IU quarterback Jack Tuttle enters transfer portal, will stay with team through 2022
BLOOMINGTON -- Indiana fifth-year senior quarterback Jack Tuttle plans to enter the transfer portal, but will remain with the team through the rest of the 2022 season, a source confirmed to the Herald-Times on Monday morning.
Tuttle is a team captain and the Hoosiers' second-string quarterback but hasn't played a snap this season behind starter Connor Bazelak. He will have one year of eligibility remaining.
Indiana coach Tom Allen confirmed Tuttle's departure at his weekly press conference Monday and said that Tuttle will leave the program on good terms. Tuttle spent four years with the Hoosiers but has a year of eligibility remaining because of the NCAA's waiver of eligibility for the COVID-affected 2020 football season.
"Jack and I met last week and had a really, really great time together and just open and honest conversation about him and (I) appreciate everything he's done for us," Allen said. "And he's going to leave Indiana with two degrees. And most recently he'll be getting his MBA from our Kelley School of Business. So doing everything we can to help him finish up that way. But he has a desire to want to play his final year. So doing everything I can to support him in that."
Tuttle starred at Mission Hills High School in San Marcos, Calif., and was a four-star recruit, the No. 167 player overall and the No. 8 pro-style quarterback nationally in the Class of 2018. He began his career at Utah, but didn't play much as a true freshman with Tyler Huntley the starter. Tuttle transferred to Indiana after one season.
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In 2019, Tuttle was behind Michael Penix Jr. and Peyton Ramsey and threw just 11 passes, completing six for 34 yards. In 2020 and 2021 Penix was again named the starter, but in both cases Tuttle had to take over due to injury. He completed 44-of-72 passes for 362 yards in 2020, leading the Hoosiers to a key win over Wisconsin late in the season after Penix tore his ACL, though they lost to Ole Miss in the Outback Bowl with him at the helm.
In 2021, Tuttle started two games in October after Penix injured his shoulder and completed 45-of-87 passes for two touchdowns but also threw five interceptions. He injured his ankle throwing a touchdown pass in the Hoosiers' loss to Ohio State and wasn't fully healthy the rest of the season.
Penix transferred to Washington, so Tuttle had a shot to win the starting job this season, but was beaten out by the Missouri transfer Bazelak in preseason camp in August. Bazelak has had struggles this season, completing just 54.6% of his passes, and has thrown eight interceptions, but he ranks third in the Big Ten with 1,889 passing yards and fifth with 12 touchdowns.
Allen said Tuttle's decision to transfer would not affect his spot on the depth chart. He will remain Indiana's No. 2 quarterback, and would be expected to take over if something should keep Bazelak off the field.
"He's going to finish out with our team and do everything the right way, as he's always done," Allen said. "And I don't expect anything to change along those lines. We have a unique situation for sure, but I think it also speaks to his character and to what we're about here. And I want to help him be able to do the things that he'd like to do in his future."
Indiana offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Walt Bell took his compliments for Tuttle even a step further.
"Like I told the quarterback room this morning, there's not a better teammate, not a better person, not a better kid (than Jack Tuttle)," Bell said. "I would recommend him to anyone and if he ever wanted to get in this profession, I would hire him in a heartbeat. He is the consummate teammate and he has done an incredible job. ... I can guarantee you this, there is absolutely none, unequivocally zero ill will toward Jack Tuttle from Indiana. He is a great kid, great teammate, and he's going to make somebody a really good quarterback."
Redshirt freshman quarterback Dexter Williams currently sits in the No. 3 spot in the quarterback room, which means he will move up to No. 2 when Tuttle moves on after the season and might be able to compete with Bazelak for the starting job next season. Williams missed all of last year with an ACL tear and has yet to take a college snap, but his teammates and coaches speak well of him. The Macon, Ga., native was named Region 7A Offensive Player of the Year in Georgia in 2019 when he threw for 15 touchdowns and rushed for 14.
"He's continued to clean up a lot of his pocket fundamentals and throwing base," Bell said. "Those are a lot of little things we get to do every single day. ... He's going to be a guy who's going to have a chance to be a really good football player."
This article originally appeared on The Herald-Times: Indiana football quarterback Jack Tuttle enters transfer portal
