Kellen Lews, QBs, pro days, and other tidbits

Well, it's never a dull moment at Indiana University these days, as it seems we just can't buy a break. With all the bball stuff going on, the football team made some headlines across the country yesterday with the indefinite suspension of the face the program and starting QB, Kellen Lewis. This blog is going to contain a lot of information on different things, but I'm going to try and be as "PC" as possible with Kellen. I have very credible sources on him and I'm going to be very honest about some stuff, but I want to protect him as well, because this is a personal matter in some respects.

Yesterday, I received the word about Kellen around midmorning that he was indefinitely suspended due to school and practice issues. While I was surprised to hear the news, the picture painted at the time to me was it was fairly minor and KL could work his way back into the good graces of the staff maybe even by the end of spring practice, so I tried to convey that in my email messages and posts on Peegs. This morning, I received more information from 3 very credible sources saying the exact same thing that the news is A LOT worse than just minior stuff. I am now at the point in believing that Kellen Lewis will NEVER play another down of football for this university and he has major issues that he needs to take care of, or his future will be ruined forever.

It always disappoints me when I hear about kids throwing away opportunities, but sometimes kids try new things and before they know it, it's a habit, or addiction, and that becomes the most important thing in their lives, besides school and the sport they are playing. Basically, KL needs to stay clean, get help, and move forward. Can he return? Yes, there's a slim chance that he could, but he's going to have to put a tremendous amount of effort into this, far more effort than he's put into anything in his whole life. For those that read this blog and have overcome addictions of any kind, know how hard it is.

Now, before Moyeswatsboozer begins to throw Coach Lynch under the bus, let me assure you that KL has had chances to get straight, but you can only violate team rules so many times before you get the ax. This suspension should also not be compared to Bassett or Crawford, the issues that KL faces are much, much more serious and the term indefinite will probably be just that.

Now, with KL not around, the QB situation becomes very interesting, especially since Teddy Schell is out this spring following Tommy John surgery on his throwing elbow and a hernia operation. That leaves Ben Chappell as the starter and Dustin Haas (walk-on) as his back up. For now, the only move to bolster the depth at QB, has been to move Chris Hagerup to QB. He'll still punt, but he's going to do both, for now. At this point, Evans hasn't switched to QB yet, or at least he's not been going to the QB meetings yet. Evans is being rumored, but it's just a rumor right now. So, for spring practice, as of now, it will be Chappell, Hagerup, and Haas. Teddy is expected to be ready to go by fall ball, and the staff has been pleased with his progress. This fall, we welcome Follett, and I suspect Hagerup and/or Evans or both will go back to their regular positions. At this point, Chappell will start game one, with Schell as his back up, and Haas and Follett will battle it out 3rd string. Also, it will be very important for Follett to get down to IU early this summer and participate in 7 on 7 drills and get ready. He'll be a couple injuries away from playing next year that's for sure.

As for IU's Pro Day that was held this week, once again, Porter and Hardy impressed those in attendance. So far, accoring to nfl draft scout, Porter has ran the fastest pro day time at 4.30. He's also ran the fastest 10-yard time at 1.46. The knock on Porter heading into the Senior Bowl and Combine was that he wasn't very physical and not very strong. Yet, he still cranked out 18 reps on the bench at 225 pounds, so that was very good. Also, this season Tracy seemed tentative to tackle head on, probably due to the broken collarbone he suffered at the end of his junior season. However, he was fearless at the Senior Bowl, and his workouts have put in solidly into the upper portion of the 2nd round.

As for Hardy, his combine and subsequent pro day workouts have put in solidly into the lower portion of the 1st round. At 6'6" 220 with a 37.5" vertical and long arms, soft hands, and oh by the way, a 4.4 time, makes him a freak of nature at WR. He needs to improve his routes and his blocking, but he's been mentioned prominetly between picks 20 and 30 for about a week now. A darkhorse team could be the Cowboys with one of their 2 picks in the first round.

For a kid that walked on at IU at 6' 220 pounds that was too slow for every position he was big enough to play, certainly has changed things around for himself. Currently he's the #1 rated LS in the draft and is being told he will get his name called somewhere during the late 6th or anytime during the 7th round.

Other IU prospects that participated in drills but will more than likely be free agent signings are: Leslie Majors, Josiah Sears, Blake Powers, Charlie Emerson, and John Sandberg. Out of this group, Josiah was the most impressive running a 4.7 40 time and showing good hands at catching the ball and blocking and running. He could make a club via special teams as a situational blocker.

After my last blog, I was informed that Jeff Sanders was going to move back to TE, due to blocking concerns. I have checked into this further and that is the case. Jeff has a good pair of hands and will compete for PT with the rest of the TEs this spring.

Also, wanted to do a quick update on my friend from Rose Hulman that was in the car accident. He is still in a coma, but yawning and moving around a little bit. The accident was 2 weeks ago today. He's being weened off the ventilator and there's talk of him being moved to another facility for acute medical care and rehab. Please keep him and your family in your prayers. You can also track his progress at caringbridge.org (at prompt type in drewchristy). It's an amazing site that will bless your socks off each time you visit.

Hopefully, next time, I'll have more positive news! GOD Bless!!

John