the second time. His timeline to return isn’t clear at this point.
Brendan Sorsby – He played in one game during his 2022 true freshman season and completed 3-of-6 passes for eight yards and he threw an interception. Sorsby will return in 2023 as a redshirt freshman.
Broc Lowry – The 6-foot-3 true freshman from Ohio will enroll early and participate in spring practice. He’s coming off a state title and 1,818 yards rushing (26 touchdowns) and 1,756 passing (16 TDs) for his senior season at Canfield H.S.
The two quarterbacks who Indiana appeared to focus on initially — Georgia Tech transfer Jeff Sims and Arizona State transfer Emory Jones, committed to Nebraska and Cincinnati, respectively.
“We’re just working through that process every day,” Allen said of the program’s ongoing quarterback search last week. “It’s never-ending. It will continue these next several weeks, and the goal is to have a guy in place here for (the) second semester.”
While Indiana does have some hurdles to overcome like lackluster offensive line play and limited NIL funds, the current QB room at IU should present a fairly attractive opportunity for a veteran to come in and potentially start in the Big Ten.
One priority for Allen is a mobile quarterback, and they found one from a Group of Five FBS program.
IU offered Louisiana Monroe’s Chandler Rogers this past week. The 6-foot, 195 pound two-year starter has two years of eligibility remaining.
In 2022 he had 2,403 yards passing, 15 touchdowns and 7 interceptions with a 67.5 completion percentage. Even with that high completion rate, 10 percent of his passes were counted as drops by PFF, which further demonstrates his accuracy.
A dual-threat, the Mansfield, Texas product added 353 yards rushing, and five touchdowns in 2022.
In total Rogers has played in 24 career games played over the last two seasons. He started every game in 2022 and six times in 2021.
Rogers played in road games at Texas and Alabama in 2022. He completed a combined 25-of-40 passes for 204 yards and two interceptions in those contests.
After starting his college career at Southern Miss, Rogers spent a year at Blinn College in Texas. He was rated among the nation’s top dual-threat quarterbacks by ESPN.com (No. 39) and 247Sports.com (No. 45) at Lake Ridge H.S.
Rogers has taken official visits to California and Arkansas State since entering the portal.
For all of Indiana’s offseason roster activity, GO HERE:
IU football: 2022 postseason transfer portal tracker and other roster activity
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