Indiana’s season opener against North Texas will carry a little extra familiarity when the Hoosiers walk into Memorial Stadium on September 5.
Former Indiana quarterback Tayven Jackson is set to return to Bloomington, this time wearing North Texas colors. Jackson and the Mean Green will face the defending national champion Hoosiers in Week 1, giving Indiana fans an early look at a player who spent two seasons in the program.
Jackson’s path has already taken plenty of turns. He arrived at Indiana after a redshirt freshman season at Tennessee, then played for the Hoosiers in 2023 and 2024. He logged a few starts as a redshirt sophomore, backed up Kurtis Rourke during his junior year in 2024, and then went back into the portal before landing at UCF.
His Indiana résumé includes 13 games, 101 completions on 165 attempts, a 61.2% completion rate, 1,263 passing yards, 6 touchdowns and 6 interceptions. He also ran for 52 yards and scored 4 rushing touchdowns.
Now Jackson is on his fourth college team in five seasons, and North Texas looks like the next stop where he could be the guy. He started 10 games at UCF last season and had the best stretch of his career there, appearing in 11 games and throwing for 2,151 yards with 10 touchdowns and 8 interceptions. On the ground, he added 85 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns.
Among the quarterbacks in the North Texas room, Jackson brings the most mileage by far. He is a fifth-year senior with 27 collegiate appearances, while the rest of the group is much younger: Chaston Ditta and Chris Jimerson Jr are redshirt freshmen, and Ziondre Williamson is a true freshman. That edge in experience should help Jackson secure the starting job.
He’ll be doing it in a North Texas program that looks very different from the one that rolled through last season.
The Mean Green went 12-2 a year ago and finished by beating San Diego State in the New Mexico Bowl. They were one of the strongest non-Power 4 teams in the country, and true freshman quarterback Drew Mestemaker led the nation with 4,379 passing yards as North Texas put up an NCAA-best 45.1 points per game. But the offseason changed everything.
Head coach Eric Morris left for Oklahoma State and took a lot of the roster with him, Mestemaker included. North Texas now enters a reset under Neal Brown, who went 35-16 in four seasons at Troy and 37-35 in six seasons at West Virginia.
Indiana is favored by more than 40 points and should have the upper hand, but Jackson’s return adds a small wrinkle to an otherwise lopsided opener.
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