Part 1:
Chuck Noll once said, "Champions are champions not because they do anything extraordinary but because they do the ordinary things better than anyone else." This quote is the Tony Dungy's book, Quiet Strength, and it starts chapter 9. The title of this blog is a line that Tony Dungy uses all the time, and it's one that I heard Coach Lynch use right after his hiring to Head Coach was made official. It's pretty simple, but what does it mean for IU now, and in the future.
Coach Lynch isn't a "sexy" hire in terms of big names. He will be paid well, but not in the 7 figure range that coaches demand when going to Michigan, Alabama, Florida State, LSU, etc. However, as we all know Coach Lynch has still been around the block, probably more times than any of the coaches at the above mentioned schools and he knows what it takes to win ball games and bowl games. So when Coach Lynch addressed the team after the first bowl practice, and then again to the media, he used the line "we'll just do what we do".
To expect anything unusual from IU during the Insight Bowl on Monday night will probably leave you disappointed. The Hoosiers will throw, they will run, they will look to make big plays with Hardy, they will rotate in RBs in an attempt to have fresher legs in the 4th quarter, and they will blitz the heck out of the Cowboy OL and QB. Oklahoma State's offense will look pretty familiar to IU, because they run pretty much the same kind of offense, with the same type of players. Their main running threath, Dantrell Savage has run for over 1100 yards this year. He's a 5'9" scat back type, just like IU's Thigpen and McCray. The Cowboys also have a real big weapon at WR in Adarius Bowman. He's a 6'4" big time, play making WR that is rated right behind Hardy and Malcolm Kelly (Oklahoma) as the top WRs in college football. The Cowboys also have pretty good depth at WR as well in Dez Bryant a True Frosh that is just a budding star in the making. To make matters even more similiar is Oklahoma State's QB, Zac Robinson. A true running/passing QB, he's also the teams second leading rusher.
One of the reasons that IU got chosen for this game, according to insiders with Insight was the fact that our offense will score against anybody, but our defense isn't as advanced and will allow this game to go into the 40s for both teams. Oklahoma State has a lot of Offensive talent, but their defense wasn't much to shout about this season. The Cowboys averaged 33 pts/game on offense, but gave up an average of 30 pts/game also. This game has the makings for a real western shootout in the desert on Monday Night.
Now, with all the hype, the fan excitement, the anticipated high scoring affair staring Coach Lynch in the face, he calmly walks to podium and says "we'll do what we do". It such a small line, that probably no one caught but yet to me, it means a whole lot. It shows me that Coach Lynch is keeping this team grounded, that though the kids will have fun, there's business to attend too. Sure, Play 13 was the season motto, but there are a group of Seniors that want to win their last game that still want to prove that IU is just starting to grab a hold of a winning/bowl game tradition. Most "experts" expect a lot of scoring, but in favor of the Cowboys. In fact some sports writers in Big 12 country have went overboard in their predictions and think nothing of the bball school that also plays fball in Big Ten land and that's okay. That's the way Coach Lynch wants it. Overlook us, brag about the other team playing in football saturated Big 12, downplay the ability of the Big Ten conference to win bowl games, please keep it up. And while you are flapping your jaws and patting the backsides of the Cowboys, we'll just be working hard, getting better, and do what we do, better than you can do what you do.
I honestly believe, after speaking with several of the players, a couple coaches, and a couple of administrators, that this team will go out on Monday and prove a very large point. You cannot overlook IU football any longer. Sure, it's just the Insight Bowl, but the foundation has been laid, the recruits are beginning to come, the fans are believing, and IU is winning more football games than they are losing.
Part 2:
Thanks to 98IUGrad, I've finally been able to line up a correct scholarship roster. Before I list it, we are currently sitting at 86 players committed to 85 with at least 1 or 2 more kids expected to come. So what does that mean? Well 1 of 2 things is going to happen to get IU down to that magicial 85 number. First, someone could very well transfer, or second a few of our signings will be greyshirted.
Let's address the transfer stuff first: We know Matt Moses and Sean Edmundson are not returning. They went through Senior Day against Purdue and will graduate and move on in life. I somehow had missed all this, but 98 set me straight. I've heard a couple of names as rumors, but I'm going to wait until after the bowl game to mention anymore names. They are not any starters or projected starters, but kids that are upperclassman that are buried on the depth chart.
As for the greyshirt, only one name I've even heard that could be considered is Chad Sherer, however, this is a fairly new development because he recently reinjured one of his knees and will need surgery, in fact, he may have already had it by now. However, the last report I had on him was he probably wouldn't be ready for Fall Practice anyway, so a greyshirt was a possibility.
One things for sure, even if we don't get anymore verbals, we will have to have at least 1 transfer or greyshirt. There's no way around it.
This will be the roster come the Spring:
QB
Adam Follett-True FR
Teddy Schell-RS FR
Ben Chappell-RS Soph
Kellen Lewis-RS Junior
RB
Shane Covington, Alex Hunt, Darius Willis-True Frosh
Zach Walker-Davis-RS FR
J.T. Owens-Junior
Bryan Payton, Demetrius McCray-RS Juniors
Marcus Thigpen-Senior
WR
Tyler Adetona, Tandon Doss, Charles Love III, Marquelo Suel-True Frosh
Matt Ernest-RS FR
Terrance Turner, Aaron Burks-RS Sophmores
Ray Fisher-Junior
Andrew Means, Chris Banks-RS Juniors
Brandon Walker-Roby, James Bailey-Seniors
TE
Max Dedmond-RS RF
Brad Martin-RS Soph
Troy Wagner-RS Junior
OT
Marc Damisch-True FR
Josh Hager, Andrew McDonald-RS Freshmen
James Brewer, Mike Stark-RS Sophmores
Roger Saffold-Junior
Kenny Love-Senior
OG
A.J. Thompson, Justin Pagan-True FR
Dennis Ziegler-RS Soph
Cody Faulkner, Jarrod Smith-RS Juniors
Pete Saxon-Junior
Kyle Thomas-Senior
C
Will Matte-TR FR
Alex Perry, Jeff Sanders-RS Sophmores
K
Andrew Starr-Senior
P
Chris Hagerup-RS FR
DT
Nick Sliger, Mick Mentzer, Larry Black-True Freshmen
Jeff Boyd-RS FR
Deonte Mack-RS Soph
Kevin Burrus, Keith Burrus, Emile Bass-RS Juniors
Greg Brown-Senior
DE
Kyle Kozak-TR FR
Eric Thomas, Fred Jones-RS FR
Greg Middleton-Junior
Brian Zematis, Jammie Kirlew-RS Juniors
Ryan Marando-Senior
LB
Chad Sherer-TR FR
Ian Reeves, Darius Johnson, Dane Conwell-RS FR
Tyler Replogle-Soph
Will Patterson, Matt Mayberry-Juniors
Justin Carrington-RS Junior
Isaac Price, Geno Johnson-Seniors
CB
Donnell Jones, Chris Adkins-RS FR
Richard Council, Adrian Burks-RS Sophmores
Bruce Hampton-RS Junior
Chris Phillips, Rayshun Calhoun-Seniors
S
Peter St. Fort, Cortez Smith-TR Freshmen
Jarrell Drane-RS FR
Mitchell Evans-Soph
Austin Thomas, Nick Polk-RS Juniors
Brandon Mosely, Joe Kleinsmith-Seniors
Current Total:
Offense: 44
Defense: 42
Senior: 13
Junior: 22
Sophmore: 15
RS Freshmen: 17
TR Freshmen: 19
Finally Part 4:
Predictions for the end of recruiting:
If Johnson commits: IU will take an athlete that projects as a CB
If Johnson doesn't commit: IU will take an athlete that projects as a CB and sign either Mossbrucker or Freeland
Either way, I see us take at least one more and probably 2.
