DBs, 50 days, and who's got some work to do

Wanted to start of this blog entry with an quick update on my friend, Drew Christy that was injured 53 days ago in a car accident. Since my last update, Drew was moved from Methodist's neuro-critical care unit to Seton Rehab Hospital, and will soon be moving to Hook Rehabilitation Center at Community East hospital. While Drew is still fighting his way out of the coma that he's been in, he has opened his eyes, stuck out his tongue, moved around a lot, and so on. His mom taught him how to sign "I Love You" and he makes that sign a lot. The biggest miracle yet was on the 50th day, he said "mom" twice! We all continue to pray for our friend and we know that even though the road is long, we believe he will recover. If you would like to check out Drew's site, please visit caringbridge.org and type in drewchristy at the prompt. His mother has updated her journal constantly and just tonight, the website has been viewed by 181,000 people. For those that read this blog and are of the Christian faith, you will certainly be touched and uplifted by what you read. Either way, it's very encouraging to read the guestbook and celebrate the victories that God has given Drew's family and friends during his recovery.

Okay, now for the DBs. In 2007, the defensive backfield of the Hoosiers was a work in progress to say the least. The year before, the DBs made the majority of the plays for the Hoosiers, with Will Myers leading the team in tackles and INTs. Depending upon the "scheme" of the defense, it's not entirely unusual for a Strong Safety to lead the team in tackles, the problem IU had was Myers was making the majority of his tackles 5, 6, even 7 yards from the line of scrimmage every time. Also, IU was just getting constantly burned deep, and it was obvious that something had to change, and change quickly.

Last season brought a lot of improvement on the run defense, as IU only gave up 160 yards/game, compared with 175 yards/game the year before. However, the pass defense was a little worse as IU gave up 244 yards/game last season, compared to 228 in the 2006 season. Last season, IU was very experienced in cover corners, but very raw at Safety, also, with the improved run defense, teams passed more against the Hoosiers to move the ball, so that's part of the reason why there is an increase as well. Porter and Majors were both fast cover guys, but neither were very aggressive in the run game. Each were very fast, but they played off their men a lot, because they weren't physical enough for bump and run, nor where they good enough tacklers for Cover 2, so they sat in zones most of the time, about 5 to 7 yards from their assignments, then played the ball when it was thrown. The staff attempted to use their athleticism and speed, rather than raw strength and aggression. For the most part, it worked out, but they are gone, and now we have some youngin's that play a whole lot differently than Porter and Majors.

As for the Safeties, IU has experience in both starters, Thomas and Polk, but depth is young and inexperienced, and one is playing QB this spring, so some redshirts are getting a real opportunity to show the staff what they have, and from what I have witnessed, I think this is going to be a real area of strength in the coming years, much like it appears the LB positions will be as well.

The real key for IU this season is the corners and safeties will do a whole lot more Cover 2 as a pass defense scheme. What allows them to do this is 2 fold: First and foremost, IU has probably the deepest DL they have EVER had in the history of the school. In the Cover 2, the biggest key is pressure, pressure, pressure the QB from both ends and the tackles. IU can do this, and they can rotate in bodies to keep people fresh. The second big key is Matt Mayberry and Austin Thomas. Much like the Colts, the key to their defense starts with pressure from the DL, then Brackett and Sanders make the majority of the plays. Last season, IU had McClurg a witty, but not that athletic MLB that got by on smarts and a warrior-like mentality. Mayberry has the makings of a star and has a real chance to be the best MLB IU has produced in years. Strong words, but he's got some real ability. Mix him with Thomas's run defense ability and you have the ability to be a Cover 2 team. Finally, to be an effective Cover 2 team, your corners HAVE to be good tacklers and physical. Enter Chris Phillips and Donnell Jones and Chris Adkins and Richard Council. These 4 guys are bigger and as physical as any corners IU has had in awhile. While I will breakdown each player in a minute, these guys can hit you and they are physcial off the line of scrimmage and they have extremely good closing speed. I really like where IU's pass defense is headed, and the staff spent quite a bit of time with Colts and learned a lot from them in terms of using the principles of this defense. I think IU finally has the athletes they need to make this type of defense work, and this position will only get better as these kids mature and get experience.

Also, I quickly want to say that if you add these 4 corners that I mentioned previous with Cortez Smith and the possibility of adding DJ Hunter to the mix next season, these 6 kids are just stud athletes that will bring a new dimension to the IU defensive backfield. Hunter is down to IU and the O$U. His HS coach is Ron Johnson, who coached with Hep at Miami of Ohio, and he also coached along side IU recruiting coordinator and safeties coach, Mike Yeager. I really believe IU will end up with this kid in the end, but I don't know when he'll commit. IU will also allow him to run track, and he's the type of kid that can come in and play at IU as TR FR, but won't have the opportunity at the O$U.

