Crimson Quarry Roundtable: Could you quarterback Indiana football?

Dec 19, 2022 - 8:55 PM

Heading into 2023 spring ball, Indiana football’s quarterback situation is... interesting

As of right now, there’s simply not a lot of dudes on the roster who throw the football. Most Power Five teams carry between six and eight quarterbacks, so Indiana’s going to need to put in some serious work in the transfer portal if they want to fill out the room.

Luckily for Tom Allen and Co., however, there are some candidates worth considering in and around the Indiana Athletics Mediascape, and a couple of ‘em can be found on campus.

It’s time for the staff of Crimson Quarry to quarterback Indiana football.

After weeks of deliberation, we could not come to a consensus on who would represent CQ at the open tryouts. Maybe you, dear reader, could help us out. Here’s each of our QB resumes... which QB (Quarry Boy) should be QB1?

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Miles

I think I could be a good QB1 for a couple reasons. First off, I know how to throw a football. It’s the most important skill for a quarterback, and I can do it. I can throw pretty far too. Two years ago I went to the field and threw a football nearly 35 yards, which is about the distance from one of the hashmarks to the far sideline.

Indiana loved its quarterbacks hitting the sideline from the far hash last season... why not let me try??

Secondly, I can take a hit. I actually happen to be a member of IU’s club lacrosse team, and last fall we had the pleasure of scrimmaging Lindenwood, a real-life Division-I team. It was all going fine until I decided to go out and get a loose ball from behind the goal:

Yup. That hurt. I am just a little guy, and that is a full-grown man who put his shoulder into my chest. I hit the ground so hard that screws in my helmet literally came undone. My one hope is that behind Bob Bostad’s revamped offensive line I’ll at least see the hits coming.

Finally, I am not afraid of humiliation. 700+ losses as a program doesn’t mean much when this photo already exists.

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Colin

I played a good amount of football growing up, but quit after 9th grade when I learned that high school teams had weight programs. My school’s varsity program was 2-6 that year, so when I heard that I would have to dedicate my precious morning hours to one of the worst teams in the conference, I hung up the cleats in 2009.

I suppose that’s a red flag as far as my commitment to the program goes, but I would like to add that my cousin once stuck it out as the quarterback for what’s now known as “The Worst Illini Football Team Ever”, so being a losing quarterback is in my blood. Sure, he quit the year the next season to pursue baseball, but he hung around for a whole 0-11 season and lived to tell the tale.

Outside of my elite quarterbacking lineage, I’m a little concerned about my arm talent. In a Mike DeBord style offense, I think I could hide behind a play sheet of 3-yard slants and bubble screens to Whop Philyor, but Walt Bell let his guys air it out a bit more last year.

I think the last time I even attempted a 20+ yard pass would have been in the tailgate fields in Bloomington circa 2016.

I also don’t think I have the toughness to hang behind an offensive line. Like Miles, I played lacrosse at Indiana, but Miles is a goalie and for some reason volunteered to let people shoot a solid rubber ball at him in the 90 mph+ range 20-30 times a game. I, on the other hand, always told my teammates that if I tore an ACL or dislocated a shoulder on the field, I wanted to be put down on the spot like a race horse.

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Luke

As site manager of the blog, I effectively quarterback the posts here. Calling out coverages (some other IU media entity not covering something) and switching up the play (asking Colin or Miles to write something instead of me because I’m busy) will come naturally to me. It can’t be that different, right?

That being said, I’m roughly the height of Jaylin Lucas without any of the speed or ability to play the game of gridiron football.

I’d get overzealous, change the play call to four verts because NCAA 14 brain and promptly get sent into the Earth’s mantle by an edge rusher because I can barely make a quick decision when ordering food at a restaurant.

Like, Colin, I too have football in the family. Unfortunately that football was played at the high school level when a forward pass was called roughly twice in a game. I do have my own winning resume as a suburban Indianapolis little league champion when I was eight years old and a second to last place finish in the 800-meters at a track meet at Perry Meridian Middle School (take that, random kid from Perry whom I left in the dust on the final lap).

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There you have it.

Your move, Walt.