iufootball

A new direction in life

2009-04-13T05:52:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since I updated this blog, and after thinking about it for a couple of weeks or more, I've decided to end my blog for good. My life has taken a different direction, one that I never dreamed would ever happen (I'll explain further), and my time to gather information is just not there any longer.

I know the blog was controversial at times, but the information within it was always given to allow IU fans a more deeper insight to the interworkings of IU football. Peegs and Decker do amazingly well with getting information out there, but they have to be "PC" about things, because if they aren't, they'll not be allowed at press conferences and be given that "inside information". My blog went deeper, because I never had to worry about what someone thought. If the reader didn't believe it, fine, if they did, fine. It never mattered to me, but the time has come to say goodbye to this chore and move in another direction.

As some know, I recently got engaged, but there's a LOT more to the story than that. My fiancee has 3 little boys (ages 5, 3, and 2). Their father abandoned them, doesn't want anything to do with them, and is your all around dead beat guy. Anyway, I LOVE THESE BOYS DEARLY, so I decided, after much prayer, research, more prayer, and discussion, that I would adopt these boys and raise them as my own.

I'm not perfect, I'm not a good speller, and I've never really been a full time dad. My skills for my involve directing men and women into and around fires and hazards to save peoples lives, so I guess I'm used to chaos! My boys cause a lot of chaos, but they are great. I couldn't image my life being any different, and though I don't get as much sleep as I used to, I wouldn't want it any other way.

So, with all that said, I'm now a full time dad, and that takes up all my time, because work, wedding plans, and a little sleep. You will still see me on the boards, talking football, but I don't have time to give this blog or the readers the necessary time it takes to make phone calls, visit practices, and gather information. I'm still the biggest IU fan there ever has been, and I'm adding 4 more to Hoosier Nation. As the boys get bigger, I know we'll be down for games and spring ball, but not right now, they are a little young yet.

Anyway, I want to thank those that were faithful in reading what I wrote, whether you thought I was full of it, or you liked what you read, either way, thank you. I enjoyed the time and the information and the friends I've made along the way. I truly love IU football and I hope that one day, some day, it will be what we all dream it can be, a consistant, Top 20, program.

Until then, I'll cheer like crazy. God Bless all of you!!

Adam Follett

2009-03-13T11:43:00.000-07:00

I can't wait for spring practice. Not because I get to see some football for the first time in a few months, but because I get to see how our freshman have grown physically and matured, and how they'll look in their first unveilings to the public. While most fans can't wait to see Darius Willis in the backfield, I'm a little more excited to see Adam Follett, but he's a kid, I honesty think, will battle for playing time this season.

Rumors flew toward the end of last season about how well Adam did on the practice/scout team. He did so well that thoughts were entertained of him actually playing, especially when IU was hurt so much at QB with injuries. Alas, the staff knew, last season was pretty much over and it was best to hold him out, and so his redshirt season was preserved, but there's a little air of excitement around spring ball and it's the anticipating of some fans seeing some of our sophmores to be in action.

Adam came to IU from Alma HS in Michigan. At 6'5" 200 pounds, he had the build of a pocket passing QB. Alma ran the spread offense, but for only one year. At his previous HS in Caledonia, MI, he ran a wish bone attack and rarely threw the ball, yet at a Camp or Combine (can't remember which) IU saw him and immediately was drawn to him. At Alma he led the team to an 11-1 record and threw for around 2000 yards and 20 TDs. He did have some INTs, but that was attributed to going from throwing the ball 5 to 7 times at his old HS to over 20 times per game at Alma. He's describe by scout as a tall, lean, pocket passer with a chin-level set-up and overhead release. That usually describes a pretty clean delivery and mechanical balance, but the same person also notes that Adam didn't always follow through with his throws, which is a problem with a lot of young QBs early on. I know that was something he's been working on at IU.

When I have witnessed Adam throw, I've noticed that he is very good and accurate on the short and intermediate stuff and can really put some zip on the ball. With improved follow through and arm strength, I think he'd do better at the deep pass, but again, he wasn't really asked to do that in HS, so he fits pretty well with what IU is trying to do in terms of short and middle of the field stuff, with the occassional deep stuff to keep people honest.

Adam also possess some speed and has some elusiveness in the pocket. While he's not a Kellen Lewis type, he's way more nimble than Chappell, so he can be deceptive and escape a little bit if need be. Last I checked, Adam was up to around 210+ and had matured well physically during his redshirt season. It will be interesting to see what he can do this spring as he'll battle Teddy Schell as Chappell's back up, at least in the beginning.

Adam signed with IU over offers from Western Michigan and I believe an offer from Virginia (if no offer, they were very close to one). Rivals had him as a 2-star and 30th best prospect to come out of Michigan that season. Personally, I think he is underrated and will surprise some people. Will he be good enough to unseat Chappell? I don't know, but I'm looking forward to the competition!

God Bless!

4 Hoosiers Impress at IU's Pro Day

2009-03-11T07:47:00.000-07:00

Wanted to give everyone a brief look at 4 guys that really put themselves in a position to be drafted yesterday at IU's annual Pro Scouts Pro Day. 11 players worked out yesterday and I'm told a couple were from other schools instate. Four former players really did themselves well yesterday, and while most will know of one them, Andrew Means, the other 3 may not surprise you, but they certainly surprised a number of the scouts that were in attendance.

Andrew Means kept his combine numbers as far as his bench, short shuttle, 3 cone and all that, but he did re-run the 40, and marked times at 4.38 and 4.40, which were better than what he did at Indy. For those that are "into" the scouting combine at Indy, there's a lot of rumors out there that the electronic times failed due to computer issues, so lots of guys will be re-running their 40's at their pro days. IU's running surface is noted as being a little quicker than what was in Indy, so it's no surprise Means chose to redo this.

As for Means's workout, it was very good and he showed extremely good hands and route running ability. Chappell and Follett where the main guys throwing to him and as a side note, both did very well, though they weren't necessarily being evaluated by the Scouts. It's important to note that Kellen Lewis was not throwing any passes today that I know of.

As far as Means's projected draft status, it appears he's a solid 6th, maybe early 7th rounder at this point and it's almost assured that he will be drafted. He's told the Reds that his baseball career is on hold until at least the middle part of April and probably May. He was projected to return to Billings, Montana anyway for Rookie ball, so the Reds are saying he can go to extended Spring Training in Sarasota, if he decides to play baseball again, and then report to Montana in June for the start of the season. If things go well, he could end up at Low A Dayton (OH) to finish out the year.

Okay, so Means you may not be shocked about, since he had his combine invite, but I will now reveal the other 3 that really, really, really helped themselves yesterday and should at the very least get private workout invites from teams and be considered draftable and at the least priority free agents.

Austin Starr: Austin did himself very well yesterday. Many people wrote him off after the season, because his senior season was not very memorable. He didn't kick well, showed less power than he did his previous years, and more importantly, he was extremely erratic. What probably 99% of IU fans don't know is that Austin was hurt, pretty much all season with a hip flexor muscle injury, and this was probably what effected him the most. If you aren't a kicker, you probably don't understand what that muscle does for you. It basically hands the stress the kick and when it's strained or torn, you can't use the same straight motion to get your power, so you swipe at the ball or maybe kick at it sideways, thus the problems with the accuracy and "hooking the ball" from one side to the other.

The scary thing about Austin's injury was not too many people knew he was hurt. At IU, kicker and punters are kind of on their own most of the time, doing their thing, away from the team. I remember Chris Hagerup having all kinds of issue with that because he was so used to being a part of his team, as a QB, but at IU and a lot of other colleges, the kickers are just out there on their own. If you go to a pro game, before the game, the kickers are warming up, and the rest of the team could be inside prepping, but here are kickers, kind of in their own little world. They are "specialists" once they get to college and thus, they are on an island, so I'm not shocked that people didn't know about Austin's injury, so he played the whole year with it and suffered because of it. Austin claims he hurt himself doing some sort of drill he learned at a kicking camp a couple of years ago. That's the other thing about kicking at IU, you basically put your time in, on your own, and unless it's a special teams meeting or practice, that's about all your interaction.

Over Christmas Break, Austin traveled to Scottsdale, Arizona to work with a kicking coach for 3 days to try and get things back together. Coach Zauner worked his usual magic and realigned Austin back into form and it paid off yesterday. Austin will be no more than an undrafted free agent, but he has a good strong leg with NFL potential. His biggest issue is consistancy and confidence. If he nails those in someone's camp, he could be used some place. Either way, I'm glad we now know the story on Austin and wish him luck in the future.

Marcus Thigpen: It probably won't surprise anyone that Marcus flashed MAJOR speed for scouts yesterday, because he's a track guy and rumors of his 40's have leaked out over the past couple of summers anyway. The Saints brought 2 coaches just watch Marcus yesterday, and his 40's were registered at 4.27 and 4.29. He also posted 21 reps on the bench at 225 pounds, a 32" vertical jump, and 10' 8" on the board jump. At 5'9" 200 pounds, he projects as a returner and a 3rd down back, kind of in the mold of Dave Meggett, but only faster. He's a kid that will project late in the draft because of his speed and return ability. At the very least, he's a priority free agent for a number of suitors. His time of 4.27 was a little disappointing, as he wanted to run 4.25, but either way, it's extremely insane that someone could be that fast. If IU would have had any kind of blocking last season, he would be a name you'd hear a lot about higher in the draft.

Greg Brown: Greg probably did the most of anyone yesterday in putting himself into a position to be drafted. DTs that put up the numbers that Greg did yesterday are extremely hard to find, and in fact, none of the first round projected guys showed the speed and lateral quickness Greg did yesterday. He blew people away with his times in the 20 yard shuttle or short shuttle, which measures lateral quickness. At 300 pounds, most guys don't move very quickly from one side to another, but Greg sure does, and in my opinion, these numbers show just how much Greg's talent was wasted on defense and what he was asked to do.

Anyway, Greg ran the 40 in 5.09 seconds, did 25 reps at 225 on the bench, had a 30" vertical and a 8'9" broad jump. Those numbers show a little bit of lacking on initial pop, but good penetration ability for a Tampa 2 type of DT attack. Greg's idol has always been Warren Sapp, and Greg tries to emulate Sapp in what he does. The number that caught scouts off guard was the 20 yard short shuttle. Greg did his first one in 4.45 and his second in 4.46 seconds. To put this in perspective a little more, the top DT time at this year's combine was 4.84 seconds by a kid from San Jose State that's projected as a 2nd rounder. The top time by any DL (including DEs) at the combine was 4.64 by a DE from Richmond College. Thus, you can see, scouts are raving about this one, and he was consistant as well.

This drill is described this way (wikipedia) First they start in the middle of a 10 yard distance with one hand touching the ground. The athlete then pushes off their dominant leg in the opposite direction 5 yards. After covering this distance, as quickly as possible they reverse direction and go 10 yards the exact opposite way. Finally they reverse directions one last time ending the drill at the point where they started. Athletes are timed for this whole procedure. You can see how doing this at 300 pounds, with that time, is simply amazing and it has scouts talking. An underrated, under the radar DT with that ability will make it's way across the NFL quickly and suspect Greg will be getting many more phone calls for private workouts in the next couple of weeks.

This is about as much as I know, though I am waiting to hear from Bryan Payton in his blog, since he eyewitnessed all this as well. He's still doing his blog, but his format has changed some. He blogs about everything now, and you can find it at www.byranpayton.blogspot.com

Hope all are well! God Bless!

Thoughts on Ray Fisher to Cornerback

2009-03-09T10:06:00.000-07:00

First off, this move I really like, probably more than Kellen Lewis to WR and I think it was done for a number of reasons, but more on that in a minute. "Big Play" Ray wasn't much of a big play last year in IU's offense, but he did lead the team with 42 receptions, so others will have to step up at WR as well.

When people switch postions, it's usually for one of the following 3 reasons: player requested, numbers game, or need, and I think Ray Fisher to corner is a need move, pure and simple. It could also be considered a numbers game at WR, with Doss and Belcher and Turner and this fall adding Wilson and now Lewis to that position, but the more I think about it, Corner needed a MAJOR upgrade and Fisher probably gives us that boost more than a true freshmen would have for this season anyway. With the unforeseen loss of Cortez Smith, this had to happen.

Ray Fisher sits 8th all time in receptions with 118 and he had 42 last year, so obviously, he was a big chunk of the production the past 3 years. However, with IU's offensive woes and poor blocking, his 42 catches only yeilded 375 yards last year, so maybe a move to the defensive side of the ball will help him. Honestly, I still think we'll see him some on offense, as a deep threat, but his majority of game time play will be on D and special teams only.

He showed last season he can return kicks well and cover kicks very well, so I suspect he'll be our primary returner this year. He runs sub 4.3 so speed will not be an issue, so his only drawbacks to play corner are lack of reps and his size (5'9" 170). However, in highschool, for the Glennville (OH) Tarblooders, he was an extremely good CB, in fact, the main reason he chose IU is because they let him play WR, and not CB, which a lot of teams recruited him as. So, as a true senior, now we'll see if he can knock the rust off and really help IU here.

The problem really is, we need Ray to become "Big Play" Ray at Corner in the worse way. Sure, the 2 starters are back, but I think you'll find the reason IU play Cover 4 most of the time last season was due to lack of ability at CB. I do like what Richard Council brings to the table and I'd like to see him and Ray be the starters by fall practice with Adkins the 3rd guy along with Donnell Jones. I think IU's holdover CBs are good run stoppers, but they lack in coverage ability. I believe IU's defense fared well in 1st and 2nd down because our CBs were pretty good at run support, but once it came into an obvious passing situation, the young CBs just didn't have the ability yet to stop the pass.