Go IU!! Do What We Do!
Friday, December 28, 2007
Wednesday, December 19, 2007
Gray and over-signing
This blog is dedicated to some information on MarQuies Gray a QB from Ben Davis HS in Indianapolis and what over-signing is and why IU is looking to do that this season.
First, a question, how does a 6'3" 210 QB with 4.7 speed that made the Elite 11 camp over the summer (didn't participate because of dumb IHSAA rule) go from a highly coveted prospect to someone that is only being lightly recruited? This is the million dollar question that many are asking. Well, I'm going to attempt to answer that a little bit. Over the course of the last several weeks, many people have asked me and many offers have asked on Peegs and Scout, what is up with Marquies Gray. Here's a kid that started the year as Rivals #2 ranked dual threat QB in the country. During the summer camp circuit, he put on shows with his passing ability. Even though he's listed as a dual threat QB, he's really a polished passer, who is a pass first QB and seemed pretty comfortable in the pocket from the games I've witnessed. He has also been surrounded by talented receivers and backs at Ben Davis, so his decline was not because he lacked weapons. During his junior year, he put up 600 rushing yards and 1113 yards passing with 12 TDs in only 150 pass attempts.
Once his senior season started, everything just kind of fell apart really. First was a pretty lackluster effort and poor stat performance to start the season against Perry Meridian that also saw him benched for the opening series of the game. Nothing has really come out as to why Gray was benched but in the Indy Star, coach was quoted as saying this "Either you do what we tell you, or you don't play," said Kirschner, who said the matter was closed." Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Mr. Gray wasn't doing what he was suppose to be doing. What that ended up being was a last minute official visit to Indiana State, a Division 2 school. To further aggrevate matters, he never really scheduled it with ISU, just showed up and hung out with former teammates. He missed class and the beginning of practice that day. Not a real bright move really. Next came the disaster at Penn with more lackluster stats and Gray breaking his wrist, which meant he was pretty much done for the next couple of months. Gray did return for the 9th game of the season against Carmel and led the Giants to victory on Carmel's Senior Night. He looked like his old self in this game and even played WR and made a couple of big gains that way. He followed that performance up with another good game against Brownsburg before the showdown with Pike in the sectional semi-final. I've talked to several who went to that game, and they believe Gray was the best player on the field that night. His stats proved over the last 3 games that he was back in form.
So a player gets hurt? That happens all the time to many kids and they still get the big school scholarship. What is so different about Gray? Well that answer to that lies with Gray himself. MarQuies is handling his recruiting. MarQuies doesn't live with either of his parents. His dad lives out of state, and I only know he doesn't have the greatest relationship with mom, so he's kind of on his own. His HS coach has offered to help, but to no avail, so MarQuies is doing this on his own. At this point and time, MarQuies has made 2 official visits: Minnesota on September 27th and Indiana State in early August. He was quoted recently on the Oregan site as saying that he would chose between Oregan, because of their cool uniforms and Minnesota, because they have a cool mall. He also mentioned his desire to leave the state of Indiana and start over.
That is about the only comments that we have head directly from him. The rest is merely hearsay or rumors. MarQuies came to one of IU's camps over the summer and put on a show and earned an offer. Iu was sitting pretty good, along with purdue, some other Big Ten programs until statements were made to the IU staff that he was not interested in playing instate so don't both to recruit him. Similiar statements were made to the Purdue staff as well as other nearby Big Ten schools. At one point, Notre Dame set pretty well with him as well due to his cousin, Jonas Gray from Michigan considering them. Again, MarQuies made statements to several programs to not both recruiting him. Why he did this, no one knows and all this occurred around Labor Day. So that's what programs did, they backed off and pursuied other prospects and began to invest their interest elsewhere.
Now, at Oregan and/or Minny, he would be getting himself into situations and offenses that would fit his syle, and at Minny at least, he would have the chance to come in a possibly play next seaon. But he's one of the most lightly recruited 4-star QBs that I've ever seen, and the reason appears to be that he's driven pretty much everyone else away, or saying it another way, he's painted himself into a corner so to speak. Oregan and Minny have both gotten QB commits recently. The boards on the Oregan Scout site have posters saying that MarQuies is still an option. No word yet on Minny, but it appears they lead for him, at least in Gray's mind.
From all the information that I have received including some things I won't post here due to privacy issues, I'm going to state my opinion for IU and what I hope the staff does. Even if MarQuies would come calling, I hope we look in another direction. It's obvious that the staff feel Johnson is the better prospect, and will likely go him or bust. Also, Follet is really a good, but raw QB as well. He reminds the staff of Blake Powers, though he's not the scrambler that Johnson(also he's the #12 dual threat QB in the US) is, but he has a better arm at this point.
I don't know where Gray will end up, but I don't think it's going to be IU and I really don't think it's going to be anywhere close to the state of Indiana. He blew up over the summer and was actually considered a back up plan for some schools if they didn't get Myron Pryor, but Gray's stock has fallen, and fallen fast. At this point, I expect him to land at Minnesota and sit a couple years behind their JUCO stud they just signed and then go from there.
Now, for the over-signing issue: At this point, I have IU full with their verbals and a roster of 85 full scholarships to be used, so anything else would be "over-signing" the class. IU will take at least one more CB prospect, and could conceivable take Johnson, a CB prospect, Mossbrucker, and Wiggins, so that would be 4 oversigns. However, I think it's safe to say that at the max there will be 3 at the very most.
Over-signing means you simply sign more kids that you have scholarships available for. The NCAA rules states that a school can have no more than 85 scholarships per team and no more than 25 kids can sign per class. However, schools go over that 25 all the time. Kentucky had a class a couple of years ago with 30 kids in it, but 6 of them didn't qualify and thus the end result was a 24 man class, which is within the rules.
