How Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti develops transfer quarterbacks impresses Fox analysts
· Yahoo Sports
BLOOMINGTON — Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti’s blueprint for developing transfer quarterbacks is the heart of his success.
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Going back to 2022, Cignetti opened the season with a new starter out of the transfer portal each year. In a matter of months, Cignetti and his staff helped those quarterbacks reach new heights, and team success followed.
It’s something Hall of Fame coach turned broadcaster Urban Meyer never anticipated.
“When I first started hearing about the transfer portal, I said, that's one place you can't do it is quarterback,” Meyer said of developing quarterbacks in one season. “I can't be proven more wrong.”
Oregon’s success with transfer quarterbacks Bo Nix (2022) and Dillon Gabriel (2024) impressed Meyer, but Cignetti’s staff has a much longer track record of success starting with Todd Centeio winning Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year in 2022.
The following year Jordan McCloud earned the conference’s Player of the Year. At Indiana, Kurtis Rourke had the second highest passer rating in the FBS and Fernando Mendoza won the Heisman.
“I don't get it,” Meyer said with a shake of his head. “I don't understand that at all. I always thought the quarterback position was someone that you train, you develop like we've always done. You take a player and you try to redshirt him, or you learn from an older player and then you progressively learn, but they wrote the book on it.”
Meyer returned to Bloomington this week to cover Indiana’s season opener against North Texas for "Big Noon Kickoff," Fox’s weekly pregame show. His colleague Brady Quinn, a former Maxwell Award winner, echoed the coach’s thoughts.
“Imagine you were tasked with walking out here and talking to me in Spanish,” Quinn said when trying to put the challenge of developing a quarterback in perspective. “It's hard to put it into context, but that's the best way I can describe it to people. Watching what he did with Kurtis Rourke and Fernando Mendoza and now Josh, it's incredible.”
It helps that Cignetti’s staff landed a series of dedicated and talented quarterbacks willing to put in the work. Cignetti’s focus on maintaining a balanced attack helps as well.
“Josh is not going to feel like he has to win the game on every throw,” Quinn said. “And I think that will be really beneficial.”
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This article originally appeared on Indianapolis Star: How Indiana football coach Curt Cignetti develops transfer quarterbacks impresses Fox analysts
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