I'm not sure I expect Ray Fisher to walk in and be the man, because I don't, it will take some time, and probably we'll probably be into the season some before I know how I really feel, but Ray needs to get back and their and be a leader, be a senior, hold people accountable and just let his nature ability flow. At worst, he'll be the 3rd corner and since almost all of coach football runs 3 and 4 WR sets anymore, he'll see the field a bunch.

Bottomline: This is really an interesting switch and one that will be very neat to watch through the spring and into the fall. Can he move up the depth chart and make a difference? Personally, I think he can, because that's what IU needs, playmakers and ability back there. Hopefully, for Ray, it works out for his final season and he can have a memorable one, along with the team.

God Bless!

Lewis to WR = good or bad?

2009-03-07T06:50:00.000-08:00

What a great Saturday. Sitting outside typing away, while my 3 boys are tearing up the yard and playing ball. Seems I should be talking about baseball rather than football, but there is much to discuss about IU football, so it's time to dust off the blog and get ready for Spring Ball in a few weeks.

Last off season, the hot topic was Kellen Lewis and his suspension. This season, one of the hottest topics, again, is Kellen Lewis and his switch to WR on at least, a part time basis. I think the fan base if pretty much split right down the middle on whether this is a good idea or not. So let's look at the good and bad and see what we can come up with.

First, the bad news about Kellen. When most fans say "bad idea", the immediately point to the failed experiment that Cam Cameron tried with Randle-El and Tommy Jones. They immediately compare Chappel to Jones and Lewis to Randle-El and say, "it won't w ork just like it didn't work then". Well, it's hard to compare the two situations because they aren't playing the same teams or against the same players or same schemes, but the similarities are Jones was a thrower only, as is Chappel, and ARE was the athletic QB, while KL is viewed in the same mold.

While I'm not here to get into an argument about whether ARE and KL compare, I merely pointing out what others are saying. In my mind, ARE is way better than KL ever dreamed of being, because ARE was a leader, KL hasn't shown that ability yet, but he is improving. Anyway, back to the bad.

Some fans say that IU's defense hasn't shown they can stop many teams (true), so IU needs a QB that can put points in the board, both on the ground and in the air, to keep IU in any game they play. That has certainly been the case in the past, because IU's defense didn't do a whole lot on 3rd down other than let the opponet get the first down. It's hard to argue those statemetns, because that's what IU had had to do for several years, starting with ARE and continuing through Kellen Lewis.

What hurt KL last year was two things in my mind: First, was the suspension that cost KL the spring and summer sessions. While he did work out in Florida, at his old HS, that's not IU and it's facilities and the chance to go out in the side yard and throw to Turner or Earnest or whomever. So he missed those opportunities, while Chappell had those chances.

Second, because of the lack of preparation and training, he got hurt (so did everyone else it seems) and that cost him. Couple that with a new scheme and Chappell doing things right, well you end up with the season you have. Which was a MAJOR drop off from last year.

So was last year's disappointments enough to facilitate such a move, or is does the staff really see something to make them think this will work?

The good:

Kellen is a very good athlete. He's 6'1" and close to 200 pounds this off season. he possess 4.4 speed and can has breakaway speed and jukability. His position at the next level will be WR, so the "let's try it out group" points to this as mainly a spring ball experiment. It's also hard to argue KL's athletic ability and see that IF Chappell can throw, and IF the OL can block, this switch seems like a great idea.

Also, at play is leadership on the field and off it. The players, especially on offense really gravitated toward Chappell last spring and fall. He really stepped up his leadership and tried to get the players through the tough spot KL put them in. He did a great job really, and when KL returned, Ben did all the right things, said all the right things, and was a great teammmate and leader throughout the entire fall battle and season. However, their was dissenstion, to some degree, amongst the players, because they felt one had let them down, while the other sacrificed everything to lead them. These things happen all the time, so it's not a huge deal, but as the season spiralled down hill last year, I think this did play into the mental issues a little more than if the team was winning. So, I think the coaches saw this and decided they should really give this job to Chappell and let him run with it.

So where will this switch take IU football? Is there more too it?

First, I like the move because it gives IU a WR that can get deep and make plays after the catch. The one player that offered that was Fisher, and he's now a full time Corner (more on that in another blog). Also, let's at least get through the spring and see what happens. Will it work? I think it will, if we two things happen: First, you settle on a QB and second, the OL improves (biggest key to the whole season).

I don't know that there's anymore to this whole switch than getting KL the opportunity to get the ball in the open field, not dodge OL in the backfield, and make plays. Think about what KL can do 1 on 1 or 1 on 2, he clearing can do great things. At QB last season, he was dodging his own OLineman and defenders in the backfield at the count of 2, so at least he'll have a clearer field to work in....vbg!

Bottomline: Positions switches can be a great thing if other players and positions do their jobs and step up. IU's season isn't going to live or die by KL at WR or QB. It could be a factor, but it won't be the end all be all thing. The biggest key is probably staying healthy, followed by the OL improvement, then the defense doing better on 3rd down. You do these 3 things well, and I think the season will be FAR different than last season.

Hope all are well! God Bless!

The 5 major issues that brought the Hoosiers down in 2008

2008-12-17T11:26:00.001-08:00

While many have argued different issues as being the #1 factor of our demise this past season, I would like to look at the 5 that I think were the most major. I will list them in order of importance.

1. The lack of any kind of production from the Offensive Line
The offensive line makes or breaks a football team. I've said a hundred times on message boards that you find athletes that run 4.5 40's all day long, but it's really, really hard to find good offensive linemen that can work in concert together and form a unit that will move the ball. If you look at most professional teams like Jacksonville, or Indianapolis early in the season, the lack of a good OL killed them. It didn't matter how good the QB was, or the talent at RB or WR, they simply couldn't be effective until the grew together and healed up.

IU's system under Hep required athletic OL guys that took lateral movements rather than power movements into the defender. The spread pretty much requires quick footed OL to move guys around, rather than backwards to create your running lanes. Problems lie in short yardage of course, but overall, the OL should create angles or lanes for running plays and sustain their blocks long enough for the QB to read the field and find the open man. Since IU's WRs/TEs run specific routes, it's even easier because the QB should know exactly where the receiver is going to be 2 seconds in, 3 seconds in, and so on, so if given time, the defense can be picked apar.

The problems this year were many for the OL, but they were the #1 reason for the collapse. First, we didn't block anyone long enough for routes to develop. Second, we were hurt way too and some guys were never healthy to start with. Third, we were green in our depth. Fourth, the coaches wanted a more tradition pocket passing attack, and our OL wasn't really built for that.

So, a multitude of problems led this group to fail. Some of it was injury, but mostly it was a lack of execution and a lack of sustaining those blocks long enough. We do have athletic linemen, but we are soft. This group has to improve, or we'll only win 2 or 3 games next year. The OL is the backbone of a football team. If they are tough, your team will be tough, and if they are soft, so will be the rest of the team. I have long thought our D has been soft because of the OL they go up against every day in practice. Our big uglies need to get meaner and better as quickly as possible!

2. Changes to the offense

This past spring and summer we changed from a zone running spread attack to a more traditional passing spread attack in a quicker paced scheme. The design isn't anything new, as it called for a more traditional pocket to be formed around the QB and more dinking and dunking of passes down the field. This change was of course brought on the seemed departure of Kellen Lewis, and the arrival of a better thrower in Ben Chappell. While it would have been interesting to see what Ben could have done as he grew into the position the entire year, instead with injuries, and the return of Lewis, this scheme change became a nightmare, more than a help.

Even though I bag on the coaches some, this change of scheme wasn't made just because of the QB issues. The staff knew that WR talent was lacking, especially a true go to guy and that the OL was really going to be a work in progress, so this quick attack was designed to help alleviate a lot of those issues. However, it wasn't enough and the guys didn't execute what they were being taught all that well either. Injuries again played a role, but the lack of executing the new offense was a huge issue too.

3. Who is the starting QB?

As I said above, Ben Chappell was told to become the leader of this team in spring ball and throughout the summer and early fall ball, he did that. The team and coaches didn't expect KL to be back, but when he did, a controversy arose. I could see this was going to be an issue from the time KL came back. His attitude was poor the season before and he really kind of alienated himself to his teammates and some of the coaches as well. However, when he returned, he was a changed guy, but it took a long time for him to be accepted. While his attitude changed, he's still trying to develop his leadership role that a QB should have on a team, and with Ben having that leadership and respect, this became a big issue that no body really wanted to admit was there and deal with it. Should KL been the starting QB over Chappell or vice-verse? I'm not going to say one way or the other, as both had the moments, both were hurt, and both had their problems. But this spring, this has to be fixed. Pick a guy and go with who best leads your team and executes the offense. If that's the slow white boy or the dramatic thrill you with his legs guy, so be it, but pick one and stay with it, unless an injury forces a change.

4. Defensive philosophies

IU employs 2 defensive coordinators, a rather different strategy, but not unheard of either. The problem is the philosophy that is used is questionable at best. They want to play a lot more Cover 2, which is fine, if you got the speed and recognition, which we don't have. We have the DL part figured out, though Middleton and Kirlew need to have big seasons together and not separately. To run an effective Cover 2, the DL has to get penetration. Brown and Kirlew did well with that this season, but no one else did.

Next and probably are biggest problem area, the LBs. I know this isn't talked about much, but we aren't fast enough here to run an effective cover 2. Look at Indy, Tampa, Minnesota, their LBs are quick on quick. IU has productive LBs, but they are not fast enough. Patterson is a very good tackler, but he's not fast enough to be effective here, and neither is Mayberry. Geno Johnson can run 4.55's all day long, but his recognition skills lack. Thus is the biggest problem with trying to run Cover 2 and Cover 4 all day, it simply doesn't work with the players we have, because of the quickness issues. Mayberry is probably the closest thing we have as he's very good at recognition and has improved his quickness, but we haven't surrounded him with enough talent speed wise, to really help.

Finally the DBs, are over matched. We have enough speed here, at least at the corners and at FS with Polk, but we are over matched on the corners. Believe it or not, our defensive is designed to play the CBs 10 yards off the ball, and if you watch Indy, their CBs do the exact same thing. The problems we have are the holes in the middle created by slower LBs and poor recognition skills by the DBs. When Polk finally gets it figured out, he's to the ball in a heartbeat, but again, his skills need to improve. Plus, he and slew of others were hurt, so that didn't help matters either. A decent OC and QB will pick this defense apart because it doesn't have the speed and recognition run what is required to be run here. The only true answer I can think of is ditch the Cover 2 and Cover 4 and go Mano e Mano. Let's get aggressive and force the QB into situations he is uncomfortable with. Even though the Colts are a zone defensive team, they attack the ball, and that's what we need to start doing more and more. We'll see what happens come spring, but with Lynch's announcement of no changes, I doubt we'll see anything done here.

5. Injuries

While injuries are certainly part of the game, you can't expect to lose a 10% of your scholarship players at one time or another and expect it to not have any effect whatsoever on you. Believe me, if this would happen to Alabama, USC, Florida, etc, they'd feel the effects too in losses, though the difference here is their back up talent far exceeds ours. At IU, we simply can't get hurt, or we are in trouble. We need every advantage we can get and with the lack of Big Ten level talent on the depth chart, one or two major injuries at key positions will simply kill us.

Hope all are well!

Who we still after

2008-12-15T08:43:00.000-08:00

With Watkins decommitting for the Gophers, and Gainer all but soon to follow, we'll soon be back down to 14 verbals, all of whom seem ready to give IU their signature come signing day in February. That means we will probably have about 4 to 5 more spots open. So I thought it would be fun to see just who we are after (that we know of anyway) and who is likely to take those spots.

Marquise Stevens-6'1" 210 RB from Oakwood, Georgia. He runs a 4.4 and you got to love his size. IU hasn't offered that I can tell, but we may very well do so now that we have at an opening or two along with other offers out there. Intriguing prospect, though probably pretty raw, or with his size, he'd have a lot more offers I'd think. His HS team wasn't very good, so maybe that was why he didn't get the "pub".

Anthony Williams-6'2 200 WR from Tampa, Florida. Reported as a 4.5 kid that is tall and rangy with deceptive speed. Lots of offers, but Arkansas, Ole Miss, and Georgia are his top 3. IU is trying like mad to get a visit from him in January, so we'll see, but a real long shot here.

Marlon Anthony-6'5" 185 WR from Marietta, Georgia. Profiles say he runs a 4.7, but that's what they said Hardy ran when he came here, and believe James ran faster than that from the get go, so my guess is, Marlon is probably faster too. IU made his top 5 (along with some big names: Louisville, Georgia, Arkansas, and Miss. St), but he's saying he'll trip to IU in January.

Andrew Stellato-6'4" 230 TE/DE from Neptune Beach, FL. Profile says he runs a 4.6 and if that's anywhere close to true, I want him at DE, NOT TE. The kid is extremely smart and looks like everyone in the Ivy League has offered him. IU is trying to get him up for a visit in January so we'll see.

Henry Conway-6'6" 300 OL from Cleveland Ohio. Rivals ranks him as the 77th best OT in the country. He will be tripping to IU in January, though he's got a big time list of suitors, so we'll see, but getting him in here is a start. He's a kid that honestly, could do what Pagan did and start by the middle of next season.

