Allen Names Ramsey Starter for FIU

By: Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Among the signs pointing toward Peyton Ramsey opening the 2018 Indiana football season as the starting quarterback, one seemed particularly telling:

"When we selected our leadership council earlier in fall camp, he was our leading vote-getter," IU head coach Tom Allen said of Ramsey. "By a landslide."

Ramsey ended up leading the informal voting among Allen and his staff for the quarterback job, too.

"We, as a coaching staff, are very transparent about a lot of things," Allen said while announcing the decision publicly Thursday morning. "We've talked about this. Our entire staff is in agreement that Peyton is the guy. I think our team really, really sees that as well."

IU fans saw Ramsey play in 10 games and start four last fall as a redshirt-freshman, completing 65.4 percent of his passes for 1,252 yards and 10 touchdowns, with five interceptions.

He was a catalyst off the bench in a 34-17 win at Virginia in the season's second game, then started four mid-season contests before injuries intervened.

Ramsey was perhaps more successful throwing shorter rather than longer pass patterns last season, but came into fall camp a stronger, faster quarterback after off-season work orchestrated by IU's new strength and conditioning staff headed up by David Ballou.

Coy Cronk, the junior left tackle who will help protest Ramsey's backside, has seen wide-ranging benefits resulting from Ramsey's physical improvement.

"I think Peyton just has a lot more confidence," Cronk said. "I think that obviously comes from experience, but a lot of that also started in the weight room. He's always been a hard worker, but when you couple that hard work with doing the right work and the right movements …

"I think that's helped him in his leadership, too. He's more confident in himself on the field. He makes the right reads, makes the right plays. And it's not on the quarterback to win the game, individually. It's on the offense to move the ball and score and on the defense to make stops. And I think Peyton manages the game well."

The sort of game-management acumen that can come with age and experience.

"He looks a year older," Allen said of Ramsey, now listed at 6-foot-2 and 212 pounds. "He's gained good weight. He's stronger. He's a step faster. I just think that gives him confidence to be, you know, a Big Ten quarterback. He's going to get hit a few times. But those kinds of things just give you core confidence that you know you're a better athlete than you were a year before.

"And he's a much better player than he was last year, in my opinion."

And he needed to be this fall camp. Ramsey had to contend with the talent shown and progress made by grad-transfer Brandon Dawkins and true freshman Michael Penix in competing for the job.

"They all competed well," Allen said of the quarterback candidates. "I thought it was really hard. It was a tough decision. There were times where … throughout the course of camp, you felt different ways after certain practices or scrimmages.

"(But) there was a constant that kept coming back. To me, it's just about what's best. At this stage, where we're at right now, this is what's best. Without a doubt."

Allen recalled no particular moment lending clarity to the decision, which he said was made over an extended time and with due deliberation.

"I'm one of those guys who is pretty deliberate," Allen said. "Don't want to be a knee-jerk-reaction sort of person. It's too important a decision. To me, it was looking at the big picture in both how you pick the person and then, No. 2, moving forward and how you see it unfolding."

"I think it was a situation where we were very, very thorough. We talked a lot as a staff. I wanted consensus. I believe in trusting the opinions of the guys we have on our staff. And it was really, I think, very consistent along the way and we're definitely all on board."

Allen felt Ramsey best met three specific and over-riding criteria.

"I've been pretty clear what we're looking for," Allen said. "Bottom line is there are three things that our staff and I have talked about that we want form this position and what we're looking for throughout this competition. That is:

"First of all, a quarterback who protects the football and (is sound in) his decision-making. How he reads coverages. How he distributes the ball. How he protects the football. That was No. 1

"No. 2 was the ability to consistently move the team down the field consistently throughout those opportunities (provided), whether it was scrimmages or those times throughout practices.

"And No. 3, we want a young man that the team believes in. That's very, very important to me."

Penix has yet to take a college snap. Dawkins has yet to take a snap for IU. This is Ramsey's third year in the Hoosier fold. There is naturally a different sort of comfort level regarding Ramsey.

But Allen also made it clear that Dawkins and Penix bring good things to the table and the staff intends for all three to play this fall.

"Brandon Dawkins, tremendously athletic and a very, very good runner," Allen said. "Throws the ball well on the move, creates a lot of issues. And he's gotten better and better throughout fall camp, without question.

"I met with all three boys yesterday and talked to them about all of these same things and I'm really encouraged by (Dawkins's) progress and feel like he's going to help this football team win ballgames. He's got a great mindset about that.

"Michael Penix, obviously, you see what I see out there. Very special player. But he's young. To help him build and help him grow, I think it's the best decision for all three individual and what's best for our team."

Allen acknowledged the Hoosiers might well develop a package designed for Dawkins's skill set to periodically augment the offense.

"I see that," Allen said. "I do. We talked about it with him yesterday. As that grows and as he executes, I think those things that, for sure, (could happen). It's not a rotational type thing, but I could see a package for him in the future. We'll see how that plays out. But yeah, he's got some things to bring to the table that puts pressure on the defense, for sure.

