TEs and OL

WOW! Need to dust out this blog site and get back at it. Been a crazy few weeks, but before I get started with the TEs and OL, I would like to ask that you remember a friend that was involved in an auto accident about 10 days ago. His name is Drew Christy and he is currently in Methodist Hospital in Indy in the Nero-critical care unit. He's been in a coma since the accident, but he's improving. If you'd like to read more about him and his family, please visit www.caringbridge.org (not a link). At the prompt, type in drewchristy and you can access his family's journal. Drew plays fball at Rose Hulman and is truely one of the coolest guys I've ever met.

Okay, now for the TEs. When Coach Hep first took over the IU football program, it appeared in the first season that the TE might be a position that would prosper. M. O'Neil, a TE that had walked on at IU and caught a couple of TD passes his junior season. However, after that, the TE position became a blocking position, rather than an option in the passing game. There are a few reasons for this, but one of the biggest was the condition of the OL and the need to have more blockers, since the spread doesn't employ a fullback on a regular basis. Also, IU really didn't have a pass catching TE, and Coach Hep had stated that a TE was more of a condition, not a position, thus the TEs became pretty much glorified blockers.

Last season, was pretty much the same, as the TEs barely caught passes, but at least they were used a tad bit more than they were the previous year. Coach Lynch has demonstrated in the past that he'll use a TE as a pass catcher a little more, and I know the staff is pretty high on a redshirt frosh that may very well start. Let's take a look at what we have here.

Max Dedmond, 6'5" 245 RS FR
The staff hopes that Matt will come to camp around 250 and ready to compete for the starting job. Max can block pretty well and he has pretty solid hands. He's the best TE that IU has had for years, so I expect him to catch around 15 to 20 balls this coming season, as he'll be used underneath a little more, especially if the OL improves as is expected.

Taylor Donnell 6'3" 225 Junior walk-on
Taylor is a walk-on from Roncalli HS in Indy. While he's never caught a pass, he did play in every game last season on special teams.

Brad Martin 6'4" 230 RS Sophmore
Brad needs weight and the staff wanted to get him into that 245 to 250 slot by spring ball. At last report, he was in the 240 range and working hard to gain weight. If he can get more weight, he'll be another guy that they look to as a pass catcher. He's not much of a blocker at this point, but they are working hard to get to be one. At this point, he's 2nd/3rd string, behind Dedmond and Troy Wagner, but mainly he is Dedmond's back up.

Troy Wagner 6'5" 255 RS Junior
Troy saw action in 9 games last season and did catch 2 passes for 7 yards. Troy is pretty much a blocker, but he can, in a pinch, especially on goalline situations, sneak out and catch a pass. The staff will continue to use him as a blocker first, so in 2 TE situations, he'll be on the field with Dedmond, or Zemetis.

Brian Zematis 6'5" 255 RS Junior
Brian needs to find a position and stick with it, as the staff has moved him from TE to DE and now back to TE as depth concerns trigger the moves. He's strickly a blocker and backs up Wagner as the main blocking TE. The staff wants him to add more weight and try and get into the 265 range. He's actually fairly quick and a pretty good run stuffing DE, but with the emergence of the younger DEs, he's back on this side of the ball. I doubt we'll see him catching passes anytime soon, but we will see him on special teams for sure.

Nick Sexton 6'5" 260 graduated
Nick was the primary TE last season, along with Wagner. Nick was also moved around his entire career, but settled in at TE his last couple of seasons and started every game last year. He did manage to catch 3 passes for 31 yards, but dropped a few when he was wide open. He's truly a blocking TE and wasn't a bad one and was pretty effective in helping the OL compensate for their lack of good run blocking skills.

Since the TE position is so small, I thought I'd include the OL as well.

Brandon Bugg 6' 240 Junior
Brandon will be IU's long snapper this coming season and boy does he have HUGE shoes to fill. Brandon's brother Tim was IU's LS for 3 years and leaves IU as the #1 rated LS in the country and likely will be the only LS drafted this season. As for Brandon, he's had an awesome mentor, so we'll see. The best way to tell if he's effective or not is if we never hear about him. He will need to add a little more musclue to his frame, but I expect him to be just as effective as Tim.

Cody Faulkner 6'5" 300 RS Junior
Cody came to IU as the highest rated OL recruit in his class. He was recruited by many in SEC and his father played at Florida, so fans naturally assumed that since we didn't see him on the field much the past couple of years, he's been a bust. However Cody came to IU as a mauler type of OL that had MUCH to learn about pass blocking. In the 2 years+ that he's been here, he's improved probably the most of anyone in the area of pass blocking. He's expected to start at RG this season and add much needed bulk and agility to that position.

Josh Hager 6'7" 280 RS FR
Josh redshirted this season but he's got a lot of potential at the Tackle position. He came in at 260, so weight was his biggest need. As of last report, he was up to around 280 and staff would love to put 10 more pounds on him to be effective. His position for now is RT, so we'll see what he looks like come spring ball.

Sean Edmundson 6'4" 285 RS Senior
Sean is pretty buried on the depth chart and has been his whole career. This season he'll more than likely be a 2nd string Guard, especially with Kenny Love and Matt Moses having moved on and graduated early. Last season, Sean's biggest pub was a run-in with the law that also involved Adam McClurg and a couple of other individuals. Sean will add depth this season.