Duran Christophe-6'6" 275 from Woodstock, GA. Rivals ranks him as the 80th best OT in the country. He too will trip to IU in January. He's a very raw kid as he's only been playing for a year or so, and he really like Coach Johnson. He's a kid I think we'll get.

Damion Sims-6'3" 215 OLB from Colerain HS in Cincinnati, OH. He's a kid that I'm pretty sure we are going offer when we lose Gainer. While he's not as good as Jerimy he has a lot of potential to be and he comes from a great program, so he'll be very well coached.

Jacquez Jenkins-6'2" 180 Safety from St. Pete Florida. He's currently committed to South Florida, but that hasn't stopped the IU coaches and other coaches for that matter to continue to try and lure him away. He's rated a little a head of Watkins, but not by much. More of a free safety type that needs weight. A worthy project if you can get him up for a visit, which the staff is trying to do.

Bradley Wallace-6'2" 200 Safety from West Palm Beach, FL. Was pretty set on Iowa State, but now with the coaching change there, it appears IU will get a January visit from him. He's an OLB/SS prospect.

I'm sure there are a few others down south that I don't know about or haven't heard over the past few months, but I think this shows where we are at.

We are giving all we got Captain!

2008-12-08T06:45:00.000-08:00

Big time athletes want to win. Heck everyone wants to win, it's born in us that winning is better than losing. When you win, you obviously have a completely different feeling in your body, than if you lose. Though losing or not getting what you want builds character and makes you appreciate winning more, the bottom line is people want to win.

Last season, IU won more than they lost on the football for the first time in a LONG time. When you have bred a culture of losing much like IU football has for the past several decades, you get use to it and it almost becomes the norm of what you are use to. But when you win, even if it's for one season, your entire mindset changes and what was the norm of your culture for so many years, quickly is erased and you long for the elation of walking off the field more times winners, than you were losers.

This is where IU football stands today. We won and our recruiting reflected it with probably the best class of verbals IU has ever put together. We constantly rank near the bottom of recruiting and coaches salaries, so no one should be surprised that the out comes should be that IU looses most of the time. However, with winning comes expectation and recruiting better kids means better results on the field, at least that is the hope.

This past weekend we hosted several kids on official visits that have currently verballed to us. All of them are 3-star ranked, but 2 of them, Jerimy Gainer and Kenny Watkins are now classified as "soft verbals". A soft verbal simply means that they are looking around and not really committed to anyone. They could still sign at IU, but they are going through the entire process again. Gainer is our highest ranked recruit and 1 of 2 4-star ranked by Rivals. He's a kid that legitimately barring injury, would start next season, not only at IU, but at several other places too.

The same probably isn't true for Watkins, but he's still a good player. He has size and speed and he comes from Detroit. He seems connected with other players in the area, so he's just as important for the staff to grab a hold of, because there are connections here. He's also Gainer's cousin, so it's obvious they both want to be together if at all possible.

So how can a university that constantly has 20,000 empty seats and probably the worst game day atmosphere in the country inside the stadium anyway, compete schools that pack them in and have tremendous fan support inside the stadium? Simply, we can't, unless WE WIN!

And it's not like we are trying to win, but we haven't really stuck with anyone long enough to see if winning was ever possible over the long haul. How did Missouri or Kansas or Kansas State, or Virginia Tech get their programs turned around? They stuck to the plan, even through 3, 4, 5, maybe even 6 really tough seasons. IU hasn't done that, and we aren't the only ones. Nebraska hasn't done it either, but it appears they finally may have it right. Kansas State is getting back to their old ways of firing coaches left and right, and soon they'll be right back in the crapper. Duke hasn't done it, but they appear to have found something in Cutcliffe, so the jury is still out there.

Anyway, the point is, it's extremely hard for IU to win over kids when we are constantly changing and losing. Sure, we can build the best facilities in the country, we can have the best tailgate parties known to mankind (and we have some good ones), we can have a "walk" tradition, or any other tradition for that matter, but if you don't win, they won't come.

This past summer the staff used last season as a starting point to really jump start recruiting and the kids bought it and jumped on board. Everything was great, until the losing started and didn't stop, and now you have kids like Gainer and Watkins wanting out, and you can't blame them. They sold something by the current staff that simply didn't exist last season. They were sold on potential, excitement, and continued winning. And while the first two may still exist, it's obvious that the third doesn't, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to realize that with next season's schedule this whole continued winning thing is probably not going to happen either, so we are where we are.

Kudos to the staff, the current players, and the academic side for presenting IU for what it is to these kids over the weekend, but honestly, I don't think it was enough. We were probably okay until Michigan State offered Gainer last week. And when the instate team calls, especially one that is winning, building, and has excitement, well, you just aren't going to compete with that because kids want to win, and if we aren't winning, we won't winning the recruiting battles, it's that simple. If we would have won last season, I don't think we'd be in a position of losing these two, but we lost, so here we are.

I'm not sure what to think of Watkins, he had a good time this weekend, but I don't know. It will probably all depend on Gainer. If Gainer goes to Minny, then Watkins will follow, but I don't think that's where Jerimy will end up. I think he's Spartan bound. Sadly, his official to MSU isn't until mid-January (hey they have a bowl game to plan for and play in), so we'll wait, but though we gave it our best shot, we simply didn't win, and that's the difference between decent players and best players. The best players go where the winning is, because that gives them the most exposure and winning is what our human nature craves.

For IU to complete in recruiting, they simply have to do one thing, and do it consistently, and that's WIN!

Was it simply just a bad dream?

2008-11-30T18:59:00.000-08:00

Well, the season has ended, finally, and now we move into an area we are all too familiar with, an early off season. This season was about as bad as one could possibly imagine on several levels. I don't know of anyone, and I mean ANYONE that would have predicted a 3 win, 9 loss season with 8 home games on the schedule. But here we are, again, with more questions than answers, more opinions, more criticisms, and yet, we have to try and find a silver lining. Perhaps that silver lining can be found in the new AD, who made a surprising announcement this past week (more on that in a moment). Perhaps, it's in the fact that so many kids got experience. Perhaps it's the new, soon to be opening of the new facilities. But wherever that silver lining comes from, it needs to come quickly. This program has fallen, fast and far. There is absolutely ZERO joyfulness on campus. There is ZERO hype. There is no bowl game practices, because there is no bowl game to prepare for. There are verbals looking around. There is nobody talking IU football. What a difference a year makes!

Susan Ward from About.com defines leadership as the art of motivating a group of people to act towards achieving a common goal. Simply put that means the leader is the inspiration and director of action.

We can find leaders in all shapes and sizes in this world, and while true leaders are VERY hard to find, it's extremely easy to tell when they don't exist among a group of people. This season, you can blame the outcome on all kinds of things. You can say it was injuries, you can say it was poor execution, you can say it was putting players in positions where they couldn't use their strengths, you can say it was poor coaching, you can it was youth, you can say whatever you want, and partly, you would be right, but most of all, this program lacks a true LEADER, but maybe, just maybe, one is starting to emerge from a very unlikely source.

While many fans, or at least us die hards that are left after this debacle of a season, were angry and disappointed in Fred Glass's statements this past week, he did something that probably went unnoticed by most casual observers, and most of all the media. He simply stepped up, and put the program in a certain direction. Now, of course, his decision may prove a bad one, that can happen when people are hired to make these kinds of decisions, but at least he had the guts to just come right out and say it. I can honestly say that Mr. Glass wants IU football to win, and you could tell it in his statements. He wanted to put rumors to rest early. He wanted the verbals to know there was ZERO chance of a firing. He wanted the rest of the Big Ten to know what was going to happen next season. In other words, he spoke out like a true leader should. I've seen NO ONE mention this, and that surprises me, because all season, I, along with others, have complained we have zero leadership when it comes to IU football from the top on down.

Of course, this doesn't stop at Fred Glass. While he's set the vision and course for next season, that doesn't mean things don't need to change below him, because believe me, they do, but what I saw from Fred Glass I liked a lot. If Lynch fails next season, Fred Glass will be called every name in the book and will be viewed as a failure, but hey, that's part of the teritory. But for now, the course is set, so here we go. Now for a personal view, I'm not sure changing coaches would have been the way to go, though as many know that read my posts and blogs, I'm not convinced that Coach Lynch is the man that needs to be our HC. There were a lot of reasons for the collapse this year, and I will cover that in future blogs, but for now, Coach Lynch is the coach, and he's gonna be at least this coming season. While I may second guess him on many occasions, I don't envy his job, because he's really got his work cut out for him. There are a ton of decisions to be made in terms of assistants and personnel and new schemes. There are several surgeries coming up this off season and there are players that absolutely HAVE to get healthy, or we'll be in the exact same position we were this season, next year.

I have NO DOUBT WHATSOEVER that if Bill Lynch is proven this next year to not be the type of coach that needs to be leading this university, the Mr. Fred Glass will step up and make the decision to go in another direction, but he's (Glass) gonna give Bill Lynch every chance to succeed, and like Lynch or not, you have to like to hear that as a fan, that the AD is gonna do whatever he can do to help IU win.

It's going to be interesting to see the changes that the AD does with IU football. It may not be the head coach, or the coaching staff, but there's plenty of other things that need to change like the game day atmosphere and more fan-friendly environments. Someone has to get the community of Btown involved somehow. Someone has to do something about the thousands of fans in the parking lot and get them into the stadium. Regardless of coaching, it's time to get people involved and excited. While I view Coach Lynch as exciting as a fart in church compared to Coach Hep, maybe it's the administration that will step up and give us some hope. I think Fred Glass did about as much as he could last week with his statements and hopefully that leadership will continue in improving all things IU football.

My next blog is going to concentrate on the one position that must improve for IU to have a successful season. If the Offensive Line doesn't at least get mediocre, we will not even win 3 games next season.

Chaos

2008-11-07T06:08:00.000-08:00

I haven't updated the blog for a couple of weeks now, mainly because I'm back in watching and listening mode. I've watched IU win a game, they were predicted to lose, though in all honesty, a strong argument can be made that Northwestern lost the game or gave it too us with turnovers, more than we actually went out on the field and won it. And, I've watched us lose to yet another MAC team. A team we should have beat by at least 3 TDs, if not more. So, the questions return: What is wrong? Why are we doing this? Why are doing that? Will Coach Lynch be replaced? And in the midst of all these questions, you simply have an entire program that to describe it in one word, would be CHAOS!

So, what is really wrong, or maybe the question should be, how in the world do we fix it?

There's tons of opinions from fans, bloggers, reporters, etc, and most have some good ideas sprinkled in with unrealistic stuff as well. With Phil Fulmer being let go at Tennessee, he quickly became the flavor of the week in terms of replacing Lynch. Even the bball boards got involved, and while Phil would certainly be an upgrade, you have to look at the money. Because folks, as I've said before, you get what you pay for, and if you pay cheap, you don't win cheap most of the time, you lose. The IU football program has once again become of Pinto of college football, while most of the rest of world are either driving Cadillacs or at least trying to buy one. Simply put, until the money is laid on the table, this is what we will always have, a low end MAC type of staff that shouldn't be in the position they are in, but here they are, giving a valiant effort, trying to win a rusted-out, Pinto.

So is Lynch really the problem?

Well, yes and no. He's the head guy, so obviously the head guy takes the fall, that's life. Sometimes that's not fair, but that's just life. The one problem Coach Lynch has is, and this is going to sound petty and ridiculous, but it's true, he's simply not passionate enough. Does he bleed IU? Of course he does. Does he care about IU football and it's rise? Of course. BUT, he's not Hep, heck he's not Crean. He's stoic, and he's more Tony Dungy or Tom Landry than he is anything else. I've never worried about him staying the course, because he will. He'll fight to the bitter end, always. But he won't be passionate, because that's simply not his style. He's laid back. He's truthful, but he's pretty calm about it. He's the 180 degree difference of Hep, and that folks is the problem. Fair? NO! But that's the biggest problem.

Coach Hep and I'm going to throw Coach Crean in here too, are different coaches. They are animated! They get you excited, even if the team just lost by 50. They alone, give you a reason to believe, even during the worst of times. I dare say Coach Hep "got me" to believe even when things were bleak. We all know what he did. We all know how he did it, and simply put, he got people excited about being IU football fans. It wasn't something that a player did, and it wasn't something that the President of the University, nor AD Greenspan did. It was all Hep, and he sold his product like a car salesman, and people bought it. His passion is what we lack here, and simply put, Coach Hep got kids to play beyond their abilities. He coached kids up about as high as a Preacher does a congregation on Sunday mornings. He got fans to believe, he got his players to believe they could walk out together, on that field and WIN! EVERY TIME! No matter who was across from them! It didn't always happen, and while he always showed some remorse and frustration, he just tried to go higher the next week, even though higher seemed impossible.

So what's wrong with this team, why is there no fire? It's because these kids, especially the upper class leaders of this team are use to a head coach that will lift them so high, get them so pumped up, that they think they are invincible. However, Coach Lynch doesn't do that. It's not his style, and frankly, the kids are lost on how to deal with it. Why are freshmen performing better? Because they never knew Hep's style. They've never experience those practice talks, those pregame and halftime speeches, so they just go play the way they are being taught, stoically, staying the course, little emotion, and so on. Is that the wrong way to play? No, it's fine to play that way, but it's not the style fans and the upper class kids are use to, so there's chaos, or maybe the Hep hangover effect that's taking place, that has really sent this team and it's fans through the ringer.

