Peyton Ramsey Talks Indiana Career, Transferring to Northwestern and NFL Future

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. — Former Indiana quarterback Peyton Ramsey is pursuing his dream of playing in the NFL after a successful final season at Northwestern in 2020.

Ramsey recently joined Bleav in The Draft Analysts with Tony Pauline & Chris Tripodi to talk about his collegiate career and his future plans to play professionally. In the interview, Ramsey opened up about his time at Indiana, losing the starting job to Michael Penix Jr. and why he transferred to Northwestern.

Below are the key highlights from Ramsey's interview:

On why he committed to Indiana out of high school:

"I've always been a Big Ten kid, and I grew up in the heart of Big Ten country. I saw Indiana was on the come up. I saw that coming with Kevin Wilson and Kevin Johns and the offense they had been building and the culture. I think the opportunity to play close to come so that my parents could come to every game. I think there's a bunch of different things that went into it that I think I made a really good decision."

On the biggest challenge to become the main quarterback at Indiana over Richard Lagow:

"I think I was a young guy at the time, 19 or 20 years old, trying to learn the ropes of being a college quarterback and everything that that entails. That's not just a playbook, that's learning the locker room and developing as a leader, proving to guys that I'm capable of doing this. I think once guys started to buy into who I was and see that I was capable of making plays, I just gained that confidence and started rolling."

On if he was surprised that Michael Penix Jr. was named the started over him in 2019:

"I was very surprised. I was taken aback. I remember getting the call to head up to his office, thinking I was gonna get some good news, but unfortunately, I was on the other side of that chair that time. It was a tough pill to swallow. It really was. But I continued to battle and kind of leaned on the guys in the locker room that I trusted and cared about. They got me through it. It was a tough time in my career, but I think I learned a lot about myself and I think I'm a better man for it."

On the reasons why he transferred from Indiana to Northwestern:

"I accomplished the first goal that I set out when I went to Indiana and that was to graduate. Coach (Tom) Allen and the staff had made it clear that they were gonna go with youth, and they were gonna play Mike, and it was a great decision as you can see this year. Unbelievably talented kid, awesome person, but they made it clear it was his time, and I graduated, so I felt comfortable enough to kind of step aside and go my separate way."

On if he thought about transferring after Penix was initially named the starter in 2019:

"Graduating was always number one, so I never thought about transferring after I wasn't named the starter. I was gonna stick it out. There was never a question, and I was gonna battle through it and just kind of learn from it and try to be the best teammate, the best player I could be. You know, I loved Indiana. I loved it as a place, as an institution, as a football program. It brought me a lot of joy, and I never thought about leaving after that 2019 decision."

On how the pandemic made things difficult while he tried to change programs:

"It was tough. You don't know names, you don't know faces, you don't know the offense, you don't know anything. It was a difficult thing to try to build relationships with guys that started with text messages and me driving from Cincinnati to Evanston to work out on a random field. Zoom meetings to learn the offense, so it was a tough time, but there were guys that were very helpful and guys that welcomed me in with open arms. That kind of made all the difference for me, building confidence and learning the offense, and like I said, so many great guys on that roster that helped me through it."

On if he considered coming back after the 2020 season:

"You know, I thought about coming back and the opportunity to take a sixth year, but that's a lot of college football. I was fortunate enough to play when I was a young kid, as a redshirt freshman, so I had played a lot of ball. I put my best foot forward, I worked really hard, I got a lot better, I did a lot of really cool things and saw a lot of cool places, so it felt like the right time to move on and pursue my dream. I'll turn 24 next fall, and that feels like a pretty big number to be playing on in college, so I was ready to move on, and I'm happy with my decision."

On his plan to train for the NFL:

"I'm down in Tampa training right now. Really enjoying it so far. It's been awesome down here and trying to get ready for our pro day, which is scheduled for March 9. Got a bunch of Northwestern guys coming out and trying to chase their dreams. Our pro day will be busy for sure with a bunch of good players there, so I'm looking forward to it."

To listen to the full podcast, CLICK HERE.

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