"I don't want to give away too many things. I just feel like when you've got guys – and he's in a situation where you're not worried about redshirts or anything like that – you're going to have things based upon who we're playing and what they do and what we feel we can maximize with his talents. And take advantage of it."
Allen and IU coaches also potentially take advantage of the new rule allowing freshmen to play in as many as four games while retaining redshirt status. That affected Allen's thinking about Penix to an extent.

"Yeah, and that really excites me a lot, with him," Allen said. "I think it even kind of made the decision (easier) in some ways, too. Gave us some flexibility, for sure, unlike in the past.
"You'd love to have some (games available for Penix) in your back pocket late in the year. But at the same time, I'd like to give him some opportunities earlier, as well. You've got four games
(if you go that route), so you've got several to pick from. But just to see how he handles all that, I wouldn't be surprised to see him early.

"Bottom line is I believe all three of those guys are going to play at different times. I'm not going to put specifics on that, but I do expect all three of them to play. But Peyton Ramsey is the starter."

And Allen elaborated further as to why that's the current reality:

"I just think that it's the combination of those three things I said. He has the lead in the collective group. I feel like he understands the offense really, really well. He knows where to put the football. He knows where to take the ball. He knows who to get the ball to. He has the ability to get us out of a jam with his legs. He has the ability to get first downs with his legs. He has unbelievable toughness and grit. He has a competitive greatness to him that I really like a lot.

"I saw what he did last year. Obviously he got hurt … he has gotten himself in position to get the ball down the field better this year. I think, to me, it's about getting the ball to our playmakers on offense. He's one of those playmakers, but distributing it to the right guys at the right time is what he does best. I think that's what kind of pushed ahead of the other guys … the consistency there was with Peyton."

And Allen feels the competition in camp only made Ramsey better.

"Oh, there's no question," Allen said. "He's a competitor, now (hear me). He's not a real emotional guy. Even when I told him, he didn't get up and fist pump or anything. He was very calm. At the same time, competition makes everybody better. He knew that he had to improve. He worked his absolute tail off all summer knowing that Michael Penix was chasing him, then knowing that we're bringing in Brandon Dawkins and he'd come in here with a lot of experience.

"I told Peyton, too, 'You've got to continue to get better and lead our team and help us win football games.' That's part of the job. He understands what's going on and I think that he's one of those guys where those kinds of situations pull his best out of him because he is so focused and he's such a student of the game. That, to me, really sets him apart. He's got a toughness to him, a grit to him that's pretty special. He's got a linebacker mentality playing the quarterback position."

Allen liked the mentality of all three quarterback candidates when he revealed the decision privately before making it public.

"It's just neat to have a group of guys that are unselfish, guys that have really bought into LEO (Love Each Other) and what we're all about here, as a program," Allen said. "It isn't about each one of those guys, it's about this football team. And it's about what's best.

"And we've got three guys I believe can play very good football on Saturdays. We'll see how the season plays out and how that unfolds, completely, but the bottom line is that you've got some options."

And, now, an acknowledged leader heading into the Sept. 1 season opener at Florida International.

Cronk, asked Thursday about the team vote that put Ramsey on IU's leadership council, replied:

"Peyton is just a natural-born leader. Even during his redshirt year, people still looked up to him. It's just the way he carries himself. He's no-nonsense. And he's the same person every day.

"He's consistent with his attitude and how he works and, this is most important, how he interacts with people. He treats people with respect, looks them in the eye, and that goes a long way."

And this quarterback choice figures to go a long way in determining how Indiana's 2018 season pans out.

INJURY REPORT
Allen's injury report heading into the final weekend before the opener was blessedly brief. He reported few, if any, long-term concerns.

"We've had a couple of guys who'll be out for a few weeks, but we don't have any (lost for the duration)," he said. "Last year at this time we had guys, already, that we had lost for the season.
Fortunately, that's not been the case.

"Hopefully, we'll get those other guys back as efficiently as possible. But, no, it's actually been (good). We had a meeting yesterday with a couple of our doctors and trainers, and we feel like as a collective group did some good things to help them prevent some issues. We feel like we're in better shape, numbers-wise, than we've been in the past couple of years."

Senior tight end Ryan Watercutter may miss the most time of the players currently afflicted. "He's out there in a boot," Allen said. "Just going to take time. He's probably the longest guy that we have to worry about getting back at this point."

MOCK COMBAT
The Hoosiers will wear helmets but not full padding, and there will be no tackling or live plays. But Allen hopes to get plenty out of Saturday's scheduled "mock game" that will commence at 7 p.m., the exact time for kickoff at week later in Miami.

"That's a big one for situations," Allen said of the mock game. "We're going to go through all the (prep). That's why we can preseason scrimmage three a 'mock game.' We'll script the rotation as we take the field, by return units, specialists … warm up just like it's for a game. Do a kickoff.

"Every situation will be scripted. We even script takeaways and how we handle that. We script sudden-change and all the things that can happen in a game situation … it's going to be simulated exactly like the game. Pre-game meal. Meetings before. Everything like that. It's a very important part of the process, to get those situations fleshed out, ironed out, and worked through."

Players Mentioned

Coy Cronk

Peyton Ramsey

Ryan Watercutter

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