I'm not sure why this never crossed my mind until last night, but it never did. While I don't normally lay in bed and try and figure out what is wrong with IU football, for some reason I did, and this is one thing that popped out to me, was the true lack of passion from everyone from true fans, to the staff, to the players, to the administration. Simply put, we miss Hep, and I'm just not sure, we will recover, unless we find someone to be that fiery leader that gets us back to the passionate levels we once had. Is that Coach Lynch's fault? No it's not, and it's probably about as unfair as you can be, to criticize someone for their demeanor, but it's simply the truth. The upperclassmen need spirit, in a bad way. I've watched Greg Middleton play last season with a fire that burned so deeply that you couldn't put it out to the next day, and I've watched him this season, just out there, playing, but that internal desire that Hep put in him, that his memory carried is gone. Greg's a very good football player, and when he's deeply motivated, he's probably one of the top 4 or 5 DEs in the country, but when you just go play, you become less extraordinary, and more ordinary. Should Greg find that passion on his own? To some degree yes, but he's still a young kid, trying to make his mark on life and on the field, and that's where passionate coaches, especially on the high school and college level come into play. They can take you higher than you can take yourself, until you can figure out who to do it on your own. And I'm not picking on Greg, heck, I could use anyone on this team that is an upperclassman. They are all in same boat.

So, we come to Saturday, a game that once again we can win. Wisky is having a sub par year by their standards, but they are fighting. A local kid, Dustin Sherer, will lead them here, but we can win, but to do so, I'm not going to complain about play calls or defensive schemes or OL/DL play, I'm simply going to look for emotion. I want to see the kids dig deep in adversity and remember those pregame talks, those speeches, and preserver. It's in them to do so, but can they find it? Can Coach Lynch help them find that passion? If he can, we'll win, but if not, it's going to get ugly, and it's going to get ugly very quickly.

The staff, the players, the schemes, the play calls, the execution, the fan base, the alumni, the alumni donors are all in a state of chaos right now. They are looking for that miracle, that passionate person to come and tell them everything will be okay. Everything will work itself out, and that we will rise again. This program has GOT to find this person, whether they are here now, or they need to be brought in. The passion has got to return, or it's pretty much back to the dismal days of no one really cares except us die hard, never-gonna-give-up-folks that will come and support the team and the university.

While there's so many things that need to change, that need fixed, simply stated that if you find someone that is passionate about winning and helping people believe, the turn around and rise back to the top is so much quicker. Sure, you have to have results behind those words, but right now, we have neither. And passion at least will help, A LOT!

So what am I advocating? Well, to find the passion, and if it's not on this campus, then do what needs to be done, even at the expense of maybe being a little unfair, go find it, bring it in here, pay it accordingly, and start afresh. Simply put, it can happen here, and it needs to happen here!

Fred Glass, the right man for the job?

2008-10-28T12:39:00.000-07:00

Well the announcement is over, Fred Glass, is Indiana's new Athletic Director. Please, let all the knee jerk reactions commence. Let those that actually know the guy defend him. Let those that are pretty much 1/2 full people also defend him, and by all means, please let all the doom and gloomers bash the guy up one side and down the other before he even signs his contract. As we all know in sports, most posters on a message board know WAY MORE than any search committee, search firm, and school President ever could about what is best for our beloved Indiana. However, after we've bashed, praised, cautioned, cried, or whatever you have done today, let's dig into this a little bit and see not only who we got, but what direction the Administration will take. The final 3 candidates brought some similarities to the table, and I think they are clues about where Indiana University Sports is headed in the next few years.

First off Fred Glass is a very well-known political figure in Central Indiana. He's also a very good lawyer and even served as a US District Court Clerk in the middle 80's. He's been at the law firm Baker and Daniels for quite a while, and served as the Chairperson on numerous boards and committees. Fred is known for his leadership, his "take the bull by the horns" approach and tackle the problem. He hates losing, but he's fair.

I have had the pleasure of meeting Mr. Fred Glass once in my life, though it was through a court case. I was in the same room with him during a deposition for about 20 minutes, so I'm not going to pretend I know the guy inside and out, and what he'll do for IU, but I was impressed with his demeanor. He was a guy that was formal, yet very friendly. When things were over, he shook my hand, and called me by my title and my name. Those kind of folks have a bit of an impression on me, because he took the time to remember my name and my title. Anyway, other than that, I know nothing except for what I read, and what I've got via email over the past 8 hours or so.

So Mr. Glass takes over as the AD, with the strengths of leadership, organization, communication, and passion for the things he lays his hands on. He's also an IU grad, and he really does bleed IU, much like Coach Hep did when he was first hired here a few years back. I remember watching the press conference for Coach Hep and thinking man, this guy is passionate. I thought the same thing when I watched Coach Crean be introduced last year, and I feel the same way after watching Fred today. He's going to succeed here, regardless of what some think.

Rick Greenspan oversees a staff of 16 Associate Athletic Directors, 77 Athletic staff members, and many other coaches, assistant coaches, and their staff. When Rick took over at IU, the Department was in a world of hurt, but he had a vision and stuck with it. He was principle in getting the Big Ten Network to be a reality and he's been able to bring the Department back into the black money-wise, and most importantly, facilities are being built to bring football and basketball into the 21st Century to compete for kids. Sadly (my opinion here), he'll be mostly remember for the whole Kelvin Sampson debacle, but overall, he did a very good job and got IU back onto its feet again.

The biggest complaint that I've read is that Fred Glass has ZERO athletic experience, so there's no way he can be AD, and IU is doomed forever. Well, count that as knee-jerk reactions by people that really don't grasp the position of an Athletic Director. An AD's main jobs are overseeing the staff of the Athletic Department, complying with NCAA rules, and maintaining a budget for each sport. Also, you are ultimately the one that hires/fires staff members, but more on that in a little bit.

Fred will bring leadership to this position in a businessman-like approach. I remember when Purdue hired Morgan J. Burke, a VP at Midland Steel. I thought they were crazy for bringing an Ex-swimmer with no AD experience. Turned out to be a darn good hire for them. I've had the pleasure to meet Mr. Burke on a couple of occasions and he's very friendly and polite man. Also, Notre Dame just hired another lawyer from Baker and Daniels law firm name Jack Swarbrick. I don't know much about him, but he seems like a Glass clone.

What Glass will bring to the table is what I have mentioned previously. He'll be a leader, he'll fix the issues, he'll keep compliance as much as is humanly possible, he'll bleed IU, he'll go the extra mile because it's his alma mater. How do I know all this? Well, talk to people that know him. Look into his past successes. See his accomplishments (which will take awhile). This guy will do a business like approach to things. He'll let those under him do there job, but hold them accountable. He doesn't need to know anything other than leadership and passion. If you excel in leadership and understand that you don't have to know everything and get a good team around you, you can conquer most anything. From what I've read about Fred Glass and what I've had others tell me, and what I've researched about him, he is that type of leader. He's going to be personable. He'll talk to the athletes. He'll be a presence, and most importantly, he'll be a fan. He'll let those that know about scheduling do their thing. He'll trust them, but yet oversee them. Why? Because that's what an AD does. This isn't your high school AD position where one guy and a secretary did everything, this is major college athletics and it takes leadership at the top and a good, knowledgeable team of individuals to work together to get the job done, and that's exactly what is going to happen. I really believe that.

So, what is the plan. Well, when I look at the 3 final candidates: Scott Dolson, Associate AD/Head of the Varsity Club, Bob De Carolis, AD at Oregan State, and Fred Glass, I see one very common theme with all 3: their past work history shows they can raise money with very few resources. While Greenspan worked to get the budget back into the black, IU still needs money to build more facilities, and maybe, hire better coaches to raise the level of recruits that are coming to play here. Bottom line, fan interest has dwindled with the bell-cow program of an Athletic Department, football, so it's going to take local corporate donors and alumni to input the funding.

From what I can tell, the thing that hurt Bob De Carolis the most was that he wasn't a guy they thought could come in and really make a splash locally with fundraising. Maybe he could in time, but time is money as they say, and it's obvious that the Administration wants to start grass roots and then work their way up to Central and Southern Indiana. Dolson and Glass are local guys that alumni know. Glass is extremely well known in political and business circles in Central and South Central Indiana. He has name recognition and more importantly, he has past performance recognition to get the money flowing, and flowing quickly. I think also the one thing that separated Fred Glass from the rest of the field is his relationship with the NCAA and his work with them. While working on the Lucas Oil Stadium Planning Team, he worked closely with the NCAA to make sure that stadium would be a venue that could house basketball. He's also chaired the 2006 NCAA men's and women's basketball committee and was President of the Super Bowl committee for 2011. So basically, he's well-known and he has contacts.

Dolson was highly recommended by a number of coaches at IU and his work at fundraising elevated him to the top pretty quickly. He'll continue to work at that capacity under Fred Glass, and from I've been told via email, he's extremely excited about the hire, even though he wasn't chosen. Personally, I would have been satisfied with De Carolis, because he's proven, and you can't argue that, but he's not local and it would take time to build those relationships, which might not ever develop. We now have someone that already has those relationships.

Also, if you dig into De Carolis a little bit, you'll find that he always used a search committee when hiring coaches. This is pretty much what everyone does these days, so the hogwash that De Carolis would make better hires than Glass, is simply that, hogwash. I guarantee if Fred Glass hires any coach, they'll be passionate leaders with a vision that will work extremely hard to make their visions realities. IU sports programs are pretty stable, except for football, and I think that is why we needed someone that could come in, reorganize the current situation, and really get down to raising money. IU will never be able to pass a tax through Monroe County to fund a new Assembly Hall, so it's going to take donors. IU will never be able to draw a "name" football coach here without donors. I'm not calling for Bill Lynch's head here, I'm just stating the obvious.

Donors with money and leadership with compliance and improving the graduation rates of athletes in men's bball are the three main goals for Fred Glass when he takes over January 1, 2009. I believe he can accomplish those pretty quickly and continue to rebuild our beloved university. I also believe that Coach Lynch will be given at least next year to prove himself. The Administration isn't lost on what is going on and the dwindling ticket sales are a real problem, however, with the Big Ten Network, some of that is offset there. Regardless though, IU football is going to really get looked at and there will be stipulations and plans put in place to make sure it grows forward and doesn't decline any further backwards. Bottom line, this isn't a horrible hire, and I think in 3 years, you'll see this was an extremely good hire. Mr. Glass will be at his alma mater for the long haul and he's fairly young, so hopefully, IU is set to run with him for awhile.

Hope all are well and may God bless you and Mr. Fred Glass, as he begins the transition of taking the reins of this program and lead it forward!

The issues at hand

2008-10-14T06:33:00.000-07:00

Well another week and, another loss, and this time by a ton. It's just not getting any better, and while some dare to look at this program with rose-colored glasses on, the facts at hand are this situation isn't getting any better, and likely won't for awhile either.

Over the course of the last week or so, since my last blog entry, I've gotten a lot of comments, emails, phone calls, etc about what I wrote. The comments were pretty much the same, as most fans are as frustrated about things as I am and know that sooner or later, Coach Lynch will be shown the door, because he's just not the guy that needs to be the Head guy. However, some of asked why my sudden change of course or how did I know things were bad, well, sometimes you just get a sense of how things are going by looking into the eyes of the program so to speak. Since the Ball State game, I've tried to look into the eyes of the program, not the product on the field. I've talked with people, listened, watched, and so on. And I came away with two very real things.

First, the staff is lost. From top to bottom they are absolutely lost, and I'll get into more of that in a minute. Second, the players are still pretty tight. But you can see, by their actions, their social lifes, that this hurts, and it hurts them badly. They are at a loss as to why. They are doing everything the staff is asking of them. They are working hard, trying to make the extra play, spending more time in the film room, doing everything that teams do when things aren't going as planned, but it's not working. They are caught in quicksand, and the more they fight, the deeper they sink.

When Coach Hep came here, he instilled a system that was his way of doing things. It was a little different, in that all the coaches shared extra duties. It worked for him his whole life, and though he was a great man, he was stubborn, and he need HIS way would work. Maybe not today, but one day it would and he set the course of the program in the direction that he saw fit. AD Greenspan gave him the reigns and he grasp them tightly and took off. He upset some fans, but he stayed true to everything he believed in, and even though he got terminally ill, he stayed the course. What seperated Coach Hep from all the other coaches in IU football history, save probably Coach Mal and John Pont, was his leadership. He was a leader from top to bottom. If he were a war general, there's no doubt in my mind that he'd be known throughout history as a great war guy. He had his way, but no matter what, he stayed the course and kept fighthing.
In times of struggle, whether in life, on the field, in the classroom, etc, you need leadership, and if you don't have it, things are going to fall apart, and fall apart very quickly.

So, when I looked into the eyes of the program, the first thing I didn't see was leadership. This past off-season the starting QB was kicked off the team for violating team rules. At the time, he was told he was suspended indefinitely, and nothing was said to him about being able to come back. He went home and realized the errors of his ways and made a couple of phones. Then, and only then, were stipulations given to him about reinstatement without any consulting from others.

Alright, so why KL was suspended, spring practice came and went. The staff, knowing they had an offense that wasn't designed for their new QB decided they better switch things up, and do it in a hurry. So they went with Chappel as the starter. With Schell hurt, they moved Evens to QB, and allowed Hagerup to punt and be the 3rd guy. Then in about 2 weeks, they came up with the hurry up, spread attack, which was based on allowing Chappel to use his accurate arm to throw short passes and march up and down the field and score. So in two weeks, plus the spring, that's what they did. The new offense was a work in progress, and so they sent the players into their offseason regiments and that was that. Except, now a QB that suspended indefinitely was all of a sudden given stipulations for his return. It was a situation that at the time was probably the right thing to do for him, but now there was a huge problem. There was an offense that wasn't designed to fit KL's skills. What to do to right this one?

