This is more a reflection on Dawkins than our staff. It was very clear from the start that the message to Dawkins was to come here and “compete” for a starting spot. No guarantees.
That said, it is a bit odd that we clearly went after a grad transfer because we were concerned about the current stable of QBs at the start of the spring. Most teams do NOT get a grad transfer QB and not have that kid start. That’s the Catch-22: you bring in a grad transfer and the impression you project you don’t think the current guys will be able to run the offense as well as 5th year senior. They were up front with the guy but Dawkins had to have been thinking “they would’t Bring me here if they didn’t think I would be THE guy.” However, most grad transfer guys were starters and looking for a change of scenery. Dawkins was not a starter last year. As opposed to, say, a high profile guy like Michigan’s transfer from Ole Miss.
Dawkins likely was even behind Penix.
The bottom line is that Dawkins came in and fell to #3 on the depth chart.
Penix red shirt is.....well, you can remove that right now. Kid will play.
But, we just got very thin at a vulnerable spot.
The recent developments have me a bit discouraged before the season even starts. Ellison and Dawkins. I’ve joked before about IU football being cursed but.....damn, we don’t catch many breaks. Oh well, guess we need to go out and win in spite of all of that.
If we have bad luck at that spot (as is the case for IU football) we may just be looking at Johnny Pabst starting by mid season, depending of course on the use of Reese Taylor.