Former All-Big Ten IU football QB Michael Penix enters transfer portal
BLOOMINGTON – IU redshirt junior quarterback Michael Penix entered the transfer portal Sunday night, per an IndyStar source.
An All-Big Ten quarterback in 2020, Penix showed enormous potential at his best in Bloomington. Too often, that potential was stunted by serious injury.
Penix was a coup for coach Tom Allen when he committed to Indiana out of Tampa Bay (Fla.) Tech over offers from Florida State and South Florida. He played sparingly as a true freshman before tearing his ACL in a game against Penn State in 2018.
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The next summer, he unseated returning starter Peyton Ramsey and quarterbacked an offense substantially improved from the previous season. Statistically, 2019 was Penix’s best season in college. He completed nearly 69% of his passes and posted a career-high 8.8 average net yards per attempt. Penix led Indiana through the first half of that season before a sternoclavicular joint injury ruled him out midway through the year. Restored to the starting job, Ramsey led the Hoosiers to an 8-4 record and an appearance in the Gator Bowl.
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But, provided his IU career is over — players can withdraw from the portal and remain with their current school — Penix will be remembered best in Bloomington for the COVID-truncated 2020 season. Beginning with his fourth-quarter-and-overtime heroics in a season-opening win against Penn State, Penix led the Hoosiers to wins over the Nittany Lions, Michigan and Michigan State, before retearing the same ACL in a December win against Maryland.
In his hands, Indiana’s offense was among the most explosive and dangerous in the Big Ten, the Hoosiers’ only regular-season loss in 2020 coming in a 42-35 defeat at Ohio State that saw Penix throw for 491 yards and five touchdowns.
After spending the offseason rehabbing his knee injury, Penix returned for the start of this season but wasn’t the same player. He threw for 939 yards and four touchdowns across five games, but also threw seven interceptions and completed just 53.7% of his passes. A throwing-shoulder injury suffered in early October at Penn State cost Penix the rest of the season.
Penix’s departure would leave Indiana with three scholarship quarterbacks: Jack Tuttle, Dexter Williams and Donaven McCulley. The Hoosiers also have a quarterback committed in the senior class expected to sign later this month, Rockwall (Texas) Rockwall-Heath signal caller Josh Hoover.
Follow IndyStar reporter Zach Osterman on Twitter: @ZachOsterman.
This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: Indiana football QB Michael Penix enters NCAA transfer portal
