Jones named team's starter

IU football fans may have grown accustomed to watching Antwaan Randle El hurdle, juke and shuffle as the most prolific quarterback in IU history.\nBut along with new uniforms, fans will get a new style of quarterback starting Saturday when senior Tommy Jones lines up under center. The stand-up pocket passer was named IU's starting quarterback for the Hoosiers opener Saturday against William & Mary.\nJones beat out fellow senior Gibran Hamdan for the starting nod.\nFirst-year coach Gerry DiNardo said Jones earned the start with solid play during workouts.\n"He was playing the best," DiNardo said.\nIt won't be Jones' first time opening up a season as the starter. Last year he started in IU's opening season loss at North Carolina State.\nJones had 18 completions on 31 attempts for 163 yards and one touchdown. Jones was replaced by Antwaan Randle El in the second game of the season, and saw his only other action of the season in the Hoosiers 63-32 victory over Wisconsin.\nJones said that he is just as confident now as he was going into last year's opener.\n"I'm still confident in the team and confident in myself," Jones said. "It's just a matter of concentrating more and more on what we have to do."\nJones sat out the last half of the season with tendonitis in his throwing shoulder, allowing Hamdan to see some time under center.\nHamdan saw action in all of the games last year as the holder for placekicks. He completed the only pass that he attempted during the season in the Wisconsin game.\nQuarterback coach and offensive coordinator Al Borges emphasized that while the decision was essentially made at the last minute, it shows that the Hoosiers will have depth at the position.\n"The good news is that someone is competing well enough to make that a tough decision," Borges said.\nDiNardo describes the 6-foot, 5-inch, 241-pound Jones as a drop-back, pocket passer perfectly suited for running IU's new West Coast offense.\n"The West Coast offense is an offense that is play-action pass and throw the ball deep, so you have to have a strong arm, and they both have that," DiNardo said.\nJones is more than pleased to be playing under a West Coast-type system himself.\n"Gibran and I have been here for four, going on five years," Jones said. "It's been what we've been waiting for the whole time."\nDiNardo emphasized that the quarterback position is like any other position -- it is subject to change at any point in the year.\n"If a guy plays well, he ought to be given an opportunity," DiNardo said. "I don\'t think it's (the QB competition) over"