BLOOMINGTON — The man has got to be hurting. There were times last fall when the Indiana University football team was a combination of the walking wounded and defensively and offensively the Zombie Apocalypse.
Which is why the Hoosiers ended up a bruised and battered 4-8 and far from consideration in conflated bowl discussions.
But check out coach Tom Allen in January, as perky, optimistic, as enthusiastic as ever. Back when traditional recruiting played a bigger role in stocking rosters instead of transfers flitting around like migratory birds, head coaches were praised for being kings of the living room.
That meant their gift of gab could woo parents into agreeing their sons should head off to the wilds of Bloomington under the tutelage of such a charming man.
That should still count for something despite the new rules of the game when people come and go so quickly, as Judy Garland put it in the “The Wizard of Oz.”
Last Sunday, Allen provided a status report on the numero uno position of importance on the Hoosier roster. After his quarterback world imploded in unpredictable ways during the 2022 season, Allen let the world know that come spring practice he had recruited, shopped and somehow acquired a collection of bodies who can run, throw and lead.
As Allen noted, it’s a whole new world in terms of seducing players into at stopping by and playing at least a year for your team. After scouring the shelves at Wal-Mart, Target, JC Penney or whoever else is still in business, he’s got four QBs heading into spring ball.
Right now, the quarterbacks that call themselves Hoosiers are Dexter Williams, Brendan Sorby, Broc Lowry and Tayven Jackson.
As anyone who has ever watched more than Australian Rules football knows, a team needs a reliable, steady, strong leader at quarterback if it has a hope of producing a winning record. Some day there will be big money available on “Jeopardy!” for a contestant able to name all of the quarterbacks who suited up for IU last year.
In any case, most of them will be different next season. The question-mark with a capital letter (if there is such a thing) is poor Williams, who just when he was settling in as a regular when he tore up a knee. He is steadily improving, but still hurting and Allen really has no idea how much he can be counted on, even though the first serious kickoff is not for months.
Sorbsy appeared in one game as a freshman last season when the snaps were alternating as if in a continuous series of desperate end-of-game laterals.
Lowry is an incoming freshman recruit from Canfield, Ohio, who was a three-time All-State player and followed the traditional recruiting path in choosing Indiana.
The splash, the last one added, is Jackson, who is the younger brother of Hoosier basketball star Trayce Jackson-Davis. This Jackson won two state championships for Center Grove and then went off to the University of Tennessee. He played a couple of minutes for the Volunteers and then decided to come home. He is a potential difference-maker for IU, a young man whom Allen recruited coming out of high school and thus already had a relationship with him and his family.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound Jackson has the pedigree, but not the experience yet, to take over the IU offense. Center Grove finished undefeated Jackson’s last two seasons and he set several passing records.
Under the transfer portal rules, in the beginning, players must do the reaching out to other schools and Allen and Jackson had weekly Sunday phone conversations, which the coach said were quite enjoyable.
“What we liked about him was his athleticism,” Allen said. “He’s a long athlete, multi-sport guy, (football), basketball, track, all three of those, and just felt he could create with his legs, with his arm. He’s a tremendous leader.”
Just how good Jackson can be right away, with just three games of NCAA Division I experience, and whether he can fight off the other players’ challenges, is an unknown. But on paper, Jackson seems as if he could become The Man.