Okay, let's look at all the DBs:

Chris Adkins: 6'1" 185 CB from Indy; RS FR
Chris is another of those Warren Central kids that came to IU as a tall, lanky CB with little fanfare. Over the course of his RS season, he added 10 pounds and has performed very well. I've listed him in my top 4 and he'll see a lot of time this season. What the staff really likes about him is his height vs physical nature. He'll come up and pop you and he plays the ball pretty darn well. Taller corners are kind of unusual and Chris has very good athletic ability and can jump well. As he gains experience, he'll more than likely start opposite Jones, as early as next season, but for now, he's battling Council for that 3rd CB spot along with Adrian Burks.

Adrian Burks: 6' 180 CB from Pheonix, Arizona; RS Junior
Adrian is the twin brother of Aaron and both came to IU toward the end of Coach Hep's first class and both are very athletic kids. The only big issue with them both is neither has really been able to gain body mass, but Porter and Majors weighted less than 180 pounds last season, so that's not a negative. Adrain is battling Council and Adkins for that 3rd CB spot, and though he's a little shorter than those 2, he's still has some very good skills that IU will tap into as the season progresses. Last season, Adrian saw action in 5 games and registered 2 solo tackles. He will see a lot more action this season.

Rayshun Calhoun: 5' 10" 215 Safety from Atlanta, GA; RS Senior
Rayshun has been buried on the depth chart at Corner his entire career at IU, and he was injured much of last season and only played in 1 game, but didn't record any tackles. During the off season, he was moved to safety, when JT Owens was moved to RB. It's possible we will see Rayshun on special teams, but he's buried on the depth chart at safety now.

Richard Council: 6'1" 190 CB from Carrollton, TX; RS Junior
Richard came to IU as a raw Corner, then destroyed his knee toward the end of his RS FR year. Last season, he struggled getting back into form after missing so much time, and he only saw action in a couple of games. However, he has put on about 15 pounds of mass since he came to IU, so he's used his rehab time to his advantage and he came into the Spring as the starter opposite Phillips on the first team defense. He's done very well this spring and will probably leave camp as the 3rd corner, behind Phillips and Jones. He's a taller corner, much like Adkins and has speed and can jump, though he lost a little bit with the knee injury, he's still a pretty good athlete.

Jarrell Drane: 6'2" 185 S from Plantation, FL; RS FR
Jarrell is the son of Dwight Drane, who played at Oklahoma and for the Buffalo Bills and was part of 2 Super Bowl runner up teams. Jarrell is alot like his dad and he's got some big play potential. He'll see time this season and has had a pretty good spring so far working on the 2nd and 3rd team defense. What I've noticed about him is his tackling ability, as he wraps up well and uses very good technique. Tough he's a little light, he can still bring a pop of the shoulder pads on his hits and he loves to nail the WRs going over the middle.

Bruce Hampton: 5'10" 195 from University Heights, OH; RS Junior
Much like Council, Hampton's career was interupted by a pretty significant knee injury, and it's taken him until this spring to look completely healthy. Last season, he saw action in only 2 games and had 1 solo tackle. Bruce came to IU as a real cover corner prospect, but the knee injury really derailed that. He's still got very good cover skills and I've noticed this spring that his lateral movement seems much better. He's competing mostly with the 2nd/3rd team defense, and I expect we will see him mostly on special teams this season.

Donnell Jones: 5'10" 205 from St. Pete, FL; RS FR
Okay, so I'm a believer in this kid. He came to IU at 190 and promptly put on 15 pounds of muscle and got faster, yeah, faster from fall practice to spring ball. If it wasn't for Porter and Majors and Phillips last season, this kid would have come and played a whole bunch, but thankfully, he was about to RS, and IU is going to reap the benefits of his. This kids is fast, and he'll hit you big time. He'll leave spring ball as the starter opposite Phillips and he's going to be a fixture at CB for the next 3 or 4 years. This kid will get tested this season and get some bumps and bruises, but he's got a chance to be a real star for IU. Other than Ben Chappell, I've been the most impressed with Donnell the times I've been to practice this season.

Joe Kleinsmith: 5'11" 195 Safety from Lakewood, OH; Senior
Joe came to IU as a kicker and wound up being a Safety, a very unique thing for sure. Not only did he switch positions, he's contributed a lot, and last season, he saw action in 12 games and had 19 tackles, 1/2 tackle for loss, 1 INT, 1 fumble recovered and 1 fumble forced. Pretty good stats, and this season, he'll be the 3rd safety and see a lot of time in the nickle defense.

Matt Kurz: 6' 200 Safety from Glenview, IL; RS Junior walkon
Matt came to IU from one of the best football factories in the state of Illinois. He has yet to see any time on the field as a Hoosier, but he comes to practice and puts his time in. If we see him this season, it will be on special teams.

Andre LaGrone: 6' 190 Safety from Fort Wayne, IN; RS FR Walkon
Andre played at Fort Wayne South Side and redshirted last season as a walkon.

Brandon Mosley: 5'8" 205 Safety from Merrillville, IN: RS Senior
Brandon has spent much of his career as a special teams player and back up, but he always seems on the cusp of a staring position. He entered spring ball on the first team, since Evans is at QB, but he will not leave that way, has he's back to the 2nd team. Last season, Brandon made 8 tackles. Again, I expect to see Brandon in a special teams and back up defensive role.

