Four year Indiana quarterback Michael Penix, Jr. is in the transfer portal after a roller coaster career in Bloomington.
Penix confirmed the news in a Monday Instagram post.
“I’ve officially decided to enter the transfer portal,” he wrote. “I feel blessed to have been able to represent Indiana University. I appreciate the opportunity that was afforded to me by Coach Allen and I’m grateful for his belief in me.
“Working with Coach Sheridan day in and day out has been a blessing and I’m thankful for the entire coaching staff.”
Penix has had each of his four seasons at IU end prematurely with injuries. He suffered right ACL tears in 2018 and 2020, and a right sternoclavicular joint injury in 2019. He dealt with other less serious injuries in 2019 that caused him to miss game action.
The Tampa native suffered an acromioclavicular joint injury to his throwing shoulder at Penn State in October when he scrambled out of the pocket and landed on hard on his left side after being hit on the run. He was described as “week-to-week” for the remainder of the season but never returned to the field.
The 2021 season was a difficult one for the redshirt junior. Through five games Penix was 87-of-162 passing (53.7 percent) with four touchdowns and seven interceptions. Prior to the 2021 campaign Penix had completed better than 61 percent of his throws and amassed 25 touchdowns against just eight interceptions.
Penix was named second team All-Big Ten after the 2020 season. He led Indiana to one of its more memorable wins in program history and scored one of its most iconic touchdowns when he reached for the pylon and converted a two-point conversion to defeat Penn State. He also led IU to wins over Michigan and Michigan State and threw for 491 yards and five touchdowns and in a furious rally that came up short against Ohio State.
The lefty was the 2020 and 2021 team captain and owns a 12-5 record as a starter. The 6-foot-3 Penix is tied for No. 5 in 300-yard passing games (5) at Indiana with Richard Lagow (5; 2016-17) and one behind Peyton Ramsey (6; 2017-19). He ranks No. 10 on the career passing touchdowns charts (29), two behind Tim Clifford (31; 1977-80) and three behind Harry Gonso (32; 1967-69).
Originally a Tennessee commit, Penix was a 4-star recruit according to some outlets. He pledged to Indiana out of Tampa Bay (Fla.) Tech over offers from Florida State, South Florida and others.
As with all players in the transfer portal, Penix can decide to return to Indiana.
As it stands, Indiana will have Jack Tuttle, Dexter Williams, Donaven McCulley and Josh Hoover as scholarship quarterbacks next season.
To see more on Indiana’s activity in the transfer portal, GO HERE.
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