There are many reasons why it is done, but mostly it is due to someone in the class being either an academic risk/casualty or a greyshirt canidate. At this point, I don't know of any of the verbals be academic risks, but I've heard that at least one recruit is a greyshirt canidate due to surgery that is needed to repair an injury. This kid would basically not start classes until the 2nd semester next season and his 5 year clock would start ticking then, not unlike a true frosh enrolling early. Terrance Turner did this at IU, and recently Tyler Haston from Avon did it at Purdue, so it's not uncommon. However, since IU is full, something has to happen if anymore kids are signed. Hardy going pro would free up one opening. Also, some kids that are 5th year seniors and have graduated, transfer to a D1 AA school so they can play their senior year. If you noticed, Kyle Kozak is starting in January and will count towards this year's ship total. Where did that extra grant come from? Chauncey Incarnato that transferred to UMASS. So you can play with your roster a little bit. It's been rumored before that start of the season that some of the older OL guys that are buried on the depth chart will be asked to move on. Moses was one of those rumored, but I doubt he moves on now. However, kids like Edmundson and Love are prime canidates. Again, something will have to happen, either academically, a greyshirt, transferring, or early graduating to open up those spots.
Althon Sports.com did a piece last year asking if oversigning was "ethical". It's a great piece to read to try and understand how some schools really use this to pick and choose kids and "beat the system" so to speak. If you remember Steve Spurrier almost quit South Carolina early this season because some of the verbals did not get in. What didn't come out though was SC oversigned and most point to that being the real reason the kids didn't get into SC. The University chose the best 25 academically, and the others were out. It just so happened that the ones that didn't get in were very good players.
Personally, I don't care if IU oversigns every once in awhile and knowing the type of coach Lynch is, I don't expect this to be an every year thing. One ship is bound to open up with Hardy almost assuredly going pro. He filed his papers today for them to research his potential draft position, which most believe will be early 2nd/low 1st round at this point, with the combine and pro days potentially moving him to the middle of the first round. Also, I'm expecting at least 1 5th year transfer to a lower level, so that's why I expect the staff to finish with 2 more verbals.
And in a final note: John Decker reported today that JT Owens has made a permenant switch from Safety to Running Back. He will be at that position for the spring as well.
First, a question, how does a 6'3" 210 QB with 4.7 speed that made the Elite 11 camp over the summer (didn't participate because of dumb IHSAA rule) go from a highly coveted prospect to someone that is only being lightly recruited? This is the million dollar question that many are asking. Well, I'm going to attempt to answer that a little bit. Over the course of the last several weeks, many people have asked me and many offers have asked on Peegs and Scout, what is up with Marquies Gray. Here's a kid that started the year as Rivals #2 ranked dual threat QB in the country. During the summer camp circuit, he put on shows with his passing ability. Even though he's listed as a dual threat QB, he's really a polished passer, who is a pass first QB and seemed pretty comfortable in the pocket from the games I've witnessed. He has also been surrounded by talented receivers and backs at Ben Davis, so his decline was not because he lacked weapons. During his junior year, he put up 600 rushing yards and 1113 yards passing with 12 TDs in only 150 pass attempts.
Once his senior season started, everything just kind of fell apart really. First was a pretty lackluster effort and poor stat performance to start the season against Perry Meridian that also saw him benched for the opening series of the game. Nothing has really come out as to why Gray was benched but in the Indy Star, coach was quoted as saying this "Either you do what we tell you, or you don't play," said Kirschner, who said the matter was closed." Doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that Mr. Gray wasn't doing what he was suppose to be doing. What that ended up being was a last minute official visit to Indiana State, a Division 2 school. To further aggrevate matters, he never really scheduled it with ISU, just showed up and hung out with former teammates. He missed class and the beginning of practice that day. Not a real bright move really. Next came the disaster at Penn with more lackluster stats and Gray breaking his wrist, which meant he was pretty much done for the next couple of months. Gray did return for the 9th game of the season against Carmel and led the Giants to victory on Carmel's Senior Night. He looked like his old self in this game and even played WR and made a couple of big gains that way. He followed that performance up with another good game against Brownsburg before the showdown with Pike in the sectional semi-final. I've talked to several who went to that game, and they believe Gray was the best player on the field that night. His stats proved over the last 3 games that he was back in form.
So a player gets hurt? That happens all the time to many kids and they still get the big school scholarship. What is so different about Gray? Well that answer to that lies with Gray himself. MarQuies is handling his recruiting. MarQuies doesn't live with either of his parents. His dad lives out of state, and I only know he doesn't have the greatest relationship with mom, so he's kind of on his own. His HS coach has offered to help, but to no avail, so MarQuies is doing this on his own. At this point and time, MarQuies has made 2 official visits: Minnesota on September 27th and Indiana State in early August. He was quoted recently on the Oregan site as saying that he would chose between Oregan, because of their cool uniforms and Minnesota, because they have a cool mall. He also mentioned his desire to leave the state of Indiana and start over.
That is about the only comments that we have head directly from him. The rest is merely hearsay or rumors. MarQuies came to one of IU's camps over the summer and put on a show and earned an offer. Iu was sitting pretty good, along with purdue, some other Big Ten programs until statements were made to the IU staff that he was not interested in playing instate so don't both to recruit him. Similiar statements were made to the Purdue staff as well as other nearby Big Ten schools. At one point, Notre Dame set pretty well with him as well due to his cousin, Jonas Gray from Michigan considering them. Again, MarQuies made statements to several programs to not both recruiting him. Why he did this, no one knows and all this occurred around Labor Day. So that's what programs did, they backed off and pursuied other prospects and began to invest their interest elsewhere.
Now, at Oregan and/or Minny, he would be getting himself into situations and offenses that would fit his syle, and at Minny at least, he would have the chance to come in a possibly play next seaon. But he's one of the most lightly recruited 4-star QBs that I've ever seen, and the reason appears to be that he's driven pretty much everyone else away, or saying it another way, he's painted himself into a corner so to speak. Oregan and Minny have both gotten QB commits recently. The boards on the Oregan Scout site have posters saying that MarQuies is still an option. No word yet on Minny, but it appears they lead for him, at least in Gray's mind.
From all the information that I have received including some things I won't post here due to privacy issues, I'm going to state my opinion for IU and what I hope the staff does. Even if MarQuies would come calling, I hope we look in another direction. It's obvious that the staff feel Johnson is the better prospect, and will likely go him or bust. Also, Follet is really a good, but raw QB as well. He reminds the staff of Blake Powers, though he's not the scrambler that Johnson(also he's the #12 dual threat QB in the US) is, but he has a better arm at this point.
I don't know where Gray will end up, but I don't think it's going to be IU and I really don't think it's going to be anywhere close to the state of Indiana. He blew up over the summer and was actually considered a back up plan for some schools if they didn't get Myron Pryor, but Gray's stock has fallen, and fallen fast. At this point, I expect him to land at Minnesota and sit a couple years behind their JUCO stud they just signed and then go from there.
Now, for the over-signing issue: At this point, I have IU full with their verbals and a roster of 85 full scholarships to be used, so anything else would be "over-signing" the class. IU will take at least one more CB prospect, and could conceivable take Johnson, a CB prospect, Mossbrucker, and Wiggins, so that would be 4 oversigns. However, I think it's safe to say that at the max there will be 3 at the very most.
Over-signing means you simply sign more kids that you have scholarships available for. The NCAA rules states that a school can have no more than 85 scholarships per team and no more than 25 kids can sign per class. However, schools go over that 25 all the time. Kentucky had a class a couple of years ago with 30 kids in it, but 6 of them didn't qualify and thus the end result was a 24 man class, which is within the rules.
