Indiana Hoosiers quarterback Michael Penix Jr. (9) dives with the ball to score a two point conversion and win the game in overtime during the game at Memorial Stadium. The Indiana Hoosiers defeated the Penn State Nittany Lions 36-35. Marc Lebryk-Imagn Images

Best Indiana Football Players Of The 2020s So Far: No. 3 Michael Penix Jr.

Originally posted on Indiana Hoosiers on SI
By Todd Golden | Last updated Jun 13, 2025 4:16 PM ET

Have you ever been into a musical artist before they reached their popular peak? That’s what the Indiana fan experience must be like as far as Michael Penix Jr. is concerned.

The Hoosiers got to know him before he hit his college football peak. Indiana cheered loudly as Penix made a name for himself.

Indiana fans will always have that image in their minds of Penix reaching out to just barely touch the pylon for a game-winning two-point conversion in a dramatic 36-35 overtime victory over Penn State to kick-start a 2020 season that ended with a 6-2 record and a close call with Big Ten title contention.

Unfortunately for Indiana, Penix didn’t stay healthy and then he didn’t stay, period.

Penix moved on to the University of Washington after the 2021 season where his career accelerated at breakneck speed. He threw for 9,544 yards in two seasons at Washington – more than double his 4,197 yards at Indiana. Penix nearly won the Heisman Trophy in 2023 and is in line to quarterback the Atlanta Falcons for the foreseeable future.

While Penix may have risen to career heights in Washington’s purple and gold, he was pretty darn good in cream and crimson, too.

In 2020, Penix led Indiana to its greatest success since its 1967 Rose Bowl season. That alone puts Penix near the top of the best of the 2020s.

Penix was an established star at the start of the decade. He had quarterbacked the Hoosiers to the Gator Bowl in 2019, but he hit a new Indiana peak in 2020.

It was a season shortened by the COVID-19 pandemic, so Indiana was limited to playing just seven regular season games. Penix played in six of those games.

In the five he was fully healthy, Penix was a beacon of light. He did not throw for more interceptions than touchdown passes in a single game. He peaked with five touchdown passes and 491 passing yards in a 42-35 shootout at Ohio Stadium won by the Buckeyes.

Penix averaged 274.2 yards per game to lead the Big Ten, but in a harbinger of things to come, he couldn’t finish the season. As he scrambled out of bounds on a run, he suffered a torn ACL (the second of his career) and missed the regular season finale at Wisconsin and the Outback Bowl against Ole Miss.

In an admirable display of grit, Penix returned for the 2021 season, but nothing was the same for the Hoosiers that season. A 34-6 opening day loss at Iowa set the tone for an anti-climactic 2-10 season.

Penix only played in five of the games. A shoulder injury shut Penix down for good in early October. He would not play again for the Hoosiers.

Penix’s peak at Indiana was brief, but very impactful. One can’t think of the 2020 season without having Penix at or near the top of one’s mind. He was a winner – and he’s proven it at each stop since he left Indiana.