After losing QB competition, grad transfer Brandon Dawkins leaves IU football program

Jordan Guskey | IndyStar

Show Caption Hide Caption IU coach Tom Allen talks about quarterback decision Peyton Ramsey was named IU's starting quarterback.

BLOOMINGTON – Less than a week after coach Tom Allen announced Peyton Ramsey would be IU's starting quarterback this season, fellow signal caller Brandon Dawkins has elected to leave the team.

Dawkins arrived in Bloomington this summer as a grad transfer from Arizona.

It's not clear whether Dawkins intends to transfer to another college program, but his departure won't leave the Hoosiers with just two scholarship quarterbacks — Ramsey and true freshman Michael Penix, who enrolled in January — as one might have thought.

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Allen said Monday true freshman Reese Taylor, who won IndyStar Mr. Football last season at quarterback for undefeated state champion Ben Davis, will move to the quarterback room after he spent time in fall camp both on offense and with the defensive backs.

"We wish (Dawkins) nothing but the very best, fine young man," Allen said in a Monday news conference. "Very excited about the two guys I consider our top two quarterbacks, Peyton Ramsey and Michael Penix."

Allen added Dawkins told him he wanted to go in a different direction with his life and sort some things out in order to determine what's next. The rest of those conversations, for now, will remain between them. But Allen did say Dawkins gave him no indication as to whether he'd react to the starter announcement like this until after Allen made the announcement.

It had been made clear by Allen both Dawkins and Penix, who were in a tight competition with Ramsey until last week, would still receive playing time.

"They all competed well,” said Allen when he announced Ramsey as the starter. "I thought it was really hard, it was a tough decision. There were times where different ones, throughout the course of camp, you felt different ways after certain practices or scrimmages."

Ramsey, who appeared in nine games as a redshirt freshman in 2017, also unseated redshirt senior Richard Lagow early on last season.

Dawkins spent the past four seasons with Arizona before he graduated and transferred to IU. He started five of the seven games he played in 2017, missing time with an injury. He passed for 732 yards and five touchdowns, with four interceptions, and rushed for 459 yards and eight touchdowns.

That, after Dawkins started nine of the 10 games he appeared in as a redshirt sophomore in 2016, and he posted six appearances the year before that.

His departure leaves a void of experience at the position. And while it trims part of IU's playbook, as Allen had alluded to the idea of an offensive package specific to the explosive California native, Taylor's newfound spot in the quarterback room creates new possibilities for the offense.

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"He's a guy that I view as a playmaker," Allen said of Taylor. "You want to get him touching the football. In some ways this kind of gives you a chance to be more creative with that, to be honest with you."

Offensive coordinator Mike DeBord said the team is gradually introducing Taylor to the playbook, and started on that Monday. How the team capitalizes on Taylor's speed, athleticism and dynamic playmaking ability will come with time as Taylor becomes more comfortable.

"Glad he's on our side," DeBord said.

Meanwhile, Ramsey is one of IU's most respected locker room voices, according to his coaches, unusual for a player so young.

"(Dawkins) was good to me the entire time he was here," said Ramsey, when asked if he was surprised by Dawkins' decision. "I wish him nothing but the best."

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Ramsey also lost the tail end of last season to injury, a result of the physical stress of his position. The Cincinnati Elder product bulked up in the offseason to better handle the demands of playing quarterback in the Big Ten and improve his arm strength on deep balls. His offensive line projects to be both healthier, and more experienced, than it was a season ago.

And the changes DeBord has made to the offense not only project a balanced attack, in Ramsey's estimation, but one that can take advantage of those at the skill positions.

“There’s running backs that can come out of the backfield and not only run the ball, but catch the ball," Ramsey said. "Obviously we have receivers that, once they get the ball in space, they’re good players.”

The past few practices and IU's recent "mock game," as Allen calls it, have allowed Ramsey to re-acclimate himself to the starting role. It's been a little bit different for him, being the guy on day one of the season, but he also knew he'd play some last year and hasn't bucked from the mindset that first earned him the starting job.

"Where (playing last year) helps the most is in preparation," said Ramsey, who's excited for Penix and Taylor to see the field, too. "I have played and I know how to prepare. I know when to watch film, I know what to look for when I'm watching film. That way the game slows down just a little bit more for me."

DeBord has already seen Ramsey play with more confidence this fall compared to 2017, and teammates have been impressed with their now-starting quarterback's accuracy.

Allen added no one should be surprised if Penix plays some in Saturday's game at Florida International.

"I don't know when, where, how," Allen said. "I just think he's a young man that we want to be able to grow his development into the program and see how he handles all that and responds.

Follow IndyStar reporter Jordan Guskey on Twitter at @JordanGuskey or email him at jguskey@gannett.com.