Indiana Football: Tom Allen names Tayven Jackson starting quarterback

And now it’s official. Indiana has its starting quarterback.

Per a tweet from Zach Osterman, Coch Tom Allen announced today that Tayven Jackson would be the starting quarterback moving forward. Though he was technically the starter last week against Indiana State, he and Brendan Sorsby split reps in a continuation of the quarterback battle that began in spring camp.

Luke had a good write up earlier today getting into it in more depth, but Tayven absolutely earned the job last weekend against Indiana State, giving Indiana a passing attack it hasn’t had since Mike Penix was healthy.

After a few short throws on the first drives to get his confidence up, Jackson showed an ability to throw the ball downfield, stretching the defense in a way the Hoosiers could not against Ohio State. Jackson’s already impressive stat line would have been even better had it not been for repeated ineligible downfield receiver penalties.

Jackson isn’t the runner that Sorsby is, but Indiana was able to establish the run with Josh Henderson and Jaylin Lucas enough that Walt Bell wasn’t leaning on the option to pick up short yardage. Opting with the better passer should allow Bell to get deeper into his playbook going forward.

It remains to be seen what, if anything, will change when Dexter Williams II is fully healthy, but for now, Indiana fans can say that they finally have a starting quarterback.