No one was expecting perfection from Brendan Sorsby in his first game as Indiana’s full-time starter against Rutgers.
But he did enough on Saturday to keep the role for a tough assignment this weekend.
The redshirt freshman has earned another start at quarterback, coach Tom Allen said on Monday.
“After watching the film and meeting with the staff, I feel good about moving forward with him (Sorsby),” Allen said.
Sorsby will face one of the more challenging road assignments in college football for his second opportunity.
Indiana and Penn State kick off at Noon ET on Saturday at Beaver Stadium in University Park.
In his lone appearance for IU as a true freshman in 2022, Sorsby was 3-of-6 passing against Penn State for eight yards. Forced into duty midgame, he was sacked twice and threw an interception.
Upon watching the film from a 31-14 loss to Rutgers, both Allen and offensive coordinator Rod Carey spoke of Sorsby as if they were discussing a linebacker.
“I thought he played tough, gritty, he competed, and continued to grow and develop,” Allen said of the Denton, Texas product.
“He played his rear end off, he was physical, he used his feet,” Carey said Monday of Sorsby’s performance against the Scarlet Knights.
Against Rutgers, Sorsby completed 15-of-31 throws for 126 yards and a touchdown. He helped lead IU to their first two touchdown first half this season against a FBS opponent, although the Hoosiers were shut out int he second half. He has not thrown an interception this season in 89 total attempts.
Allen did say they want to see Sorsby speed up some of his reads, and get the ball out of his hands quicker. He also wants to see IU’s receivers come down with more contested catches.
“There aren’t a bunch of blatantly big things (that Sorsby needs to address),” Carey said. “It’s some of the young quarterback issues that we have to work through. There’s some little fundamental technique things, like you saw some high throws on some guys that were open that we’ve just got to clean up now that he knows how his body will react more on those situations.”
Sorsby and fellow redshirt freshman Tayven Jackson competed for the starting role from the spring all the way through week two of the 2023 season, when Jackson initially won the job.
But when Carey was named offensive coordinator three weeks ago, IU decided to restart the competition, and Sorsby earned the starting role after the pair split snaps a week ago at Michigan.
Sorsby has proven to be the more effective runner to this point. He has 41 carries for 131 yards thus far on the 2023 season.
Here’s Sorsby’s postgame media session following the Rutgers game:
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