Indiana Football: Coaching Rumors, Transfer Portal News

Lots of Indiana football related news these last few days, perhaps most notably quarterback Michael Penix’s decision to enter his name in the transfer portal.

Penix went down with a shoulder injury on October 2 against Penn State, the fourth time in his four seasons at Indiana that his season was cut short by an injury. When completely healthy, Penix helped bring Indiana football to new heights, earning a place in program history with his diving effort to beat Penn State in Bloomington last season on a two-point conversion. Against Ohio State last year, Penix threw for 491 yards and five touchdowns, becoming just the fourth quarterback to ever throw for five touchdowns against the Buckeyes. As a starter, Penix led Indiana football to their first consecutive winning seasons since 1987-88.

In brighter news, Indiana has added quite a bit of talent on the defensive side of the ball from the transfer portal already this offseason. Patrick Lucas and LeDarrius Cox, two defensive linemen from Ole Miss both committed to the Hoosiers this weekend after visiting campus together. Both have three years of eligibility remaining and finished their high school careers as three-star recruits with a slew of SEC offers before deciding on Ole Miss. Indiana also added linebacker Bradley Jennings, a transfer from the University of Miami, where he started 11 games in 2020.

Finally, there are some reports circulating that Indiana has hired Walt Bell to be the new offensive coordinator. Bell most recently worked as the head coach at UMass, where he finished with a 2-23 record over his three seasons there. He has been the offensive coordinator at Florida State, Maryland and Arkansas State with generally mixed results. His time in Arkansas State was the most successful, as his 2015 group finished 12th in the nation with 40 points per game. Both Allen and Bell served as assistant coaches under Willie Taggart at Florida State.