To summarize this, the staff paniced and they are still doing it. Instead of setting the course, launching the boat, and continuing through the rapids, the aburptly changed course and went a completely different way. In reality, they tried to go upstream in a row boat, instead of just sticking to the system they knew, add a few wrinkles, and continuing the path. The changes weren't needed, and then all of sudden, the QB that is suppose to be done, is now back. What happened? Not everyone knew this was even going to happen, but now here he was, and now what? Basically the whole thing was a mess, and it's continued onto the field, on every offensive possession. The fans can blame, Coach Johnson, or Coach Canada, or whomever, but the bottomline is our Field General is Coach Lynch. While I knew he wasn't completely comfortable in the spread offense, I didn't think he'd panic as much as he did and throw the whole thing into a tizzy. This staff has ruined our best playmaker, KL and tried to make him a pro-style, shot gun, stand in the pocket QB. He rarely uses his legs other than to afford the rush and that's by design. Our other play maker, Thipen is being asket to run up the middle into a line that couldn't block their way out of a wet paper sack. Now, you moved your starting LG to Center, your 2nd team T to starting LG and burned a true freshmen because you are PANICKING AGAIN!!! This offensive line isn't the Indy Colts, they are IU and you can't asked Andrew McDonald to come in a start at LG, when he's never even played that position his entire life. You can't do it! Put your 2nd team guy in there and go! You can't ask your starting LG to move to Center on a whim at a position he practiced for 1 day and expect him to do much. You have to go with your back ups, those that have practiced there the whole season, not one day. Panic does strange things to people, as does losing, and you are seeing what happens when a staff that lacks leadership from the head guy down goes through. They are completely and utterly lost, and the fans know it, the players now, and the administration knows it. I swear Coach Hep has to be rolling over in his grave watching this mess, because that's what it is, A BIG OLE MESS!

The second thing I saw is the lack of administration control. Believe you me, I love Rick Greenspan, and the reasons are obvious, he gave us a program with facilities and made a decent hire in Hep that turned out to be golden, and while I don't blame him for Coach Lynch (he was caught in a danged if you do, danged if you don't situation), but he's on his way out. This program, it's head coach, it's lackluster performance isn't his problem right now. It is not that he doesn't care, he does, he's still in charge, but it's not his issues, and thus we are now in limbo. Of course this leads to the same question that has been discussed for a while now, should Coach Lynch be axed, but because it's all in limbo, we will have to wait, AGAIN! I will say this about die hard football fans at IU, they are a patient people. They may be the most frustrated, but they are patient. We've waited for the "chosen one" for decades, and when we finally get him, he dies, yet with every season, there is still hope. You know, I really feel sorry for IU football fans that are also Cub fans. My hats off to you guys. It really is.

The third thing I noticed is the lack of faith amongst the fans. Okay we were this shooting rocket a mere 2 seasons ago, now we've crashed landed and since every AD search and every new hire this program has seen brings anticipation, there are very few people that few that the IU administration will never get it completely right. Even Duke football finally went out and hired a great choice in David Cutcliffe. He's not a Moses and won't lead them to the Promise Land, but he's a steady guy that has come in, will right that ship, and set the course. All Duke wants is bowl appearances and winning records, and they are going to get it. All they had to do was up the ante a little bit and shell out more money and boom, they are on their way.

Coach Lynch makes $650K a year, and while I'd kill to make that much, he's #83 of all College HCs in the country. Only Washington State pays their HC less, and yes for those at home, they have a worse program than ours right now, but at least they've tasted success in the past quarter century. Coach Fitzgearld at Northwestern makes $750K, but every other Big Ten coach is over 1 million. Heck, even Joe Tiller makes 1.8 million a season. You can get all this information on coacheshotseats.com. A great site really.

So, IU has to pony up, they have too. There will always be a good coach with leadership skills available as long as you are willing pay for it. If you want this program to be second rate to bball, fine, I can live with that, but at least make it competitive and put a product on the field that will help your bball program out. Bball fans want new facilities, a new stadium, and what they still don't seem to grasp, is that you can get that quicker through donors and and upgraded football team. You can't pay a guy $650K/year and expect to win a lot. It just doesn't happen.

An email sent me an email with the comment that the worst thing to ever happen to IU football was the bowl game becasue it masked what was really the eyes of the program. That person is 100% accurate in his assessments. While the problems continue on the field, the lack of leadership and the panic this staff is showing is beyond anything I've seen with a college football program for a long, long time. The staff is lost, they have no idea what to do, and they are in so far over their heads, they can't see that by sticking with the original schemes and plans, they would have been much better off, than all this switching and moving around. The 2 deep for the OL this week is about as absurd as I've ever seen, and sadly, we are still only 1/2 way done with the season yet.

I had a poster ask it we'd win another game this season, and my answer to him was no way. I just don't see it. Will a 2 and 10 season be enough to force a change? It really should be. I don't see Lynch surviving this one. While he's a good secondary guy, he's not a leader. He's a hardworker, he's a nice guy, but he's not a leader. He proved his lack of focus and leadership with the KL situation, and it continues with the chaos that is the product that IU puts on the field every Saturday.

Also, let me be the first to drop this one on you too. It's only a matter of time before we start losing recruits. I can see it coming a mile away, and while I haven't heard names, you can just see it coming. So I'm here to affirm that to you, it's going to happen, so brace yourself for it. The current staff is so confused that they are dropping the ball on recruiting and trying to fix the problem on the field, instead of just staying the course and going forward. There are talented players that will help this program in Central Indiana that are not being recruited. Coach Lynch may have his hand on the pulse of Indiana High School Football, but he doesn't have, nor does the university, have the name recognition to not recruit and the kids still come. Steps need to be taken and a leader emerge for this program to right itself again. Sadly, that leader, at least among the staff, isn't on campus.

Here's hoping the new AD does the sensible thing (not just the right thing anymore) and stops this circus before it completely destroys everything that Hep built.

Is the problem really all that fundamental or is there more to it?

2008-10-08T05:31:00.000-07:00

Well, another week, and another loss. The past 3 weeks have really been a downer on what was suppose to be a banner year of growth for this program. There are lots of issues that are rearing their ugly head again, and more and more, I think there's going to come a time in the near future when some things are going to have to be fixed, before we can ever get to the point of being a constant bowl game contender. Sadly, it seems, last year was merely a fluke brought on by the motivation of a deceased coach.

When I read the message boards across the internet, I find that Indiana University has very few football fans that truly "get it" in terms of what needs to be done to fix things. When you see posts about changing starting QBs, or using different people, or what not, understand that this could help a little bit in terms of a winning season, but it doesn't fix the problems that really ail this university. Is our current team better than it's record says? I don't think it is, and while I think there are some different plays that need to be playing more, the problems really lie in the upper administration and the coaching. So, instead of saying who needs to be the starting QB, who needs to be running the ball, etc, I'm going to focus on what needs to be done to finally fix this mess. Progress has been made, but it's not enough, and it needs to go a lot further, and deeper, than many ever dreamed it should.

I think just about everyone knows that the clock is ticking on Coach Lynch's career at as HC at IU. Sooner or later, he's going to get the axe, because while he's a good guy, a tireless worker, and a great spokesman for the program with recruiting, he's not the true answer we need here. I will also go further and say that while a lot of our assistant coaches are good recruiters, they are simply not very good teachers of the game, especially with fundamentals. I have long supported the coaches and have tried very hard to bring a positive perception to them, when others would not. And while I would never throw them under the bus, I will simply say that the problem is purely $$$$ when it comes to getting the kind of coaches in here that BCS level coaches from the head coach on down to the bottom assistant.

IU has long sought successful lowend coaches that will come here for less money, and they are forced to bring in assistants on a shoe string budget and expected to make it all work. Well, it hasn't, and while IU has lucked out in terms of finding coaches like Coach Mal and Coach Hep, they had no choice but to bring in assistants that are willing to work for pennies, instead of anting up and paying coaches to come in here and straighten the mess out. Rick Greenspan came in and made some dramatic changes and he should be applauded for his efforts. He actually threw money at the program and got some facilities started that will finally allow IU to compete with other programs, but it's not enough. You can't simply throw facilities at something and magically believe it's going to change everything. It did help, but you have to up the $$$$ spent, before you can expect results. Could the current staff and players we have rake it up in the MAC? Of course, that's the level of teaching they are getting at most positions, but when it comes to Big Ten football, it just doesn't cut it. When will enough be enough.

With 7 games left in the season, there are few things this staff and university for that matter need to figure out before anyone can expect to go any further in terms of building a program. These are in no particular order of importance, but it's a list that needs to be dealt with.

1. What offense are we going to run at IU? Right now, the offense is a mess. It's obvious this no huddle, spread, quick pass attack has worked, and there's a ton of reasons for it. But instead of focusing on all those reasons, I think the staff has to figure out what they really want to run and stick with it. If you want to stick with the quick pass attack, fine, but don't recruit QBs like KL and Ed Wright Baker because their strengths aren't passing. They can pass, but they do the damage with their feet and they both rake in a zone spread design. But if you go with a spread option offense, then what do you do with guys like Follett, Kiel, and Chappel that are more designed for the quick pass attack? All of the QBs are talented kids that bring talent to the position, but we have 2 groups of QBs that fit 2 different types of offenses. We are asking KL to sit in the pocket and throw the ball. WHY? His strength is moving with his feet, setting up the pass. On 3rd and 1, I don't want to see a toss sweep to Payton, I want to see the ball in KL's hands, because he's our bell cow.

The questions don't end at QB though for the offense. The OL is a whole nother set of issues. We simply don't have an OL that is designed or maybe the term should be, they weren't recruited for, running this type of offense. They are simply not good at it. Last season, I thought Stark was going to be a real force, because he showed a lot at RT in the zone spread, but now, with the switch to this quick pace stuff, he's struggling. Same goes for Saffold and Saxon, 2 guys that are as talented as any kids we've had in this program, but they are digressed, more than anything. Sure, they've been hurt, and while that counts for some of the problems, they are simply not progressing. I don't know if they've hit their ceiling talent wise, or it's the coaching, but to win the offensive battle, you have to control the line of scrimmage no matter what scheme you run, and sadly, as has been the case for years at IU, we aren't doing it.

2. The staff needs to understand that you can't run a Pop Warner style defense in the Big Ten or you are going to get eaten alive with long drives and unless your offense can stay on the field for more than 1 minute, your defense is going to be exhausted no matter how much rotation you have. Simply put, we need a new D Coordinator with assistants that can teach the system and also preach and practice fundamental tackling. Harsh? Maybe, but the tackling is horrible and it's been that way since these guys got here and it's not getting better.

You can't play a loose Cover 4 with the middle of the field wide open and expect teams to not figure it out before they ever take the field. This may work in D 1 AA or maybe against lower end MAC teams, but it doesn't work against Big Ten level and top BCS teams. While IU has improved the run defense because they have faster, more physical players on the field, the scheme in and of itself is bad to start with. Also, don't be fooled by saying IU held Minny to 59 yards rushing, or we stuffed WKY and Murray State, those teams are bad teams. By all rights, the defense wasn't to blame for the loss on Saturday, they held a horrible team to 16 points, but against their better teams, this loose cover 4 crap will be exploited again and again. It's no wonder you have opposing QBs saying they know exactly what IU is going to do everytime. It's pretty obvious, and even a decent High School QB can figure this one out.

3. Are we going to play the more talented kids, or do we simply go with experience and the philosphy that you won't see consistant time until you are an upperclassman? Hey, I'm all for earning your right, but simply put, we have way more talented kids sitting, than are playing the majority of the snaps. We also have 3 true frosh that are sitting, when they could be helping in Pagan, Willis, and Follett. Personally, I don't mind redshirting kids to allow them to develop, but you have to have sufficient players in front of them that can fill in. Sadly, IU doesn't have that and we have to get past the notion that all true frosh need to redshirt. Look at Ohio State, they are starting a true frosh QB and at Center, which are the 2 most difficult positions on the offense. Sure, they special kids, but so are Willis and Pagan in my opinion, and Follett has done very well also.

4. As one email said this week to me, if he see Thigpen up the middle 1 more time for no gain, he's going to scream. The staff has got to look at the personnel and use them at their strengths. I like it when Thigpen and KL have the ball, but they are not being put in situations to succeed. "Big Play" Ray, has been a Big Flop this year, and mainly, it's due to what they want him to do on offense, which he's basically not designed to due. Thigpen has exploded on these short pass plays, but continually, over and over, he runs up the middle, runs up the middle, runs up the middle for nothing. Sure, you have to set up a defense, but not over and over. These kids aren't dumb.

5. So we have this big stadium with more seats, and still we can't get people out of the parking lot? It's time, once and for all, to put a policy in place to get people out of the parking lot and into the stadium before the game starts. I don't care if you have get riot police out there and form a line and herd them in, but DO IT! It's an absolute disgrace that thousands of people are left to party hardy in the parking lots, while the national TV audiences, and recruits, see the empty stadiums. Other schools do it, even professional teams are starting to do, and it's time for IU to do the same. Come and tailgate all you want, but you are going to go to the game or you are going to be ticketed for loitering. It's that simple.

6. Hire a game day coordinator that has a clue what a game day atmosphere needs and DO IT! Also, find a band director that has a clue how to use the Marching 100 to it's full advantage. IU has to the walk, but sadly, the pre game day festivities are lame. My high school did better than IU does. I don't care if you have to create a position, but do it, and get people to follow it.