There are many reasons why it is done, but mostly it is due to someone in the class being either an academic risk/casualty or a greyshirt canidate. At this point, I don't know of any of the verbals be academic risks, but I've heard that at least one recruit is a greyshirt canidate due to surgery that is needed to repair an injury. This kid would basically not start classes until the 2nd semester next season and his 5 year clock would start ticking then, not unlike a true frosh enrolling early. Terrance Turner did this at IU, and recently Tyler Haston from Avon did it at Purdue, so it's not uncommon. However, since IU is full, something has to happen if anymore kids are signed. Hardy going pro would free up one opening. Also, some kids that are 5th year seniors and have graduated, transfer to a D1 AA school so they can play their senior year. If you noticed, Kyle Kozak is starting in January and will count towards this year's ship total. Where did that extra grant come from? Chauncey Incarnato that transferred to UMASS. So you can play with your roster a little bit. It's been rumored before that start of the season that some of the older OL guys that are buried on the depth chart will be asked to move on. Moses was one of those rumored, but I doubt he moves on now. However, kids like Edmundson and Love are prime canidates. Again, something will have to happen, either academically, a greyshirt, transferring, or early graduating to open up those spots.
Althon Sports.com did a piece last year asking if oversigning was "ethical". It's a great piece to read to try and understand how some schools really use this to pick and choose kids and "beat the system" so to speak. If you remember Steve Spurrier almost quit South Carolina early this season because some of the verbals did not get in. What didn't come out though was SC oversigned and most point to that being the real reason the kids didn't get into SC. The University chose the best 25 academically, and the others were out. It just so happened that the ones that didn't get in were very good players.
Personally, I don't care if IU oversigns every once in awhile and knowing the type of coach Lynch is, I don't expect this to be an every year thing. One ship is bound to open up with Hardy almost assuredly going pro. He filed his papers today for them to research his potential draft position, which most believe will be early 2nd/low 1st round at this point, with the combine and pro days potentially moving him to the middle of the first round. Also, I'm expecting at least 1 5th year transfer to a lower level, so that's why I expect the staff to finish with 2 more verbals.
And in a final note: John Decker reported today that JT Owens has made a permenant switch from Safety to Running Back. He will be at that position for the spring as well.
Wednesday, December 12, 2007
Recapping and looking ahead
Well the past 24 hours have certainly been excited for Hoosier fans. I made a post on Peegs about last weekend being just as important as Austin Starr's FG in the Purdue game. 7 uncommitted kids and 7 verballed kids game in for a red carpet recruiting weekend. All 7 of the verballed kids made sure the staff knew they were solid, and already, we've seen 3 of the uncommitted kids verbal to us. So let's recap a little bit with our 3 new kids.
First, is Tyler Adetona a 6'1" 195 WR from Gainesville, GA. According to Rivals, he ran a 4.49 in one of their combines. He committed to Troy University before the season started, which is pretty close to his hometown. In 2006, he ran 13 times for 290 yards and 2 TDs mostly on reverses, which should indicate his shiftiness and speed. He also caught 53 passes for 788 yards and 8 TDs. This year, his numbers really sky-rocketed to over 1,300 receving yards and around 85 catches.
Tyler is fast, having run a 10.6 100 meters, which indicates that he can sustain his speed, along with his quick burst off the line. His coach says he's strong and fast enough to go over the middle, just as easily as he is to burn you deep. IU had recruited Tyler for sometime, and coach Johnson and Lynch Jr. kept in contact with him through this season, just to let him know IU was still very interested. It should be noted that IU didn't force anything with him, we just were a presence. When it became apparant to the staff that Woods would probably end up elsewhere, Hardy would go pro, and the uncertainty of Andrew Means, WR became a huge position of need to finish up this class. Tyler is rated as a 3-star and with his amazing numbers, that could translate to 4-star material, but what is most important is he is qualified and ready to come in and try and contribute.
Next is Charles Love III from Trezevant HS in Memphis, TN. He's 6'3" 190 and will come to IU as a WR with 4.5 speed. Charles may be unkown to IU fans, but as a junior, he became a pretty hot commodity around SEC schools like Tenn, KY, Louisville, Vanderbuit, etc all were present at games and sent him letters. His rare combination of speed, quickness, and height is a desired attribute for WRs in recruiting and this kid has all of it. So what happened? Well, according to Mark Milton, a Peegs poster, his numbers decreased, his HS team was terrible, and they couldn't settle on a QB all season. He still caught 31 passes for 427 yards, but that wasn't enough production to keep the big SEC schools interested. However, Gerald Brown, who is quickly gaining a large reputation in and around Memphis stayed after this kid and got him in for a visit. I'm told the staff drooled over his senior tape, so it's obvious they think he's a player. From what I've heard, he reminds a lot of Terrance Turner. Will red shirt but be a contributor from there on.
IU's WR class has Doss at 6'3", Love at 6'3", Suel at 6'3", and Adetona at 6'1". That's 4 big/fast receivers that can really play at any position in the spread, and that may not be the last name we add to them, but more on that later.
Finally, for the big name, our #1 target from word go, Darius Willis. I've typed a lot of stuff on this kid, but the one word I'd use to describe him is "complete". He truly can do it all: run, catch, and block. He's a special talent that is familiar with IU's system, because his HS runs the spread. He won't need a full back to open up the hole, he'll be used to running in a one back set, which is a huge advantage coming in, and I think that's lost on a lot of people sometimes. One coach called him Maurice Clarett with speed, and maybe Willis's greatest attribute is his personality and his attention to detail. Read his HS coach's comments before the announcement was made the other day. This kid is the total package and will continue to help rebuild this program. With Hardy expected to go pro, defenses will key more on the run next season, and IU needs to improve that area of the offense more than anything. Willis will play next season. He may not start initially, but he'll play, and he'll play a lot.
So, by my account, we have 18 commits now. We have 19 ships available, but don't expect the staff to stop at just one more signing. The staff is expecting Kyle Kozak in here this weekend. Kyle is kind of a freak of nature really. He's 6'5 1/2" and weights around 230 at this time. Oh and he also runs a 4.5. He graduated from Pickering Central HS in Ohio last year and had a lot of interest from Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Penn State sniffed, but Kyle didn't have the grades, so they backed off. He wound up at Hargrave Military Academy and got stronger and faster if that's possible. Right now, from everything I've heard, the staff expects him to commit either during the visit, or right after. However, if you talk to Cincinnati folks, they say the exact same thing. His best friend in HS is a redshirt frosh with the Bearcats (Chazz Anderson), so we'll see. Kyle has also visited UCONN and Toledo, but it's reportedly down to IU and the Bearcats for this kid. What seems to set IU apart from the rest is IU is a BCS school, and Cincinnati isn't and sometimes that makes a huge difference. Also, after the season IU's DEs had, it's hard not to want to put yourself into that same position. Anyhow, this is scoop on this kid.
