Indiana Football: Michael Penix Jr. Has Grown Up Quickly, Which is Big With Key Road Games Ahead
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — He stands in the pocket and scans the field quickly. He sees what the defense wants to do, but he has an answer.
He always has an answer.
That's just the way Michael Penix Jr. plays quarterback at Indiana, even if he is only a redshirt freshman who has started four college games.
"He's just showing a lot of poise, especially for a freshman,'' senior wide receiver Nick Westbrook said. "You would never guess this is his first year starting. He's just taking what the defense gives us, and he's executing our offense at a high level.''
It shows in his results. He's 3-1 as a starter, with the only loss at Michigan State on a day where he was still sensational. Despite missing two-plus games with a shoulder injury, he has been named Big Ten Freshman of the Week twice in four games (Ball State and Michigan State) and has passed for 1,091 yards, completing 70 percent of his passes and throwing nine touchdown passes.
He's also only been sacked once, which is partly a testament to Indiana's offensive line playing well and Penix also making quick decisions. He knows the offense well, and knows where the ball should go.
And he gets it there quickly, something that's rare for a freshman. Even when he gets tested — and occasionally intentionally tricked by his coaches in practice — he handles it with poise that belies his years.
Cool, calm, collected.
Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. threw for three touchdowns against Rutgers.
"As a freshman, you don't have that in-game experience, so when he gets challenged in practice, he really responds to that well,'' Westbrook said. "And that's all the time. If he gets a different look, he knows when to check out of a play, or shift a route or protection.
"He knows it, and he shows a lot of maturity when he's doing it. And he's loud about it when he needs to make a change.''
What Penix understands best is that he has weapons all over the field and anyone can make a big play. His four top receivers — Westbrook, junior Whop Philyor, senior Donovan Hale and junior Ty Fryfogle — are all threats, and his tight end, Peyton Hendershot, has been Mr. Reliable all season.
If you're open, you're getting the ball. And it doesn't matter where you are on the route tree. He will find you.
"It's so awesome, because anybody can get the ball at any time. Even if you're the third or last read, you're thinking 'I still need to win this route,' because the ball might still be coming to me,'' Westbrook said. "We've got so many good players on this team, we can really spread it around.
"I just always feel like if I get open, he'll get the ball to me. He's not forcing anything, and he's really been mature about it. He's great in practice too, processing everything.''
Penix is turning heads on a national level, too. In his second conference road game on Saturday, Indiana is actually favored by nearly a touchdown at Maryland. He is No. 15 in the country in completion percentage, completions per game and passing yards per game, all that despite missing a half of the Eastern Illinois game with that shoulder injury. He's No. 23 in passer rating.
He's that dangerous. And that unpredictable.
"You never know which guy it's going to be,'' Indiana coach Tom Allen said. "Everyone wants to get catches and make plays, and (Westbrook) got a chance to get several of those Saturday. D-Hale shows up and had a big game against Michigan State. Ty had a big catch here and several catches. Whop's obviously had a couple of good games here.
"It might be somebody else coming up the following week. To me that's where you have a lot of different guys. They can't key on one guy. If they try to take away one of them, it's going to create one-on-ones and free up somebody else. So we're going to take what the defense is giving us on both the coverages and the run fits. Right now that's the whole goal. Whatever we've got to do to score points and win football games, that's the objective.''
Indiana's offense went through a little lull on the second quarter Saturday, but it mostly clicked on all cylinders all day. They scored on their first two possessions of the game and first two in the second half, which offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer loved.
There were a lot of big plays, too, in the air and on the ground.
"We had 11 explosive plays, and that's the second (game) in a row for that. Those are big,'' Allen said. "We talked about creating those explosive plays and how important that is, and we had the 99-yard drive. To me, that was the most impressive thing that our guys did. It was over seven minutes, 13 plays, and just kind of was the final dagger to kind of put an exclamation point on the day. So I was really encouraged by that.''
What everyone — coaches and receivers alike — love about Penix is that he has a strong arm and is accurate. That's why Philyor, Penix's buddy from Tampa, has had 24 catches in the past two games and has more than 150 yards after the catch in two games.
"I think Mike does a really good job of getting the ball out in front of him, so when he catches it, he's moving and running away from the defenders,'' Allen said of Penix's connection with Philyor, his slot receiver. "I think you kind of saw that on the first catch of the game and the way he was able to separate from the defender and affect the defender's angle by where the ball, the placement of the football, was and how quickly it comes out.''
Penix didn't seem the least bit flustered on the road at Michigan State, so that's a good sign for what lies ahead, back-to-back road games at Maryland and Nebraska.
"We didn't win that game (at Michigan State), but we felt good about it for what we did,'' Penix said. "It was real loud at Michigan State, but we stayed calm. When you're the quarterback, everyone's looking at you, so I just stay composed and do everything to the best of my ability.''
So far, that's been pretty darn good.
"I'm more composed, and more comfortable now that I've played a few games,'' Penix said Monday. "I'm really loving what's going on with this offense too, and we're all about winning.''
Other Monday files to check out
VIDEO: Michael Penix Jr. talks about winning on the road.
VIDEO: Indiana coach Tom Allen talks about Stevie Scott's big game
MONDAY FILM ROOM: Reakwon Jones gets his first college touchdown on the anniversary of losing his family home to Hurricane Michael
BREAKING NEWS: Indiana's game on Oct. 26 against Nebraska will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET and will be televised on Big Ten Network.