7. The alumni need to step it up. Purdue alumni put our association to SHAME on their game day participation. Learn something from your hated rival and get involved. Also, it's funny how "rich" alumni are so quick to help the bball program, but when it comes to the bell cow program of the university (yea it's football), no steps up. People hate that guy from Oklahoma State for all he's done down there, but they are building a winner and whipped our butts pretty hardly. It would sure be nice if someone like Cuban would support his alma mater instead of trying to buy the Cubs. This program could use some of his money to really build a winner here. I also don't buy this crap about if we win, then we'll support the program. We need the help now to win.

8. Finally, the coaching talent. If you want a winner here, a consistant winner that goes to bowl games year in, year out, and in the upper echelon of the Conference and is in the Top 25 to 30 teams, you have to pony up the money. It's that simple. If we try to run this university off the bball program again, it's not going to work, and both sports will suffer, much like they have over the past several seasons. While true bball fans don't want to admit it, they need a competitive football program to get the money necessary to build all these brand new facilities to keep pace with the other schools. It seems every other school in the United States has figured this out, except Indiana. In fact, even Purdue and low end D1 and D 1 AA schools have figured this out, but IU bball fans still think, they can do it alone, and sadly, they are mistaken.

Well, I'm sure I've ruffled a few feathers with this post, but so be it. I'm tired of losing, especially for the same reasons over and over again.

No longer silent

2008-09-30T13:06:00.000-07:00

Man, it's been a tough couple of weeks for IU football, and because of all that has taken place, I've been pretty silent on blogs and posts. I've said this before, but I like to absorb losses and just read what others say. You really find out who the true fans are during an unexpected loss. And sure enough, the bandwagon is getting empty again, which shouldn't surprise many, because when it comes down to it, when you think of Indiana University, you automatically think basketball, and with the successes in verbals that Coach Crean has had, well, some fans are back on the bball boards taking pot shots at us football lovers.

However, I also stay quite because I like to watch how the coaches react, and the players. No one likes to lose, but how do they respond in practice? What changes do the coaches make to try and correct problems? Are their any changes at all? Do the kids come in a little earlier and stay a little longer in the film room? It's those kinds of questions that I can now confidently answer after our second straight loss.

I've gotten a couple of emails asking me if I'm disappointed in the season so far, and I have to answer yes. I figured us at 3 and 1, and the fact that we aren't sucks. I will say this though, we were beaten by 2 teams that are just flat better than we are right now. I'm never going to take anything away from BSU because they are from the MAC. Believe me, they'd whoop at least 1/2 the teams in the Big Ten this season, and they really do have a shot at being unbeaten. Personally, I hope they do go unbeaten and throw the crappy BCS into a tail spin once again. Anyway, we were beaten, and beaten soundly.

I've also been asked if I'm worried about anything, and again, I am. I'm worried not by our play per se, but what others are saying about us. I'm worried because we are very, very easy to figure out defensively. It's not rocket science we throwing at teams, we are basically playing zone, and a loose one at that. We did a much better job of putting people in the box against MSU and it worked, but yet, we are still being beaten down the field. Do the injuries hurt? Yes they do, but injuries come and go, so we can't use them as excuses. The bottomline is we have got to get this defense figured out. Whether it's coaches, schemes, or just not good enough players, we have to get better in all phases of defense.

What I have seen so far this week, since the loss to MSU is very encouraging as far as the players and coaches coming together and really working extra hard to fix the issues. The Defensive backfield is pretty much a walking med unit, so we are going to take our lumps here, but we'll benefit from that next year I can promise. However, this is now, and we have Minny ha ha in a couple of days and we are working to get things under control. This is a very winnable game, in fact, we really need to take 3 of next 4 which is pretty easy to do to get us back on track.

I feel much more confident this week, than I did last week. I saw a lot more positives to build on against MSU than I ever did against Ball State. What stings so much about BSU is we quit. The going got tought and in stead of responding, we laid down. We didn't lay down against MSU, we fought, and we fought hard. Hopefully this will continue.

Personally, I still like what Chappel brings to the table with KL in the game at the same time and I think we will see a lot more of that stuff as the season progresses. I've long sense contended that the offensive schemes and quick passing game isn't too KL's strengths. He's made it work, but it's not his strength. So if we are going to stick with this new scheme, you really need to use the QB it benefits the most. While KL is much more dynamic with his feet than Ben, it's a forgone conclusion that both those kids in the game at the same time cause HUGE problems.

I've long since thought that Coach Lynch always paid it too safe. This isn't necessarily a knock against him, but he likes to use experience over raw talent and he likes to stick to traditional things. However, Coach Canada has always been a little more risky in terms of throwing defenses for a loop. What I saw Saturday may have made some crinch with the schemes on both sides of the ball, but for Coach Lynch to do it, proved that he knowns we have to razzle things up a bit to move the ball and stop the ball. The changes didn't always work, but they were stuck with and tried.

Our goal from now on should be a very simple one, though it's not always as easy to accomplish, but we have got to find a way to control the line of scrimmage. We've got to get better on both sides of the lines. We are as athletic as we've ever been on both lines, but we still continue to lose these battles on a weekly basis. It's obvious that the better teams control the line of scrimmage and I've long since contended that what seperates the upper tier teams from the also rans is the talent that comes in on the OL and DL. IU has always had to works in progress and make them work, where your O$U's, MSU, USC, et al get guys that are physically ready to go. Sure, IU finds an OL or DL once in awhile that's ready, but usually we don't get several dominate guys, but merely one or two guys that take several years to develop. It seems like hundreds of kids can run a 4.5 or less and catch the ball every year, but we've got to find a way to get better lineman. I think last season, we did that on the DL, but we have to improve on the interior of the OL. We are simply getting outmuscled and worked here. I don't think it's necessarily the coaching, as Bobby Johnson is regarded as one of the best OL coaches in college football. I just think it's the overall talent.

Anyway, while some have said Coach Lynch needs canned, or Coach Lynch is IU fballs version of Mike Davis, I'm not ready to get that drastic yet. Besides, it's simply not going to happen. Coach Lynch signed an new contract last season, so he'll have this year, and probably next at the very least to prove himself. I have stated that I am concerned about things, and I am, but those discussions are made for the end of the season, not in the middle of one. While I'm disappointed where we are at, and will be even more so if we lose this weekend, I just don't think we can throw in the towel now.

Remember this, Kansas, Missouri, Boise State, etc all suffered through this kind of thing. Success for them just didn't happen overnight and those schools stuck with their guy, through the thick and thin and slowly but surely, through recruiting, they got it done and have continued to get it done. I don't know if Coach Lynch will lead IU to those heights, but firing him would be totally wrong, and like I said, it's simply not going to happen.

As for my predicition for this week, I'm going to go with IU and I think we are going to see a shootout. I've got IU at 44 and Minny ha ha at 39. Let's get this train back on the track to playing, and winning, 13!

Previewing the Ball State Cardinals

2008-09-17T17:37:00.000-07:00

After a week hiatus, the Hoosiers will take the field Saturday night against the instate, Ball State Cardinals in a much anticipated match up of possibly the 2 best Division 1 teams in the state of Indiana. The Cardinals will be a very good last test before IU opens up conference play against Michigan State. On offense, they run a 2 WR, 2 TE, 1 RB set and on defense they run a pretty basic 4.3 attack.

The 3 and 0 Cardinals have already defeated Navy, Northeastern, and Akron this season and have displayed a pretty powerful offense along the way. The offense is led by QB Nate Davis, a 6'3" 215 Junior from Bellaire, OH. Last season, Davis established himself as one of the best Sophmore QBs in the country, when he passed for 3,667 yards and 30 TDs against only 6 INTs. This season, he's already thrown for 916 yards with 9 TDs, but 3 INTs. Davis also can scramble if he needs too and can really step up in the pocket more than anything. He has ran for 44 yards in 7 carries so far, so the IU defense is going have to stay home in the middle of the field some, or this kid will burn us.

With 916 yards passing so far, it's obvious that Davis has some weapons to go to, and his biggest weapon is Dante Love. Mr. Love is a 5'10" 180 senior, who has already caught 25 passes for 433 yards and 3 TDs. Love has caught 42% of Davis's completions, so it's pretty obvious that Ball State will try to get him the ball as much as possible on Saturday. Love isn't just a deep threat, as he possesses very good hands and also catches those short passes ala Ray Fisher and then looks to make the big play. IU's corners are really going to have their hand full identifying where Love is at on the field and making sure a corner is on him and not a LB or Safety.

Davis's other favorite target is Darius Hill, a 6'6" 235 TE, who is one of the best receiving TE in all of college football. If IU doubles up on Love, Hill will burn them one on one, if Davis has the time to find his targets. So far this season, Darius has caught 11 passes for 170 yards and 3 TDs. He's a big target in the redzone and IU's Geno Johnson is really going to have his work cut out for him in trying to keep this kid in check.

Other targets for the Cardinals are: Mardaris Grant, 6'5" 225 TE with 9 catches; MiQuale Lewis, their starting RB with 8 catches; Briggs Osborn, 6' 185 true frosh WR with 7 catches and 2 TDs; Myles Trempe, 6'4" 200 WR with 3 catches; and Daniel Ifft, 6'3" 180 WR with 2 catches and a TD.

Ball State's running attack is led by MiQuale Lewis, 5'6" 185 scatback from Fort Wayne Indiana. Last season, MiQuale was just chewing up the yardage, but got hurt and could never really get healthy and the Cardinals attack really suffered. This season, Lewis is once again healthy and don't let his size fool you, he's a very good RB that can also snag a pass or two out of the backfield. So far, MiQuale has ran the ball 60 times for 376 yards and 3 TDs. He's averaging 121 yards/game, so Ball State likes to establish him on the ground as much as possible. Since they use the 2 TE set, ala the Colts, Lewis is usually by himself in the backfield with Davis. They like to run the play action pass as well, so the IU defense has to be ready.

Other runners for Ball State include: Dante Love, Mr Do Everything with 14 rushes for 64 yards and 2 TDs; Cory Sykes, 5'7" 160 true frosh RB with 12 carries for 40 yards; and Frank Edmonds, 5'8" 180 RB with 4 totes for 15 yards.

Along the OLine, Gerberry, Ramsey, and Brewster are 3 year starters. I couldn't find a depth chart for the starting lineup, but the Cardinals average 295 across the line. Coach Hoke has made it a point since Spring Ball for the OL to be more physical at the point of attack. I really feel that IU will have it's biggest advantage in the trenches and IU must take advantage of these match ups to be able to win this ball game.

As for the Defense, the biggest name that most have heard of is Brandon Crawford, 6'3" 260 DE. Brandon is 32 years old and a former US Marine. He led the Cardinals with 8 sacks last season and so far this season, he's made 11 tackles, 2 takcles for loss, 1 sack, and 1 forced fumble. He's joined on the starting DL by Drew Duffin, 6'3" 260 DT from Avon; Rene Perry, 6' 270 DT, and Gonzalo Barinaga 6'2" 255. Again, IU will have a very big advantage along the line here, especially in the middle. Ball State has surrended an average of 186 yards/game on the ground, and though that number is a little tainted due to Navy being a Wing T offensive team, Ball State must tighten up the lines and hold the blockers, so the LBs can make the plays, if they are to have a chance against the Hoosiers. My feelings are they will stack the box more and make IU beat them with the pass, at least in the beginning of the game.

At LB, the Cardinals are led by OLB Bryant Haines, 6'5" 225. Last season, he led the Cardinals with 125 tackles and so far this season, he's the teams second leading tackler with 23. He also has 3 tackles for loss and a sack, so he's pretty active. The other starters for Ball State appear to be Middle LB Wendell Brown, 6' 215 and Kenny Meeks, 6'2" 230. Also, Davyd Jones, 6'1" 200 has colleted 19 tackles and plays an awful lot as well. Though not all that big, these kids are pretty fast and athletic.

Ball State's leading tackler on the season, Sean Baker (6'1" 205) lines up at Strong Safety in a very active defensive backfield. Baker has amassed 24 tackles and 3 INTs. He's joined in the defensive backfield by: Alex Knipp, 6' 195 safety with 17 tackles; Derrick Henry, 6'1" 190 safety with 10 tackles, Trey Lewis, 6' 190 CB with 13 tackles; BJ Hill, 5'7" 180 CB with 19 tackles and 2 INTs; and Trey Buice, 5'10" 175 with 19 tackles. Ball State has some depth here, so IU needs to establish the run as much as possible, then work the pass to its advantage.

On special Teams, the Cardinals kickoff kicker is Jake Hogue from Plainfield. In 22 kickoffs, he's only put 2 for touchbacks, so IU should be able to return his kicks. Ian McGarvey from Greenwood is their starting kicker and so far this season he's a perfect 4 for 4 with a long of 46 yards. Their punter is Chris Miller, and like most recent Ball State Punters, this kid is very good and has a chance to punt at the next level. Last season, he averaged 45.3 yards/punt and so far this season, he's punted 9 times for a 42 yard/punt with 4 inside the 20. He's a real weapon for the Cardinals and my guess is Finch will not have much of an opportunity to return much this game.

On the return side, surprise, surprise, Dante Love is the Cardinals leading kick return guy with 9 returns for 230 yards for a 25 yards/return average. The punt return duties have been shared by starting CB, BJ Hill and true frosh WR, Briggs Osborn.