An update on Mossbrucker: I'm still hearing he wants to decommit and be a Hoosier, but he has yet to call the Iowa coaches and say that, so nothing has moved along here. While I'm not changing my tune here, I've seen this before with kids saying this and they end up doing nothing. We'll see what happens, but the staff will take him if he wants to committ. If he doesn't, look for them to greyshirt Freeland from Lawrence North in Indy.
Orhian Johnson, like the rest of the visitors last weekend had a great visit, but nothing concrete has come out about what he wants to do or what other visits he might take. I posted on Peegs today that it will depend on what position he wants to play really. He says he has no preference and if that's true, he can stay instate and be a heck of WR. However, IU is the biggest school recruiting him at QB and they have made it plainly obvious that he is their #1 target and he knows it. I've been told that the staff compares to Follet to Powers without the speed. In fact, he could switch positions if Johnson comes on board, which I've told he's willing to do. I think the coaches see that in the spread, a true running/passing QB is the way to go. Johnson brings both attributes to the table. I really think in my heart that he'll be a Hoosier, but I think we are going to have to wait on him for awhile.
Brynden Trawick, like Johnson and everyone else loved his weekend. He was the first one here, but had to cut out early to retake his ACT. My understanding is he has the grades, but not the test scores at this point. I don't think we will hear one way or the other on him until he knows his tests scores. I've been told it's a Spartan/Hoosier battle for him and it could go either way at this point. We'll have to stay tuned on this one.
Willy Lowe: There isn't much out there on him other than he's going to take more visits, which indicates that IU won't end up with him. While he's proven to be pretty productive at CB, his height is a definite concern at 5'9". My guess is that he'll end up in the MAC somewhere, but we'll see.
And finally, Doug Wiggins. The U of Miami freshman that wants out of there to play WR instead of CB really enjoyed his visit, but I am not sure what to think about him. Love his speed, love his shiftiness, and he's got great potential, but I don't know about his attitude. I've shared emails with a few Miami people and I've gotten a mixed bag of reviews on him. The one consistant thing about him is that he's very talented, but most fans down there aren't cryin' buckets to see him leave. He pretty much stayed to himself over the weekend and one player said he almost acted bored, so we'll see. However, there seems to be a question about whether he will even take anymore visits, and since we are his only visit to date, I would think that puts the writing on the wall. I'm going to leave it at this: If he commits great, but if not, that's okay too. He'd have to sit out a year anyway, but he would bring more talent to an already deep position, unless he changes his mind and plays both ways or sticks with defense.
The only other name that has been floated out there as a potential visitor is Isaiah Pead from Columbus, Ohio. He's actually rated higher by Rivals at RB than Willis (26 to 40), but IU would switch him to CB, where he's just as dynamic. On 11/11, Rivals interviewed him and he said he was wide open and wouldn't be in a hurry to set visits. The staff is trying to get him in here before they go to Tempe, but I haven't heard too much more on that.
I think John Decker is right, I think IU will sign at least 4 to 5 more kids and most of our recruiting could be finished up by the bowl game. We'll obviously leave a ship for Johnson, but if Kozak commits as expected, that will leave the rest of these names battling over 2 or 3 grants. I think it's pretty obvious the staff wants to add a DE and a CB in these final verbals. Other than that, it's the best available/will to come on board at this point and time.
God Bless!
First, is Tyler Adetona a 6'1" 195 WR from Gainesville, GA. According to Rivals, he ran a 4.49 in one of their combines. He committed to Troy University before the season started, which is pretty close to his hometown. In 2006, he ran 13 times for 290 yards and 2 TDs mostly on reverses, which should indicate his shiftiness and speed. He also caught 53 passes for 788 yards and 8 TDs. This year, his numbers really sky-rocketed to over 1,300 receving yards and around 85 catches.
Tyler is fast, having run a 10.6 100 meters, which indicates that he can sustain his speed, along with his quick burst off the line. His coach says he's strong and fast enough to go over the middle, just as easily as he is to burn you deep. IU had recruited Tyler for sometime, and coach Johnson and Lynch Jr. kept in contact with him through this season, just to let him know IU was still very interested. It should be noted that IU didn't force anything with him, we just were a presence. When it became apparant to the staff that Woods would probably end up elsewhere, Hardy would go pro, and the uncertainty of Andrew Means, WR became a huge position of need to finish up this class. Tyler is rated as a 3-star and with his amazing numbers, that could translate to 4-star material, but what is most important is he is qualified and ready to come in and try and contribute.
Next is Charles Love III from Trezevant HS in Memphis, TN. He's 6'3" 190 and will come to IU as a WR with 4.5 speed. Charles may be unkown to IU fans, but as a junior, he became a pretty hot commodity around SEC schools like Tenn, KY, Louisville, Vanderbuit, etc all were present at games and sent him letters. His rare combination of speed, quickness, and height is a desired attribute for WRs in recruiting and this kid has all of it. So what happened? Well, according to Mark Milton, a Peegs poster, his numbers decreased, his HS team was terrible, and they couldn't settle on a QB all season. He still caught 31 passes for 427 yards, but that wasn't enough production to keep the big SEC schools interested. However, Gerald Brown, who is quickly gaining a large reputation in and around Memphis stayed after this kid and got him in for a visit. I'm told the staff drooled over his senior tape, so it's obvious they think he's a player. From what I've heard, he reminds a lot of Terrance Turner. Will red shirt but be a contributor from there on.
IU's WR class has Doss at 6'3", Love at 6'3", Suel at 6'3", and Adetona at 6'1". That's 4 big/fast receivers that can really play at any position in the spread, and that may not be the last name we add to them, but more on that later.
Finally, for the big name, our #1 target from word go, Darius Willis. I've typed a lot of stuff on this kid, but the one word I'd use to describe him is "complete". He truly can do it all: run, catch, and block. He's a special talent that is familiar with IU's system, because his HS runs the spread. He won't need a full back to open up the hole, he'll be used to running in a one back set, which is a huge advantage coming in, and I think that's lost on a lot of people sometimes. One coach called him Maurice Clarett with speed, and maybe Willis's greatest attribute is his personality and his attention to detail. Read his HS coach's comments before the announcement was made the other day. This kid is the total package and will continue to help rebuild this program. With Hardy expected to go pro, defenses will key more on the run next season, and IU needs to improve that area of the offense more than anything. Willis will play next season. He may not start initially, but he'll play, and he'll play a lot.
So, by my account, we have 18 commits now. We have 19 ships available, but don't expect the staff to stop at just one more signing. The staff is expecting Kyle Kozak in here this weekend. Kyle is kind of a freak of nature really. He's 6'5 1/2" and weights around 230 at this time. Oh and he also runs a 4.5. He graduated from Pickering Central HS in Ohio last year and had a lot of interest from Pittsburgh and Cincinnati. Penn State sniffed, but Kyle didn't have the grades, so they backed off. He wound up at Hargrave Military Academy and got stronger and faster if that's possible. Right now, from everything I've heard, the staff expects him to commit either during the visit, or right after. However, if you talk to Cincinnati folks, they say the exact same thing. His best friend in HS is a redshirt frosh with the Bearcats (Chazz Anderson), so we'll see. Kyle has also visited UCONN and Toledo, but it's reportedly down to IU and the Bearcats for this kid. What seems to set IU apart from the rest is IU is a BCS school, and Cincinnati isn't and sometimes that makes a huge difference. Also, after the season IU's DEs had, it's hard not to want to put yourself into that same position. Anyhow, this is scoop on this kid.
