INDIANOLIS — Josh Hoover’s player bio looks different from most of this year’s other quarterbacks in the Bowl Subdivision.
He’s already logged 31 career starts, thrown for more than 9,000 yards, won a bowl game MVP award, set multiple school records and been in line for conference and national honors.
1, get better, get developed by some great coaches and, No. 2, be part of a great program with a bunch of great guys who are unselfish. But Hoover, who initially committed to Indiana in June 2021 before signing with TCU in 2022, didn’t come back to Indiana just to replicate Mendoza’s success.
Because you never know what can happen, but Josh just really wants to see all of us succeed, and he wants to build connections with all of us. “I felt like coming here was going to give me a chance to, No. They’re not me guys, they’re team guys. That’s what I wanted, that’s the vision I had. Among the strengths are a strong mind that leads to quick decisions. He throws effectively into tight windows, and he should be helped by both his on-field experience and the time he’s spent as a team leader. “There’s always improvement that can be made. There’s still some missed opportunities that can be converted and executed. We walked off the field after the second scrimmage and we really weren’t good at all throwing the football. We weren’t feeling very good about things. He takes that out to all of our wide receivers and we’re out there doing spot catches, making sure our legs aren’t dead. He came to Bloomington to meet Indiana’s high expectations and to develop more skills with a coaching staff that turns transfer quarterbacks into all-conference honorees and even NFL draft picks. “That’s all I have to do is be myself. Fernando is an unbelievable player, an unbelievable person and I have to come in and just be myself and be the best I can be for IU and make guys around me better.”
“I wanted to get better, I wanted to be the best quarterback I could be,” Hoover said after Indiana’s spring game in April. “I don’t think there’s any question he’s improved and is more confident,” Cignetti said Monday. “He texts me all the time, like every weekend,” Becker said. “During the weekdays, he says, ‘Hey do you want to throw, work on this connection? “For me, coming in here it’s all about trying to be the best version of myself and come in and be who I am every day,” Hoover said.
Hoover’s comments almost mirror those Heisman-winning quarterback Fernando Mendoza repeatedly made last year, and Hoover’s scouting report seems familiar, too. If you want to make a comparison, you’ve got to kind of look at where we were last year at this time.