All in all, this is by far the most talented team that IU has faced so far in this young season, especially offensively. But the advantage will really be in the trenches on both sides of the ball. I expect this to be a pretty tight game in the first half and then IU pulling away at the end. Looking at Ball State's schedule, other than late November matchups at Miami (OH) and Central Michigan, if they can get by IU, this could really be the start of something special for them. The Cardinals have holes, but with 34 instate kids on the roster, 6 instate starters, and the hype this game is getting with them getting 2 votes in the Top 25, these kids will be ready. You better believe Coach Hoke will have them ready for Big Ten football, having been an assistant coach at Michigan before going to Ball State.

My prediction: Indiana 45 Ball State 24

Hope all are well! God Bless!

Grading the win against Murray State

2008-09-08T19:24:00.000-07:00

Another week, another blowout win, and this time it was a lot more convincing than week 1. The team played about as well at every position that I can remember. The Hoosiers dominated this game from start to finish and other than a big KO return and a missed FG by Starr, the mistakes were very hard to notice.

I thought that during the WKY game, the RBs and the punter left fans questioning, but both of those positions answered to the fan base that all that was needed was more reps and some patience. I was extremely impressed with the way IU won this game, because they just flat beat up MSU along the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. Now, Murray State isn't big ten caliber, but it was a good confidence boost, as the team produced 4 solid quarters to sound football. Also, ZERO PENALTIES for the entire game. That's unheard of, but the staff really hammerred it home to cut out the dumb mistakes and play all the way until the end. For week 2.....mission accomplished.

So, now for my grades.

QB: A

Lots to like from both KL and Chappell, as they combined to go 21 for 28 for 222 yards. No TD passes, but none was needed. Both did a very good job running the team while they were there and controlling the clock. Also, Chappell got a TON of work, as he was in with over 8 minutes to go in the 3rd quarter. Ben did a good job and even ran a little when he had to. Also, KL only ran 1 time for -2 yards, so he wasn't needed at all, other than to control the game. Chappell did score a TD on a QB run. I still don't understand why Ben is brought in to do the sneak on 3rd and short, unless they are setting up something for later in the year, but other than that small complaint, a job well done here.

RB: A+

This position was blasted by fans, me included, on the lackluster performance in week 1. Other than Payton and a little bit from McCray the position just didn't produce against the Hilltoppers. This week, the final stats showed the RBs with 44 carries for 247 yards and 5 TDs. Thigpen got 100 yards on 7 carries, plus put up a big return, McCray was more effective, Davis-Walker was very impressive, and Payton and Burgess got some tough yards too.

All in all, Thigpen must have read some of the message boards as he looked like a completely different player than he did against WKY. He read the blocks and showed much elusiveness. I think he'll be our starting RB for the foreseeable future, but the others will certainly see a lot of time as well, and maybe even get a taste of Davis-Walker. I think the performances witnessed Saturday, barring just a rash of injuries, Willis is without a doubt redshirting.

WRs: B
With the RBs so effective, there wasn't a whole lot of passing that needed to be done, other than to keep the defense honest. 9 different players caught passes, and Banks, Earnest, and Evans saw extended PT in the first half and each caught passes.

However, there still isn't a deep threat on this team yet, and I still need to see more from Doss and Turner before I'm ready to say this until is deep enough to withstand an injury or 2. Ray Fisher did sit out the game, so some reserves got good in game action, but this is a position where a couple more guys need to step up and produce.

OL: A
The left side is healing, the IU offense produced 476 total yards, and several 2nd teams saw extensive time in the 2nd half. This unit was criticized unfairly last week, for a darn good performance, and they followed it up with a no sack, no penality, 254 yard rushing attack performance. Very good for a still hurting left side and 2 kids making their 2nd career start.

All in all, very good work by the offense. Starr did miss a FG and the only true thing that the IU offense needs to work on other than finding a deep threat at WR is 3rd down efffeceincy. Saturday they only produced 4 out of 13 tried on 3rd down, so this has to improve over the course of a tight game.

Okay, now the defense:

DL: A+
It all starts here on defense and the front 4 did about as good a job as you can do in totally dominating their opponet on every single possession. The return of Greg Middleton was nice and again, Marando and Kirlew benefitted immensely. Kirlew led the Hoosiers in tackles with 7 total and one sack. Middleton, Marando, and Mack also got a sack, as the Hoosiers spent the majority of their time in the backfield. Also, the Hoosiers gave up 28 rushing yards on 27 carries, yeah MSU averaged 1 whole yard each time they ran the ball. The starting front 4 was really active in this game and made alot of tackles. Also, a lot of depth got into the game and played a lot in the forth quarter.

LBs: A-
The 3 amigos weren't as active as they were in game one, but they really didn't need to be with the front 4 constantly in the backfield. Mayberry had a solid performance and man, he's such an upgrade from what we had last season. He's just all over the place. Johnson got in on a sack and Patterson was fairly quite, but again, the D held MSU to 149 total yards, so the LBs were a big part of that. Like every other position, lots of back ups got in the game

DBs: A

MSU completed 19 passes against the Hoosiers for 121 yards, with the longest being a couple 15 yard pass plays. No receiver had more than 42 yards receiving, and the Hoosiers held Ard in check rather well, and didn't allow their TE, Nelson, any catches. Polk produced 6 tackles and again was very active with 1 INT and another he should have had. Also saw some very productive work from ther other CBs and back up safties.

All in all, just a very solid performance. 149 total yards given up, 1 INT, 4 sacks, 7 tackles for loss, and 2 fumble recoveries for Marando. What a game by the D!

Special Teams: B
My lowest grade, along with WRs, given this week, and an area that IU can hopefully learn from. First, though, Austin Starr made a 24 yard FG, but missed one from 37 yards. He's usually pretty automatic from there and it looked like the snap and hold were good, so I think he just missed it. That happens. He also had 8 kick offs, and he put 5 in the endzone for touchbacks.

Hagerup punted 3 times for a 39.3 yard average. He boomed a 50 yarder with ungodly hangtime that made me stand up and cheer. All in all, he did a 180 from last week and really put the hush to his uncalled for critics.

Thigpen returned 2 kicks for 59 total yards with a long of 29 yards. Finch returned 2 for 12 total yards.

The unit would have gotten an A, but the kickoff coverage unit about let one get returned for a TD, but a "brave" tackle by Starr provided only a 50 yard return. However, the momentum shifted and IU's defense was deflated enough to allow MSU's only points of the day on a 27 yard FG. The problem wasn't a scheme problem, it was simply a discipline problem. Several of the Hoosiers didn't stay in their lanes and was trying to make the big hit. Luckily, Starr stayed home, or it would have been a TD. This is very correctable and I'm sure the coaches will drive home the point that the kids have to stay in their lanes and let the ball carriers come to them.

So, all in all a very solid performance from the Hoosier and one of the most dominating I've seen in awhile. The only downer is probably attendance, but the house should be pretty packed for the Ball State game. No real injuries to speak off and the kids will get a little time off to relax then get back to work for a huge instate game against the Cardinals in a couple of weeks.

I'm very much looking forward to this game and see what IU's defense does against a high-powered offense as talented as anyone we will see this year.

Hope all are well. God Bless!

Preview of Murray State and what to do at Running Back

2008-09-03T12:28:00.001-07:00

Well, we are 1/2 way to game #2, and this week's opponet, Murray State will again offer us a look at the Spread offense. The difference though is WKY run a 3-4 scheme defense, but Murray State runs the basic 4-3 alignment, so the offense will see the defense they are most likely to face in conference play, alignment/scheme wise anyway.

Last season was a pretty tough year for MSU, as they put up a 2 win and 9 loss season. They gave up an outlandish 36 pts/game last season and Louisville and UT-Martin top the 70 point mark on them. MSU scored well in the spread, but they gave up a TON, and last week in a victory against Lambuth, they still gave up 331 yards against a lower division opponet, so this week, IU's offense can expect to get many opportunities to score in their no huddle spread attack.

Looking at the prelimary starters for MSU on Offense:

WR or X: Daniel Ard-6'5" 220-a big WR that caught 4 passes last week for 104 yards. He's the leading WR, so he's going to be a match up issue for the secondary.
WR or Z: Marcus Harris-6'1" 175
WR or S: Derrick Townsel-5'9" 170
TE- Nelson-6'1" 235-MSU likes to utulize the TE in their attack, so expect IU's defense to really watch him as he spots up over the middle. Their other TEs are blockers, but Nelson offers some ability that we'll have to watch out for.

QB-Ehrhandt-6'4" 210 was 6 of 13 for 122 yards and 1 TD last week. This kid is a runner as well and offers a decent arm for the their attack.
QB-Nico Yantko-5'8" 190 was 10 of 15 for 156 yards and 2 TDs last week. This kis played defense his first 2 season, but switched to QB this Fall and now it's really neck and neck to see who will start. Small, but a good passer and can run too. IU will need to spy him when he's in the game.

RB-Nwagbara-5'10" 210-this kid started last week, but he wasn't their leading returning rusher, nor was he the one that led them in rushing for the game.
RB-Charlie Jordan-5'8" 190-carried the ball 12 times for 61 yards last week and led them in rushing last year with just over 600 yards total.

LT-Ornella-6'3" 300
LG-Fogg-5'11" 300-short/squatty player, but not the shortest on the line
C-Hankins-5'10" 295-this is one of the shortest OLs I've seen in a long while
RG-Rivers-6'2" 335
RT-Huff-6'5" 310

The bookends are big, but Brown, Mack, and the Burrus twins should really factor in this game. MSU likes to throw more than run, so expect IU to really do well on run defense again and still hold the pass game in check. MSU's offense appears to be a lot like WKYs, so IU will have seen this once and will be ready.

Defensively, Murray State brings this to the table.

DE-Booth-6'2" 225
DT-Roach-6'3" 275-had 5 tackles last week
DT-Blakemore-6'2" 280
DE-Lane-6'6" 250
OLB-Butler-5'11" 210
MLB-Williams-6'2" 225-had a whooping 17 tackles last week and was all over the place. IU must account for this kid.
OLB-Kutch-6' 230-2nd leading tackler last week with 8.
CB-Jean-Baptise: 5'10" 175
CB-McCall-6'2" 205 had 7 tackles last weekend
SS-Werner-5'9" 185
FS-Lanigan-6' 200

This is another smaller, but somewhat quick defense. I'm looking for the OL to continue to make waves and continue to develop together. Williams should be fun to watch out there, but IU will wear these kids down as the game goes along.

Special Teams:
K and P-Cullen-6'3" 210-no pressure scoring kicks last week and punted 2 times with a 44 yard avg.
QB/P-Erhardt-looks like MSU likes to pooch punt a lot with this kid in the shot gun. He did it 4 times last week for a 28 yard average.
Returner-Derrick Townsel-appears to be the primary punt return guy and also a kick returner.
Returner-Trotter-appears to be the other KR, and like Townsel, he's 5'9" and around 180 pounds, so they both should offer some quickness/speed here.

Indiana Connections:
2 players from Murray State are from the state of Indiana and hail from Evansville
DE-Zach Goebel-some might remember this name, as he flurted with walking-on at IU. Zach backs up Booth at DE and sees a lot of time.
OT-Matt Hawkins-big OT is a RS FR this season
Coach-Willie Tillman-played at Purdue from 1994-1997, so some may remember this name.

All in all, should be a big win for IU this week, but the challenges are as follows:
1. Play 60 minutes-gotta put 4 quarters together
2. Clock management
3. No more dumb penalities
4. Score 45 points
5. Shutout!
6. Be effective running the ball with the RBs
7. All positions---BE CONSISTANT in effort and performance

My prediction: Indiana 51 Murray State 13

Now, for the RB situation. Lots of emails and posts about this topic. I think an even average fan could tell that Thigpen didn't have a very good game last week, and was out done performance wise by McCray and Payton. In fact, Marcus hasn't done a whole lot performance wise since his Sophmore season, save his 140 yard performance against Purdue. Personally, I think it's obvious that IU's running game gets the best results when Payton carries it, but I will say that both KL and Thigpen really run that zone option very well together.

Honestly, this week will be a key for Thigpen. He's going to start and the staff will try to get him opportunities to use that speed of his. The others will get their touches as well, but we need to know, with a bye week approaching, if Thigpen is going to be able to handle this position. Another poor showing and a good showing by Payton will give the staff something to think about before the BSU game on the 20th. The staff likes to use kids that have been there, done that, so Thigpen won't have a quick hook, but they are noticing Bryan and the work he's doing on the field and his leadership off of it, so they are not lost on stats at all.

Hope all are well. God Bless!

Western Kentucky: The Good, The Bad, and The Questions

2008-09-01T15:44:00.000-07:00

Well the first game is in the books and just like everyone expected, IU came away with the victory. As with any first game, there was a lot to like, a lot to not like, and some questions that will need further games to play out. One thing is for sure, what the kids produced on the field Saturday was enough to wet our whistles a little bit, and even to dream some that there have been some real improvements that were question marks last season. Let's see just what was good, bad, and otherewise questionable from our opening victory.

First off the Good:

There was a lot to like on Saturday. First off, except for a minor Shoulder Sprain for Ray Fisher, everyone that's important to the team, came away healthy it appears. Ray could have played if needed in the 2nd half, but why risk it, when the plan was to play your depth to get them a little more game experience and evaluate your talent. So, Ray was held out and he should be good to go for Saturday against Murray State.