Andrew McDonald 6'5" 285 RS FR
Andrew came to IU from a running, option, spread offense that was never really asked to pass block, so this season, as he's added some muscle, he's had to learn all about pass blocking. He is being groomed to replace Saffold at LT. Andy is pretty athletic for a big guy and has caught on to pass blocking pretty well. He'll be 2nd string heading into spring ball, and it will be interesting to see how he does.

Milton Owens 6'2" 280 RS FR walk-on
Milton walked on last season from a small high school in Gary, IN. He's being asked to gain weight in hopes that he'll provide depth at guard.

Alex Perry 6'7" 290 RS Sophmore
Alex came to IU as a 6'7" 250 tackle prospect from Morris, Illinois. After redshirting and gaining close to 25 pounds, he was moved to Center because of depth issues. This spring, he'll enter camp as the #1 center and it should be very interesting to see how he progresses. He's pretty athletic, and the hardest thing for him has been the mental side of the Center position. Since the center makes all the OL blocking scheme calls, it's a huge adjustment having played on the island to come in and play in the middle, but Alex's progression has been greatly enhanced by the pressence of Coach Johnson. Hopefully, this spring will bring Alex the confidence he needs to excell at this position.

Mike Reiter 6'2" 300 RS Junior walk-on
Mike is a walk-on from Chesterfield, MO, and he saw action in all games last season on special teams. Mike is currently 3rd string entering spring ball.

Dan Rutigliano 6'3" 285 RS FR walk-on
Dan came to IU from Cathedral HS in Indianapolis a school known for its winning traditions. Dan has a chance to be more than practice depth as the staff would like to bulk him up a little more and give him a chance at Guard. He's a mauler, so the more he learns and improves in the pass blocking area, the better his chance will be to play. Probably not a guy that will see this season, but by the time he's an upperclassman, he'll have a chance.

Rodger Saffold 6'5" 290 Junior
Rodger has pretty much started at LT since the very beginning of his freshman year. Though he really needed to RS, out of necessity, he's started and Coach Johnson has made him into one of the best LTs in the conference. He's very athletic and as he's gotten stronger, he's become a better run blocker. The staff has had to use a TE on his side a lot to help in run blocking, but toward the end of last season, he really seemed to "get it" in terms of being that up echelon LT. He comes to camp as a guy the staff is really looking to to cement the Line of Scrimmage and be that leader. He's got a chance to really be a top tackle by the time he's done at Indiana, and I'm hoping we really see the full package of Rodger this spring.

Jeff Sanders 6'4" 270 RS Sophmore
Jeff came to IU as a 240 pound TE and stayed there through a redshirt season. However, due to extreme lack of depth at the Center position, he was moved there and at one time backed up Matt Moses as 2nd string last fall and was still only about 260. Obviously, he needs weight, but he's 2nd string at this point and time. He's pretty athletic, but he needs that weight before I'd feel any comfort level about him playing on a regular basis. There's a real chance that Will Matte will come in and be that 2nd string Center by the middle of the season. I would still expect to see Jeff in goalline blocking schemes.

Pete Saxon 6'6" 315 Junior
Pete, much like Rodger, has pretty much been a starter at LG from the beginning of his career. He came to IU as a mauler, run-blocking Guard, so he's had to really learn pass blocking on the fly, and again, I credit Coach Johnson in getting him ready to play. By far, the biggest on the OL the last couple of years, Pete has steadily improved every season and the staff is looking to he and Rodger to really lead the OL this season.

Jarrod Smith 6'4" 300 RS Sophmore
Jarrod came to IU as a Center and one of the better centers recruited out of the midwest. However, during his redshirt season, he was really lost, so the staff moved him to Guard. Slowly but surely, he's beginning to get it, and he's moved up the depth chart ever since. He'll come to camp as a 3rd string guard, but as he progresses, I think he'll be up to 2nd string by the fall.

Mike Stark 6'7" 290 RS Sophmore
Mike will come to camp as the starter at RT. He played some last season, when Emerson went down with an injury and though he was outmatch early on, he really improved and was pretty steady throughout his time. He's a pretty good pass blocker, who has really had to be taught run blocking techniques. Mike offers a lot more as a RT than Emerson, but few will ever have the heart that Charlie showed.

Dennis Ziegler 6'7" 330 RS FR
Dennis is HUGE, in fact, he needs to slim down to play in IU's zone blocking system. If he can get down to 320 or so, he really could challenge Stark on the Right side. For his side, he's really athletic and has good feet, but his conditioning isn't where it needs to be for him to be really effective over sustained drives. He's shown so far in winter conditioning that he's getting better, and I'm anxious to see him in pads to see how he does.

James Brewer 6'8" 350 RS Sophmore
James is even bigger than Dennis, and to play, he's got to get his weight down. Like Dennis, he's athletic for his size, but his conditioning is not good at all. In fact, he was hurt a lot last season with a foot injury and it took forever to heal, in fact, he's still not at 100% and he will be limited this spring as a result. If he could somehow get down to about 315 to 320, he's probably start, but he's got to get the weight down. In fact, at one point last season, I was told he was a lot heavier than 350, though I was never told just how much he weighted. Hopefully, James can find a diet plan that works for him and he can heal up and get that weight down. He's very raw, but he could be the best out of any of these kids, he's got that much ability to work with.

Now, the following people have either left the program:
Tim Bugg-graduation
Charles Emerson-graduation
Kenny Love-early graduation
Matt Moses-early graduation
John Sandberg-graduation
Ben Wyss-graduation
Kyle Thomas-early graduation and he has gotten on with the Bloomington Police Department as a full time street officer. Congrats Kyle, I know I would never mess with you!!!

Okay, next time, I'll dive into the DL.