An update on Mossbrucker: I'm still hearing he wants to decommit and be a Hoosier, but he has yet to call the Iowa coaches and say that, so nothing has moved along here. While I'm not changing my tune here, I've seen this before with kids saying this and they end up doing nothing. We'll see what happens, but the staff will take him if he wants to committ. If he doesn't, look for them to greyshirt Freeland from Lawrence North in Indy.
Orhian Johnson, like the rest of the visitors last weekend had a great visit, but nothing concrete has come out about what he wants to do or what other visits he might take. I posted on Peegs today that it will depend on what position he wants to play really. He says he has no preference and if that's true, he can stay instate and be a heck of WR. However, IU is the biggest school recruiting him at QB and they have made it plainly obvious that he is their #1 target and he knows it. I've been told that the staff compares to Follet to Powers without the speed. In fact, he could switch positions if Johnson comes on board, which I've told he's willing to do. I think the coaches see that in the spread, a true running/passing QB is the way to go. Johnson brings both attributes to the table. I really think in my heart that he'll be a Hoosier, but I think we are going to have to wait on him for awhile.
Brynden Trawick, like Johnson and everyone else loved his weekend. He was the first one here, but had to cut out early to retake his ACT. My understanding is he has the grades, but not the test scores at this point. I don't think we will hear one way or the other on him until he knows his tests scores. I've been told it's a Spartan/Hoosier battle for him and it could go either way at this point. We'll have to stay tuned on this one.
Willy Lowe: There isn't much out there on him other than he's going to take more visits, which indicates that IU won't end up with him. While he's proven to be pretty productive at CB, his height is a definite concern at 5'9". My guess is that he'll end up in the MAC somewhere, but we'll see.
And finally, Doug Wiggins. The U of Miami freshman that wants out of there to play WR instead of CB really enjoyed his visit, but I am not sure what to think about him. Love his speed, love his shiftiness, and he's got great potential, but I don't know about his attitude. I've shared emails with a few Miami people and I've gotten a mixed bag of reviews on him. The one consistant thing about him is that he's very talented, but most fans down there aren't cryin' buckets to see him leave. He pretty much stayed to himself over the weekend and one player said he almost acted bored, so we'll see. However, there seems to be a question about whether he will even take anymore visits, and since we are his only visit to date, I would think that puts the writing on the wall. I'm going to leave it at this: If he commits great, but if not, that's okay too. He'd have to sit out a year anyway, but he would bring more talent to an already deep position, unless he changes his mind and plays both ways or sticks with defense.
The only other name that has been floated out there as a potential visitor is Isaiah Pead from Columbus, Ohio. He's actually rated higher by Rivals at RB than Willis (26 to 40), but IU would switch him to CB, where he's just as dynamic. On 11/11, Rivals interviewed him and he said he was wide open and wouldn't be in a hurry to set visits. The staff is trying to get him in here before they go to Tempe, but I haven't heard too much more on that.
I think John Decker is right, I think IU will sign at least 4 to 5 more kids and most of our recruiting could be finished up by the bowl game. We'll obviously leave a ship for Johnson, but if Kozak commits as expected, that will leave the rest of these names battling over 2 or 3 grants. I think it's pretty obvious the staff wants to add a DE and a CB in these final verbals. Other than that, it's the best available/will to come on board at this point and time.
God Bless!
Monday, December 10, 2007
Willis to be a Hoosier!
Tomorrow at 3PM, Darius Willis will announce something that Hoosier fans have longed to hear since we began recruiting this guy. I'm a Hoosier!
Lots of rumors came out during his visit that he told Will Patterson, his host for the weekend, that he would commit to Indiana. Since then, I can confirm that he did tell the coaching staff the same thing and tomorrow he will announce for IU.
Coming into the weekend he was pretty much down to IU and Purdue, but the IU visit sealed the deal with him. He really has liked IU for sometime, but held out committing due to the status of Coach Lynch. Bill Lynch started recruiting Darius first and built that relationship with him. During his many unoffiicial visits to IU, Darius really fell in love with the whole environment surrounding the resergence of this program. This past weekend, just sealed the deal, as his parents had just as good a time as he did on campus. While he said all the "PC" things to the media, it was obvious where his heart was longing to be.
For the record, Darius is ranked as the #6 Tailback in the country according to SuperPreps. He's a 4-star type of kid that can come in and play next season, if not start. He's a game chaning back with speed (4.4) and power (210 lbs). He gets stronger as the game goes along, which makes him even more special.
Hopefully, we will also be learning the fate of Tyler Altedona in the next 24 hours too. As for now, he's still committed to Troy, but he's made some suggestions to the staff that he'll be denouncing to Troy and committing to IU. We'll see what happens, but the next 24 hours should bring a lot of excitement to the "shooting rocket".
Lots of rumors came out during his visit that he told Will Patterson, his host for the weekend, that he would commit to Indiana. Since then, I can confirm that he did tell the coaching staff the same thing and tomorrow he will announce for IU.
Coming into the weekend he was pretty much down to IU and Purdue, but the IU visit sealed the deal with him. He really has liked IU for sometime, but held out committing due to the status of Coach Lynch. Bill Lynch started recruiting Darius first and built that relationship with him. During his many unoffiicial visits to IU, Darius really fell in love with the whole environment surrounding the resergence of this program. This past weekend, just sealed the deal, as his parents had just as good a time as he did on campus. While he said all the "PC" things to the media, it was obvious where his heart was longing to be.
For the record, Darius is ranked as the #6 Tailback in the country according to SuperPreps. He's a 4-star type of kid that can come in and play next season, if not start. He's a game chaning back with speed (4.4) and power (210 lbs). He gets stronger as the game goes along, which makes him even more special.
Hopefully, we will also be learning the fate of Tyler Altedona in the next 24 hours too. As for now, he's still committed to Troy, but he's made some suggestions to the staff that he'll be denouncing to Troy and committing to IU. We'll see what happens, but the next 24 hours should bring a lot of excitement to the "shooting rocket".
