'It's never-ending:' IU seeks another quarterback amid Dexter Williams uncertainty
BLOOMINGTON — After adding 16 players on Wednesday’s early signing day, IU football coach Tom Allen will move to what he calls Phase Two of the roster-building process. The focus now is on the transfer portal.
Programs are allowed to host transfers on campus starting Jan. 4. Allen estimated only one or two visited during the period a year ago. He expects the number to be higher in the early days of 2023.
A priority, for the second straight offseason, will be finding a quarterback.
IU has three on scholarship, but Dexter Williams’ status is uncertain after he suffered a dislocated knee and structural damage in the Hoosiers’ 2022 finale against Purdue. He underwent surgery Dec. 6 and is rehabbing, the timeline of his return unclear.
“He’s working really hard to get himself back to full health,” Allen said.
Also on the roster are newly signed Ohio prospect Broc Lowry, who will enroll early to be on campus for spring practice, and redshirt freshman Brendan Sorsby. Having four scholarship quarterbacks is common, and, as Allen put it, “an older one would be ideal.” Lowry and Sorsby have attempted a combined six passes in college action after the latter appeared in one game as a true freshman.
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Last offseason, IU lost Michael Penix and added former Missouri quarterback Connor Bazelak, who is back in the portal after starting the first nine games of 2022. Williams replaced Bazelak in a late-season contest at Ohio State and started the last two, showing potential to be the Hoosiers' quarterback of the future before the injury.
Another veteran, Jack Tuttle, left the program and recently committed to Michigan.
“We’re just working through that process every day,” Allen said. “It’s never-ending. It will continue these next several weeks, and the goal is to have a guy in place here for (the) second semester.”
The final phase of Allen’s recruiting plan after the transfer-hosting period is getting back into traditional high school recruiting, trying to find players who may have slipped through the cracks of the original cycle.
“There’s still two classes of guys that have COVID years left that are still out there in circulation, and that keeps these spots to continue to be used up in some ways,” Allen said. “It’s kind of allowed some high school guys that maybe already would have already been signed and been somewhere else still being available.”
Of the 16 prospects who signed Wednesday, three are transfers and two come from junior colleges. The remainder are in high school. It’s the No. 62 class in the country, according to 247 Sports.
They’ll join a team coming off of its second straight disappointing season and starting a new quarterback for the third year in a row, regardless of Williams’ status when the season begins.
“Like every other signing class, there's a lot of optimism,” Allen said. “Nobody ever stands up here and says that they don't like their class, but at the same time they have to prove that we're right, and they have to prove that we made the right evaluation and that they were the right guys to come here and want to be able to help us continue to build our program.”
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football: Coach Tom Allen will seek a transfer quarterback
