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!