Indiana’s football’s 2024 offense will look different from last season in nearly every way imaginable.
It doesn’t return a running back with in-game experience as a Hoosier. All signs point to there being a new starting quarterback. The offensive line will have three new starters. And while leading receiver Donaven McCulley returned for his senior season, Indiana added four receivers with a track record of production who’ll compete for snaps on game day.
Tasked with helping put all of that together is new offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan, who followed head coach Curt Cignetti from James Madison to Indiana. Shanahan is a longtime Cignetti assistant, beginning in 2016 as the wide receivers coach at Indiana University of Pennsylvania, continuing at Elon, and progressing all the way to offensive coordinator at James Madison during the past three seasons.
During his first press conference at Indiana after Friday’s fall camp practice, Shanahan said sticking with Cignetti for so long – despite being in a profession where assistants moving around often is common – has been a no-brainer for him. He enjoys working with Cignetti, he has learned a lot over the years, and they share core principles of coaching.
“I feel like I get pushed every single day to be the best that I can be,” Shanahan said. “… I think naturally, when [Cignetti] kept continuing to climb, a goal of mine was to coach at this level. So whenever he presented the opportunity, I jumped on it right away.”
Last season at James Madison, the Shanahan-guided offense led the Sun Belt in offensive efficiency in the regular season and finished second with 34.1 points per game. Generating 430.2 yards of total offense, the Dukes ranked 29th in the FBS. Quarterback Jordan McCloud was named Sun Belt Player of the Year, and wide receivers Elijah Sarratt, now with the Hoosiers, and Reggie Brown made the first-team All-Sun Belt.
Shanahan became James Madison’s offensive coordinator before the 2021 season, and his tenure was a continuation of the team’s success with quarterbacks. During Cignetti’s first season coaching the Dukes in 2019, quarterback Ben DiNucci was named 2019 CAA Offensive Player of the Year. Cole Johnson won the same award in 2021. And when James Madison moved up from the FCS to the FBS, quarterback Todd Centeio earned 2022 Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year honors.
With Shanahan calling the plays, Indiana’s offense certainly has room for improvement from last season. Under offensive coordinator Walt Bell for the first five games and interim coordinator Rod Carey for the final seven, Indiana ranked eighth out of 14 Big Ten teams with 333.7 total yards per game and ninth with 22.2 points per game.
Indiana rotated between quarterbacks Brendan Sorsby, who transferred to Cincinnati after the season, and Tayven Jackson, who returned to Bloomington for his redshirt sophomore season. The Hoosiers ranked ninth in the Big Ten in completion percentage (58.6%) and pass attempts (367), eighth in passing yards (2,553), seventh in passing yards per game (212.8), passing touchdowns (18), and passer rating (127.8) and tied for seventh most with 10 interceptions.
The Hoosiers’ run game was even less productive. It ranked 11th in the conference in both rushing yards (1,441) and yards per carry (3.3), along with a 10th place finish in rushing touchdowns (13), rush attempts (433) and rushing yards per game (120). Leading rushers Trent Howland and Josh Henderson are no longer with Indiana, but leading receiver Donaven McCulley is back for his senior year.
While Cignetti likely won’t announce a Week 1 starter publicly, his comments point to Kurtis Rourke as the favorite. Cignetti said Monday that Rourke “has separated himself pretty significantly” in the quarterback battle after the team’s first scrimmage on Saturday. Rourke was named second-team All-MAC last season at Ohio, and he threw for 7,651 yards, 50 touchdowns and 16 interceptions with a 66.3 completion percentage across his five-year career.
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