Indiana football’s quarterback competition is progressing at a steady pace this spring with Kurtis Rourke seemingly creating some distance from the rest of the room based on comments coach Curt Cignetti has made over the past two weeks.

Cignetti has been reluctant to go in depth about the topic, but he’s praised Rourke every time he’s been at the podium.

“I think Kurtis Rourke has taken a pretty significant step,” Cignetti said, on Tuesday.

Cignetti, who previously praised Rourke for operating at a “high level,” made sure to balance out his praise by pointing out the Ohio transfer still had room to “improve in a lot of different things.”

Rourke had the experience advantage over the other competitors coming into spring.

He was a three-year starter for the Bobcats and earned MAC offensive player of the year honors in 2022 with 3,256 passing yards (69.1%) and 25 touchdowns. His numbers weren’t quite as impressive last season, but he still led his team to 10 wins as he worked his way back from a torn ACL

Cignetti said much of the spring has been focused on installing the offense and all that comes with it — learning new plays and a whole lot of new terminology. Rourke has passed that test so far while showing the live arm that jumps out on film.

The other main development in the quarterback battle was Cignetti publicly stating he wanted to see a little more from Tayven Jackson. Jackson threw 914 yards (60.9%), two touchdowns and five interceptions in six appearances (five starts) last season.

His best performance came against Louisville when orchestrated a second half comeback and was just a yard shy of scoring a game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter. The previous staff liked Jackson’s “moxie,” but he was benched after a series of middling performances.

“Tayven’s improvement has been a little slower, and while he has the physical ability most of the time to get the ball from point A to point B, there’s a lot more to playing quarterback than that,” Cignetti said. “I need to see a jump from his game in that area.”

Fellow Center Grove alum Tyler Cherry, a mid-year enrollee, is also getting reps. The coaching staff remains excited about his long term potential and are eager to see how much improvement he makes this summer.