When Indiana head coach Tom Allen and his staff named redshirt freshman quarterback Mike Penix the starting quarterback in August, they wanted to be sure he knew he didn't need to win games by himself and that he could lean on the support of those around him.

Those contributors to his supportive network have come through in the forms of Kalen DeBoer, Peyton Ramsey, Whop Philyor and others, and now Penix is leading Indiana at an unprecedented rate.

After the Ball State season-opener in Indianapolis on Aug. 31, Indiana head coach Tom Allen stood in front of the media after his redshirt freshman quarterback passed for 326 yards and flashed his arm on a 75-yard touchdown pass to Nick Westbrook that wowed the fan base.

“The country got to see what I saw in practice,” the head coach said after having named Penix the starter over redshirt junior and 2018 starter Peyton Ramsey just a week before.

It wasn’t what Ramsey couldn’t do at quarterback, Allen said, it was what Penix could do, and he was able to put that on display at Lucas Oil Stadium and then again when he returned from injury against Michigan State.

Included in Penix’s skillset that enamored the IU coaching staff was the freshman’s poise, and that’s carried him through some of the mistakes expected from a young quarterback.

“We saw that in him, and I felt like that was one of his strengths,” Allen said about Penix’s composure. “But until you go do it and you have a chance to then evaluate it afterwards, you really don’t know where you are.”

Penix made it clear almost immediately where he was. After throwing two consecutive interceptions against Ball State, he responded by guiding the offense to two straight 50-plus-yard drives before the end of the half and eventually a 34-24 win.

Allen marveled at Penix’s ability to “flush” the mistakes early in the game and not allow them to plague the remainder of the contest, but his performance in week five was nearly unprecedented. He played his first conference road game against one of the top defenses in the country and one of the top-four teams in the conference – Michigan State.

At East Lansing, Penix didn’t throw an interception and connected on three touchdowns, and he hit on throws – like the one across his body to Donavan Hale 28 yards down the field and the one deep down the right side that was dropped by Nick Westbrook – that haven’t been seen in an Indiana uniform for a number of years.

He nearly guided Indiana to a win in the toughest game he’s played during his career and after an injury that sidelined him for two games and three weeks.

“We talked as a staff, and when we made a decision to go with Michael -- was that he's young and some mistakes are going to be made,” Allen said. “And you've got to help him grow.”

Mistakes have been made with Penix. He’s missed throws, missed reads, shown flashes of inaccuracy at times. But the support network surrounding him was what allowed the staff to feel comfortable sending out a redshirt freshman coming off an ACL injury. That started with offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer, who Allen also appointed as quarterbacks coach on arrival, sening Nick Sheridan to coach the tight ends.

The essence of a system like DeBoer’s allows for a quarterback like Penix to succeed. Short-to-intermediate throws serving as a supplement to the rushing attack can be productive with a strong enough arm, and Penix has proven to have that arm, allowing Whop Philyor to rank 17th in yards after catch among wide receivers with at least 30 targets.

Ramsey has also taken on a role in Penix’s development, Allen said, working through the reads and scouting reports with Penix during quarterback meetings.

“More than anything, it's just try to take some pressure off him,” Allen said. “Say, ‘You don't have to win the game yourself. You've just got to execute the offense, distribute the football, make good decisions.’ But at the end of the day, he's got to go out and do it. And he's shown tremendous poise.”

A lot of that poise is natural, Penix sid, but in adjusting to the college game, Penix said DeBoer has put him in a lot of tough situations to gauge how Penix will think in gameday scenarios when the matchup is stacked against him.

The quarterback recalled one practice when DeBoer set up a man-to-man defensive set and called a play with a few routes that didn’t work against man-to-man coverage but expected Penix to audible out. Penix said he’s only missed a couple of those in his time at IU.

“We’ve missed one or two, but you don’t miss too many because he’s on you,” Penix said about DeBoer.

The new offensive coordinator has pushed the mentality of a “1-0 mindset,” where he encourages his players to play as if a metaphorical scoreboard is tied at 0-0 and they must win the next play. Westbrook, Stevie Scott and others have been beacons of that mentality, but none more so than Penix, who attributed that mindset to his ability to stay composed under pressure.

That’s what he said has led him to breaking the program record for most consecutive completions in East Lansing and owning the fourth-best adjusted completion percentage among quarterbacks with at least 100 dropbacks. It’s not a concern for himself, but for the team. And when Penix speaks, that’s a genuine feeling.

“I’m always just focused on what’s best for the team and push for the team,” Penix said. “I don’t really focus on my stats or what I did in the game. At the end of the day, we didn’t win the game, and it was really upsetting for us. But we know that we did a lot of positive things as a team.”

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