Curt Cignetti Scouts New Indiana Football QB Josh Hoover

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Josh Hoovier is the official heir to one of college football's strongest-desired thrones.

Hoover is slated to be Indiana football's starting quarterback next fall, a position under coach Curt Cignetti and offensive coordinator Mike Shanahan that's littered with past productivity.

Four of Cignetti and Shanahan's last five quarterbacks have won conference player of the year, capped by Fernando Mendoza's Heisman Trophy-winning campaign in 2025. Kurtis Rourke, a second-team All-Big Ten selection in 2024 behind conference player of the year Dillon Gabriel, is the list's lone exception.

Now, Hoover, who transferred from TCU to Indiana over the winter, is next in line — and Cignetti appears confident Hoover has the qualities to fill the lofty shoes placed in front of him.

During a special National Signing Day episode of Big Ten Live, host Mike Hall asked Cignetti why Indiana fans will like Hoover, and the Hoosiers' third-year coach responded with his first scouting report on his new signal caller.

"Well, I'll tell you what," Cignetti said. "He's started a lot of football games. He's won a lot of football games, thrown a lot of touchdown passes. He's got a quick release. He's very accurate. He's a competitor. He's smart and looking forward to developing him."

Hoover left Fort Worth, Texas, as one of TCU's most decorated passers. A 31-game starter, he ranks second in program history in completion rate at 64.8%, third in completions (771) and fourth in passing yards (9,629) and passing touchdowns (71).

The 6-foot-2, 200-pound Hoover redshirted in 2022 and started the final six games in 2023. His breakthrough came in 2024, when he was a team captain as a redshirt sophomore and set TCU's single-season passing record with 3,949 yards.

Hoover, who hails from Heath, Texas, enjoyed a strong 2025 season, completing 65.9% of his attempts for 3,472 yards and 29 touchdowns. He battled turnovers, however, as he led the Big 12 with 13 interceptions in 12 starts.

Turnovers are the biggest question mark in Hoover's profile. He's thrown 33 interceptions in 36 games, and he's averaging one interception per every 36 attempts in his career.

Hoover is with the right staff to fix his flaws.

In his press conference after winning the Manning Award, given annually to college football's best quarterback, Mendoza noted he had a "huge turnover problem" early in his career at the University of California, Berkeley, which he attended before transferring to Indiana after the 2024 season.

Mendoza threw 10 interceptions in 2023 at Cal, a number he reduced to six in 2024. Mendoza again tossed six interceptions at Indiana in 2025, and he didn't have a single giveaway in the Hoosiers' three College Football Playoff games. Mendoza credited his success, in part, to the Manning Passing Academy but also the coaches around him.

Mendoza worked with quarterbacks coach Chandler Whitmer, who's no longer with the program after becoming the Tampa Bay Buccaneers' quarterbacks coach. The Hoosiers replaced Whitmer with Tino Sunseri, who held the same role under Cignetti from 2021-24 and was responsible for the first four conference player of the year recipients under center.

In essence, the foundation remains firm, the walls stable, for Hoover to flourish in 2026 — and his experience, accuracy, competitiveness and intelligence gives Cignetti confidence he'll do exactly that.