Chris Phillips: 6' 195 Corner from Atlanta, GA; RS Senior
The most experienced member of the cornerback position will be the main guy for IU this season. Last season, Chris played in 12 games recording 12 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack, 3 INTs with 1 returned for a TD, 4 pass break ups and 3 forced fumbles. Chris is VERY aggressive and in the past, that has sometimes gotten him in trouble, but with IU switching over to more of a Cover 2 scheme, if ever there was a player that fit the mold of that defense as a Corner, Chris is it. I expect him to have a very big Senior season and he's done nothing in my eyes to disspell my opinion each time I've seen him this spring.

Nick Polk: 6' 215 Safety from Milwaukee, WI; RS JR
Nick made the switch to Free Safety just about a year ago, and he went from a guy that looked absolutely lost the first day he made the switch to a 13 game starter last season. When he made the switch, he was all athlete playing in a fairly strange position and asked to play the "centerfield" position of the defense. Certainly not an easy task for some to do, especially mentally, but Nick did it, and he did it very well. He posted 74 total tackles, 2.5 tackles for loss, 2 INTs, 5 pass break ups, 1 fumble recovered and 2 fumbles forced. Also, he saw some time at WR, but didn't catch a pass. I've tried to pay a lot of attention to Nick and I've really liked what I saw. He's been criticized for not tackling well last season, and that's understandable, he was raw at it, but he's doing a much better job this season, and he's added 15 pounds of muscle to his frame and kept his 4.5 speed, which has scouts talking already. Since he was a very good WR, he understands routes, and he can cheat a little bit on those routes, because he knows what to look for to decipher what receivers are doing, yet he has the speed to regain his positioning, if he doesn't make the read right. He's another budding star for IU on defense.

Austin Thomas: 6' 200" Safety from Woodstock, GA; RS Junior
Austin started at strong safety last season and put up the following numbers: 112 total tackles (led team), 1 INT, 3 passes broken up, and 1 fumble forced. Austin is really a very good run defender, and then when passing downs come up, Mitch Evans comes in. Austin again will more than likely be the starter, and play mostly on running plays where he is one of IU's best run defenders.

Coming this fall:
Peter St. Fort: 6' 2" 180 FS from Naples, FL
Cortez Smith: 5'10" 195 CB/Strong Safety from Detroit, MI
Also, I believer that one of the WR or RB commits will be over here in the end as well, but for now, these are the only 2 official.

Also, I want to say that I have read a couple accounts on Cortez Smith possibly being the best athlete in the entire city of Detroit last season. While that's awful hard to judge for sure, you have to remember his teammate, Boubacar Cisso, signed with Michigan and was a first team All American. Too even say that Smith was more athletic than this kid is say a LOT. Great job by the IU staff to land this kid.

Now, I've been to a few practices, read all the camp stories, talked with some people that have attended every practice and I'm going to list a couple guys that I feel needs to pick it up a little bit in the spring game and through the summer. By no means am I criticizing these kids, but I think they have ability to do a little better than they are showing.

First is Jeff Boyd, DT. Boyd came into Spring ball hyped by me and several others as a potential starter along the DL. He has been given a lot of opportunity due to injuries, but he's disappointed some and has't really blossomed like I thought he would. He's been pretty easily blocked and not shown the ability that I saw him use during the season as a redshirt. He came to came about 310 pounds, and I think that's a little too heavy for him. Would like to see him get back to around 300 and use that quickness. He's got loads of time, and hopefully, he can pick it up and be part of the deep DL rotation.

Second is Justin Carrington, OLB. Justin started the bowl game and did pretty well last season in back up duty. While he's done okay this spring, the RS FR have come in and just done better. Right now, Justin is fighting to keep that 2nd team spot, and he needs to pick it up a little or he's going to get buried behind some young and aggressive kids that are real hungry for playing time.

Third is Cody Faulker, RG; Cody came to IU pretty hyped because of family bloodlines. He's not progressed as many hoped and while he's still first team on offense, James Brewer may be moved over there to see what he can do. Cody has done pretty well on run blocking, but Brewer is bigger and has very good feet for a 6'8" 350 guy. Cody needs to pick it up a little bit, or he's going to be back on the 2nd team.

Who's Hot:

A couple of new kids to add to the list from the previous blog.

First is Eric Thomas, DT; While Boyd hasn't impressed has much as some thought, this kid really has impressed and shown he's got a lot of ability. He needs more mass, but he's going to be a true player and a true pass rusher from the DT position.

Next is Jarrod Smith, OL; Jarrod was one of the "7 Blocks of Limestone", yet he didn't really do a whole lots season and the staff was kind of at a loss where to put him. HOWEVER, as spring practice has went along, he's really improved and began to show the ability that Coach Johnson knew he possessed. It's feasible that by the first game, he could be backing up both Guards and at Center, or he may be starting at RG is Brewer doesn't move there and Faulkner continues to slip.

Overall, IU has done very well despite all the injuries. Progress has been made everyday and that's all you can ask for. Let's hope we can get through this weekend with no more injuries and head into summer ball with a lot of positive momentum.

Take care and God Bless!