Friday, December 7, 2007
This weekends visitors
Wanted to put the list on here of players that here this weekend. The first player to arrive was Brynden Trawick, 6'2" 210 Safety from Marietta, GA with 4.55 speed. Would be a real get for us to get this guy. He's projected as a strong safety with a chance he could bulk into a OLB. Staff loves his size/speed ratio, and the fact that he was here first and was here for the whole practice today, speaks that IU is clearly in the running for this kid. He got to see IU on an official visit to Michigan State earlier this year, and at this point, there are no clear cut favorites, but I've heard tell that IU is right there and has an excellent shot. The other 13 visitors are as follows:
Committed Players:
1. Marc Damisch-OT
2. Mick Mentzer-DL
3. Tandon Doss-WR
4. Adam Follet-QB
5. Justin Pagan-OG
6. Chad Sherer-OLB
7. Cortez Smith-Safety
Uncommitted guys besides Trawick:
1. Darius Willis-RB
2. William Lowe-CB
3. Orhian Johnson-QB
4. Charles Love III-6'3" 200 WR from Memphis, TN
Possible Transfer:
1. Doug Wiggins-WR/CB
Committed to Troy, but still doing an official here:
1. Tyler Adetona-6' 185 WR/DB
Committed Players:
1. Marc Damisch-OT
2. Mick Mentzer-DL
3. Tandon Doss-WR
4. Adam Follet-QB
5. Justin Pagan-OG
6. Chad Sherer-OLB
7. Cortez Smith-Safety
Uncommitted guys besides Trawick:
1. Darius Willis-RB
2. William Lowe-CB
3. Orhian Johnson-QB
4. Charles Love III-6'3" 200 WR from Memphis, TN
Possible Transfer:
1. Doug Wiggins-WR/CB
Committed to Troy, but still doing an official here:
1. Tyler Adetona-6' 185 WR/DB
Monday, December 3, 2007
Last 8 spots
First off, congrats to the Hoosiers on their bowl bid. Other than the Rose Bowl, this has got to be one of the biggest, and most surprising, bowls for IU in the history of the program. The most well known bowls for the Hoosiers have been the Rose Bowl in 1967 and the Peach Bowl in 1990. To get a New Year's Eve Bowl is outstanding. Play 13 has now been replaced with Win the 13th game!
It appears that IU will try and secure at least 8 more verbals with this class, with the outside chance of their being 10 more, but I'm mostly hearing 8, so we'll stick with that number for now. I thought it would be fun to see who the staff really likes and what positions we would like to add more talent. So here are 8 names that the staff would love to finalize this class with along with some statistics on each player.
1. Darius Wills-TB-I've talked about him before, and broke down his season a little bit in my last blog. Obviously he's the #1 guy for us. My prediction is that he'll be a Hoosier when all is said and done!! Also, he's ranked as the #6 TB in America, ahead of many high profiled recruits.
2. JD Woods-6'2" 180 WR from Naples, FL with 4.5 speed, good hands and leaping ability. JD caught 54 passes for 850 yards and 8 TD and he was also a return specialist. He also attends the same HS as another verbal, Peter St. Fort. Our main competition here is probably West Virginia and he'll be up there next weekend. He did an official visit at IU on September 21st, and his main concern at that point was stability of the coaching situation. From all reports, he's a heavy IU lean at this point and time, and again my prediction is that he will indeed be a Hoosier.
3. Trent Mossbrucker-kicker-See my last blog for information on this kid. Again, he'll be a Hoosier
4. Chad Hounshell-6'5" 300 OT from Mentor, OH. A strong OT prospect that could move inside, but we are probably looking at the LT of the future here. He has good feet and balance and according to his Rival combine numbers, he's got a very good bench and squat already. Many have offered, but IU is in his top 4 with Kansas, UCF, and Colorado. His HS team just finished up their season, so he's pretty wide open with the 4 schools at this point, but in a recent Rivals article, he mentioned IU and Central Florida. I know OL coach Bobby Johnson really likes him. He'll be in for an offical in January, but I'm going out on a limb and predict he'll be a Hoosier as well.
5. Orhian Johnson-see my last blog on information about him. However, the staff likes him as a KL clone. I predict he'll be a Hoosier as well. Rivals lists him as the 12th best dual threat QB in the country. The thing that is really working in IU's favor here is that IU is recruiting him at QB, where almost everyone else is at WR or DB. I've been told, he wants to be a QB, so thus I'm predicting us here.
6. Robbie Anzuini-6'1" 180 WR from Hilliard (Darby), Ohio. Here's a newer name from a Peegs poster last week. Robbie is a burner with solid hands and he put up some good numbers this fall at Darby HS. I've heard talk that we are in very good with a WR from Ohio, but I always thought it was the Staffold kid from Columbus, OH. Now, I'm beginning to think it's this kid may be the one. Robbie caught 54 passes for 930 yards and 9 TDs this season. His QB, Jeremy Erbert is a verbal to Northwestern, but will most likely switch to Safety. Under the radar kid, but I think he'll be a Hoosier as well.
7. Robert Martin-6'2" 230 LB from Pike HS in Indianapolis and he's 4.6 guy. Honestly, I could see this kid adding weight and going to DE, but for now, he's a LB for sure. His cousin is Greg Middleton and he told Andy Romey from Peegs that he would love to join his cousin Greg at IU. So are, he's not been offered, but the only reason is grades. I've heard he has a ways to go, but it's not impossible for him to qualify. My guess is he verbals, and we sign a back up plan just in case.
8. William Lowe-I've talked about his kid before in previous blogs. He's beginning to turn a lot of heads on defensive side of the ball, and at IU he'd be asked to switch to Corner back. He's got good leaping ability and hands, so that could make up for his shorter stature. IU leads, and he says he'll visit in January. Probably ours to lose at this point.
9. Doug Wiggins-5'11" 190 CB that is current at Miami Fla, so he'd have to sit a year before he becomes eligible. He's strong, fast, and just a very good athlete. He was a QB in HS, but switched over to CB at the "U". Has had run-ins with teammates and he struggled with the adjustments of college fball this season. Many speculate he's a Western Michigan lean, since his cousin, EJ Biggers plays there, but I'm not convinced at all this is the case. First off, EJ is a junior, so Doug would have to sit next season, so they would never actually get to play together. Also, he loves our situation to be able to come in and start in a couple of years for a BCS team. Finally, he's also friends with Jarrell Drane and a couple of other Floridians. I'm thinking we sit pretty good here, but I have no idea how good until after this weekend.
Well, there is 9 names of some pretty good, athletic kids. We should know a lot more this time next week about some of these kids. Go IU beat Kentucky!
It appears that IU will try and secure at least 8 more verbals with this class, with the outside chance of their being 10 more, but I'm mostly hearing 8, so we'll stick with that number for now. I thought it would be fun to see who the staff really likes and what positions we would like to add more talent. So here are 8 names that the staff would love to finalize this class with along with some statistics on each player.
1. Darius Wills-TB-I've talked about him before, and broke down his season a little bit in my last blog. Obviously he's the #1 guy for us. My prediction is that he'll be a Hoosier when all is said and done!! Also, he's ranked as the #6 TB in America, ahead of many high profiled recruits.
2. JD Woods-6'2" 180 WR from Naples, FL with 4.5 speed, good hands and leaping ability. JD caught 54 passes for 850 yards and 8 TD and he was also a return specialist. He also attends the same HS as another verbal, Peter St. Fort. Our main competition here is probably West Virginia and he'll be up there next weekend. He did an official visit at IU on September 21st, and his main concern at that point was stability of the coaching situation. From all reports, he's a heavy IU lean at this point and time, and again my prediction is that he will indeed be a Hoosier.
3. Trent Mossbrucker-kicker-See my last blog for information on this kid. Again, he'll be a Hoosier
4. Chad Hounshell-6'5" 300 OT from Mentor, OH. A strong OT prospect that could move inside, but we are probably looking at the LT of the future here. He has good feet and balance and according to his Rival combine numbers, he's got a very good bench and squat already. Many have offered, but IU is in his top 4 with Kansas, UCF, and Colorado. His HS team just finished up their season, so he's pretty wide open with the 4 schools at this point, but in a recent Rivals article, he mentioned IU and Central Florida. I know OL coach Bobby Johnson really likes him. He'll be in for an offical in January, but I'm going out on a limb and predict he'll be a Hoosier as well.
5. Orhian Johnson-see my last blog on information about him. However, the staff likes him as a KL clone. I predict he'll be a Hoosier as well. Rivals lists him as the 12th best dual threat QB in the country. The thing that is really working in IU's favor here is that IU is recruiting him at QB, where almost everyone else is at WR or DB. I've been told, he wants to be a QB, so thus I'm predicting us here.
6. Robbie Anzuini-6'1" 180 WR from Hilliard (Darby), Ohio. Here's a newer name from a Peegs poster last week. Robbie is a burner with solid hands and he put up some good numbers this fall at Darby HS. I've heard talk that we are in very good with a WR from Ohio, but I always thought it was the Staffold kid from Columbus, OH. Now, I'm beginning to think it's this kid may be the one. Robbie caught 54 passes for 930 yards and 9 TDs this season. His QB, Jeremy Erbert is a verbal to Northwestern, but will most likely switch to Safety. Under the radar kid, but I think he'll be a Hoosier as well.
7. Robert Martin-6'2" 230 LB from Pike HS in Indianapolis and he's 4.6 guy. Honestly, I could see this kid adding weight and going to DE, but for now, he's a LB for sure. His cousin is Greg Middleton and he told Andy Romey from Peegs that he would love to join his cousin Greg at IU. So are, he's not been offered, but the only reason is grades. I've heard he has a ways to go, but it's not impossible for him to qualify. My guess is he verbals, and we sign a back up plan just in case.
8. William Lowe-I've talked about his kid before in previous blogs. He's beginning to turn a lot of heads on defensive side of the ball, and at IU he'd be asked to switch to Corner back. He's got good leaping ability and hands, so that could make up for his shorter stature. IU leads, and he says he'll visit in January. Probably ours to lose at this point.
9. Doug Wiggins-5'11" 190 CB that is current at Miami Fla, so he'd have to sit a year before he becomes eligible. He's strong, fast, and just a very good athlete. He was a QB in HS, but switched over to CB at the "U". Has had run-ins with teammates and he struggled with the adjustments of college fball this season. Many speculate he's a Western Michigan lean, since his cousin, EJ Biggers plays there, but I'm not convinced at all this is the case. First off, EJ is a junior, so Doug would have to sit next season, so they would never actually get to play together. Also, he loves our situation to be able to come in and start in a couple of years for a BCS team. Finally, he's also friends with Jarrell Drane and a couple of other Floridians. I'm thinking we sit pretty good here, but I have no idea how good until after this weekend.
Well, there is 9 names of some pretty good, athletic kids. We should know a lot more this time next week about some of these kids. Go IU beat Kentucky!
Sunday, December 2, 2007
Weekend visitors this weekend and next and predictions
This weekend, the following were to be at IU:
Shane Covington
Will Matte
Nick Sliger
Marc Damisch
A.J. Thompson
Next weekend visitors are suppose to be:
Doug Wiggins a transfer from Miami Fla; 5'11" 190 CB with 4.4 speed
Orhian Johnson a 6'3" 180 QB/Athlete prospect from Gulfport, FL with 4.5 speed. A Kellen Lewis clone
Cortez Smith a 5'10" 195 DB prospect from Detroit Michigan with 4.55 speed. Played RB and DB this season but projects much better at DB in college.
Darius Willis a 6' 210 RB prospect from Franklin Central with 4.4 speed. Ran for 1,728 yards and 28 TDs this year and also had 2 receiving TDs as well. The complete package that could come in and start next season.
Also, I've been told that Trent Mossbrucker is trying to get a visit scheduled so that he can decommitt and join the Hoosiers. Don't know if this will take place next weekend, but expect it sometime soon. Mossbrucker is a committ to Iowa as a Kicker and he lives close to Bloomington in Mooresville. Since Lynch is staying at IU, Trent loves the stability and the situation, plus Starr has exploded onto the national sceneand Iowa's coach is being strongly considered at Michigan. All this seems to add up to a decommit and a committment for the Hoosiers. Trent has a strong leg with range to 50 yards and is good on kickoffs. Also, he played QB this season and did very well and could probably go D1 AA and be a QB somewhere but his future is kicking the ball.
So we know 4 big names are coming in and at this point, IU is in a very strong position with all of them. Smith is still very committed to IU and he mainly looked around until Coach Lynch's situation was finalized.
Sometime next week, I'm going to put together a list of kids I expect will fill our remaining 8 to 10 spots. Of course it's early, but it's fun to do a little predicting once in a while.
God Bless all!!
Shane Covington
Will Matte
Nick Sliger
Marc Damisch
A.J. Thompson
Next weekend visitors are suppose to be:
Doug Wiggins a transfer from Miami Fla; 5'11" 190 CB with 4.4 speed
Orhian Johnson a 6'3" 180 QB/Athlete prospect from Gulfport, FL with 4.5 speed. A Kellen Lewis clone
Cortez Smith a 5'10" 195 DB prospect from Detroit Michigan with 4.55 speed. Played RB and DB this season but projects much better at DB in college.
Darius Willis a 6' 210 RB prospect from Franklin Central with 4.4 speed. Ran for 1,728 yards and 28 TDs this year and also had 2 receiving TDs as well. The complete package that could come in and start next season.
Also, I've been told that Trent Mossbrucker is trying to get a visit scheduled so that he can decommitt and join the Hoosiers. Don't know if this will take place next weekend, but expect it sometime soon. Mossbrucker is a committ to Iowa as a Kicker and he lives close to Bloomington in Mooresville. Since Lynch is staying at IU, Trent loves the stability and the situation, plus Starr has exploded onto the national sceneand Iowa's coach is being strongly considered at Michigan. All this seems to add up to a decommit and a committment for the Hoosiers. Trent has a strong leg with range to 50 yards and is good on kickoffs. Also, he played QB this season and did very well and could probably go D1 AA and be a QB somewhere but his future is kicking the ball.
So we know 4 big names are coming in and at this point, IU is in a very strong position with all of them. Smith is still very committed to IU and he mainly looked around until Coach Lynch's situation was finalized.
Sometime next week, I'm going to put together a list of kids I expect will fill our remaining 8 to 10 spots. Of course it's early, but it's fun to do a little predicting once in a while.
God Bless all!!
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