Before, I break down individual positions, I want to give a HUGE shout out to the defense who really looked good yesterday at every position. I think most thought we'd have a good rotation for every position and we'd see better LB play than last season, but I think many came away extremely surprised at the play of the "3 Amigos" (Patterson, Mayberry, and Johnson). Anytime you hold a Kevin Wright offense scoreless for 1 half and to only 13 points the entire game, you have done yourself well. I know I bad on Wright a lot, but he's a very talented offensive mind and though WKY isn't O$U or M$U, they can score a lot of points in a hurry. I really enjoyed the swarming aspect of the defense and I'm looking forward to seeing Middleton added to the mix. For the game, WKY was held to 282 total yards and only 63 on the ground. Except for one long run by their QB, most of their stuff was 4 yards and less. IU really did a number on Hayden, who ran for over a 1,000 yards last year.

As far as the DEs, I really like Marando and Kirlew. Kirlew flipflopped spots on the line, which is a lot harder than you think, but he flew around and wrecked havoc and collected a couple of sacks. I also liked what I saw from Fred Jones, who will team with Ryan and really give a good B team of DEs.

Lots of people played the DT positions and I didn't see much drop off in play when others were in there. I thought Mack did very well in his first start, and though he missed a couple of tackles due to overpursit, I think he's really going to add some things that Kremer didn't last season.

I thought the LBs were amazing. Patterson was his usual self, just a workhorse tackling everything in site, but Mayberry really adds some things to this defense. He can really sniff some plays out and you can tell he's a film room hound. I had a conversation this weekend via email with a pro scout friend of mine that I went to college with. He was in Bloomington Saturday to take in the game and he believes all 3 starters will play in the NFL. In fact, his team (which I won't name) really like Geno Johnson and say, other than Middleton, he's our 2nd best prospect on defense, and I thought Saturday, Geno really stepped up his play. My friend says he's played well every season, but he does things so effortlessly that we take him for granted. Let's hope his solid play continues because like Patterson, he was all over the place as well.

As for the corners, well, they were steady. They made some mistakes and were over zealous at times. Phillips has to learn to calm down and not get dumb penalities too, but all in all, a solid day. They did give up a fairly long TD pass late, but a lot of guys got in and you can see why the staff likes the young kids. I thought Adkins, Council, and Jones all played well for the most part, and Jones really laid the wood on a couple of kickoffs, which was cool to see. I'm hoping we continue to see more improved play here as the kids get experienced. One thing I think we saw with the run game was the corners came up and really supported and took on the blockers, which allowed Polk and the LBs to do their thing.

The Safeties did very well, and I just love Polk. Man, has he come a long way over the past year. Thomas was his usual steady self and really laid the wood on a couple of plays that drove the ball carrier back 2 to 3 yards when the collision occured. Finch got some time and he's rusty. As I've said before, he's not 100% healthy yet, but as he heals and gets reps, we'll see him more and more.

Overall a good defensive start. The one real negative was it appeared the play in the 2nd half was lacadastical at best, and almost as if the players got bored. It will be up to the staff to really challenge these kids to put in 4 quarters.

Offensively, it's hard to say you did bad when you score 31 points, and just like any first game or two, you leave a lot of points out on the field so to speak too. All in all, 31 points is good, but man, we were dead in the 2nd half and though a lot of substitutions were going on, we have to sustain the energy for 4 quarters. It's funny when you say that an aspect such as running the ball needs to improve, when put up nearly 300 yards on the ground, but that's what needs to happen with our running backs. I also thought the passing game was consistant, but not spectacular. While our vision this season isn't to stretch the field vertically, we need to do a little better job working the middle of the field. I will say, we seemed fairly vanilla in terms of our reads and play calling, which will change, but there's a lot of things to like and dislike on this side of the ball.

I was surprised at our QB play, especially from KL. Someone said that there are practice players and there gamers, and KL is really a gamer. He looked a little rusty as you might expect, but man, his athletic ability is rarely matched. He had a couple of runs that were just eye-popping. Running the ball, he put up 185 yards on 9 carries. Passing, he was 17 for 27 for 145 yards and 2 TDs and 1 INT. All in all, that's not bad. He made some errors and had a couple of balls batted, but a pretty good start from which to build. I would have liked to have seen Chappell get a little more time, and he was used at some strange times IMO, but he didn't make any errors, which was great.

I'm sorry, but here's my beef (along with everyone elses I think), I'm just not buying Thigpen at RB. Actually, I don't mind him at RB, but we have got to move him around and give Payton and McCray the majority of the time back there. It's hard to argue the logic of not getting the ball into the hands of guy that runs a 4.24, but DON'T RUN HIM STRAIGHT INTO THE LINE! Thigpen has great open field vision, but he's not a very good running back at seeing the cutback lanes. He really runs himself into a lot of trouble, instead of cutting back. He also doesn't make your OL look very good (more on that in a minute). I like Payton and McCray a whole heck of lot more than I do Marcus when it comes to reading the holes and then banging through them. Thigpen should be used all over the place. If you want to run him, fine, but run him outside or on toss sweeps, not straight ahead. I think honestly, if Thigpen is going to stay at RB, he's our 3rd best one at the moment, behind Payton (my #1) and McCray.

The WRs were steady, but not very spectacular. We've been spoiled with Hardy, but we have a lot of average guys, that when combined, really get the job done and move the chains. Turner is going to be pretty special and Belcher is going to be special too, in time. Means and Fisher will be our steady guys, so we have lots of options here, just as we figured we would.

TE was pretty much nonexistant, though Dedmond caught one pass and you can see where he'll be a good one, if he's not lost in the shuffle. All in all, I don't think KL trusts the QBs much right now because he's had very little like to work with them. I also think Wagner needs to start, because Martin just isn't the blocker that Troy is.

Many posters are bagging on the OL once again and questioning the "7 Blocks of Limestone" as being the 7 Blocks of Sandstone, but let's look at this a little bit closer. First off, Saffold and Saxon aren't 100%, and in fact, Saffold is probably 85 to 90 at best. He's also missed a lot of time both this spring and fall and I thought he got winded a little Saturday, which is to be expected. Same thing went for Saxon, who gave up a couple early sacks and I wondered what in the world was going on with him. I thought Perry and Faulkner did very well for their first games and we ran behind them a lot. Faulkner is a very good one on one blocker and sustains his guy well. Sure, we didn't defend the biggest DL in the world, but sometimes smaller, quicker kids give the big guys the most fits. Also, as I mentioned before, Thigpen doesn't read blocks well at all and 5 different times, he ran right into the back of one of the OL, which causes posters to say the OL sucks, but in reality, the RB messed up. You have to keep your head up and read what they are giving you. I thought Payton did a very good job of reading, then reacting to how the blockers were blocking. That's his best asset and that's why he did the best Saturday. Sure, the OL has things to work on, but they weren't as bad as some are making them out to be.

As for the special teams, here's what got some really in an uproar, and again, I personally don't think it's fair and I don't like what the staff did at the end of the game with Kleinsmith either. First off, Starr was steady and 2 out of 6 Kickoffs were touchbacks and the other 4 were within the 5 yard line, so great job there. However, the punting was another story. Hagerup wasn't as consistant as some fans thought he should be, so there were some questions. Chris didn't have a great day punting, but right now, from what I see it's all mental. His first punt was very good with an excellent role and no return. However, his next was shanked, which to me, it appeared on the replay that he rushed it some. His 3rd punt was from a 13 yard drop, instead of the normal 15, so he had to rush it and the next one, he bobbled and he got tackled trying to run with it. Okay, so one great punt, another decent punt in dire conditions, a shank, and a bobble. Right now, the best thing for Chris to do is to just forget it and go punt. I personally didn't like the fact that Kleinsmith got to punt the last one. I know what the staff was doing, but he got off probably the best punt I've ever seen him hit, in terms of length and hangtime, so now, posters are assuming we have a punting controversy, which isn't the case.

Also, with the special teams, I'm much more concerned about our longsnapping than I am punting at this point. Man, were we spoiled with Tim Bugg. Some of the snaps were all over the place and I know that was part of the problem with Hagerup's bobble. We need to get that fixed soon too.

So, not all bad and not all good, but Murray State is next. We survived and will advance onward and try to improve. I still see a lot of good here and I think the offense will be more consistant as well. Murray State is a decent team, but they did give up 70+ points twice last season, so we may get a whole lot of offense.

Also, just a note, I've gotten a lot of emails from folks wanting to meet me and what not, and I will be at the Ball State game, so shoot me an email and maybe we can meet up and chat a little before the game. As always, God Bless and I hope all our well!

Western Kentucky

2008-08-26T07:22:00.000-07:00

It's almost here!!! I can't wait until Saturday morning. The walk to the Rock, the band, the fans, the tailgate, everything. I've waited since November to do this again and now the time is here and I'm pumped. Lots going on this week in preparation and good debates on the message boards about Lewis and Chappel and Finch and Thomas. IU has certainly gotten great news in the past week with Finch's eligibility and Doss returning to practice, but enough has been said about all that. Now it's time to look into our opponet a little bit. Any War General will tell you that before you go to battle there are 2 things you need to know: first, you need to prepare yourself both mentally and physically as much as possible and second, you need to known your enemy as much as possible. So let's look at the Hilltoppers.

When these two teams meet on Saturday, there will be a ton of familiar faces. First off, WKY head coach, David Elston graduated from Butler in 1994. There he played for Coach Bill Lynch and with Running Back coach, Dennis Springer. Other WKY coaches with Indiana ties are Inside LB coach, Cary Marquell played at Ball State and was a grad assistant in 1997. Assistant HC/Wide Receivers coach, TJ Weist coached at Indiana from 1997 to 2001. I'm sure Matt Weaver remembers him. And of course IU hater, Kevin Wright, the former coach at Warren Central and current Offensive Coordinator and QB coach will also be there.

As for the the players, well there are a lot of familiar things there as well. A total of 10 players are from the state of Indiana, so this will be a game you can bet they'll be into big time. Greg Brown and Adam Replogle have been engaged in a text war of words all week with WKY DE Dan Cline. All of them grew up together in Centerville, OH, so the war of words have been flying. Same can also be said for Dex Taylor, Jacob McLaurin, and Stephen Willis who went to Warren Central.

Last season, under the director of Elston and Coach Wright, Western KY put up big offensive numbers enroute to a 7 and 5 campaign. This season, 7 starters return on offense and 5 on the defense so we will be facing a team that will be hungry and has some experience as well. Looking at their projected lineup: they Hilltoppers have an experienced offensive line that leads the way for the spread offense. Their projected starters are as follows:

LT: Greg Ryan at 6'4" 300
LG: Jacob McLaurin at 6'4" 295
C: Cody Hughes at 6'1" 300
RG: Austin Chestnut at 6'4" 285
RT: Lloyd Pressley of Evansville at 6'3" 290
WR: Quinterrance Cooper at 6'0 185
WR: Wenquel Graves at 5'9" 185
WR: Jessie Quinn at 6'1" 200
WR: Jake Gaebler at 5'11" 190
RB: Tyler Hayden at 5'10" 190
QB: K.J. Black at 6'4" or David Wolke at 6'2" 205

That's right, turn about may be fair play on IU as the Hoosier haven't named a starting QB yet, and it appears that both Black and Wolke will at least share time on Saturday for WKY. This is an offense than can score and score a lot. It should be a very good early test for our defense to run against the spread. I can guarentee that Coach Wright will have these kids fired up and ready to go. He wants to prove to IU that he is superior and the university should have never passed over him for a coaching spot.

Now defensively, WKY was really hammered a lot last season and they used IU's old philosphy in that you have to outscore your opponets to win. WKY runs a 3-4 defense and they are not that big up the middle, so they rely on speed and penetration to make plays. This will be a good test for our new OL to use their athletic ability to contain the speed that WKY has. IU should be able to wear this defense down over the long haul, but early on it will be interesting to see how the team reacts. Players that are smaller and quicker like WKY won't have as hard a time adjusting to the rigors of the spread/no huddle attack, but I think after the first series or so, you see IU settle down and work the ball around. The projected starters for WKY are as follows:

DE: Dan Cline at 6'6" 265
NT: Jon Belcher at 6'1" 265
DE: Robert Dark at 6'1" 270
OLB: Jake Boyd at 6'3" 250
ILB: Alsonzo Higgins at 6'3" 240
ILB: Darvis McBride at 5'11" 225
OLB: Ben Sowders at 6' 225
CB: Marcus Minor of Arlington HS at 6' 200
CB: Chris Franklin at 5'6" 175
SS: Orlando Misaalefu at 6' 200
FS: Travis Walter at 5'10" 185

Also of note, the punter is Jeremy Moore from Cathedral HS in Indy.

Now looking at the press release for IU, I wanted to comment on the 2 deep a little bit and breakdown what I see from each position. I will start on offense and work my way to the defense.

LT-Roger Saffold at 6'3" 305 and Andrew McDonald at 6'5" 285. Roger is starting his 3rd full year at LT and he's our best OL guy. He has the priviledge of going against Middleton everyday in practice and both have made each other better. The sky is the limit for him and he has the change to be a top 3 round pick by the time he's done. As for McDonald, he's raw, but I really like his athletic ability. Very good run blocker who is learn to pass block better. Went against Middleton in the scimmage last week and though he got beat some, he showed me a lot because he never backed down and he never got beat by the same move twice.

LG-Pete Saxon at 6'6" 310 and Jarrod Smith at 6'4" 305. Pete is also starting his 3rd full year at LG and he and Saffold just make a great combo and work well together. Smith backs up at both LG and C and he's really starting to come into his own. Got worked a little bit last Saturday against Brown and Mack, but held his own and learned.

C-Alex Perry at 6'7" 300 and Jarrod Smith at 6'4" 305. A 6'7" center is unusual in football and one that started at LT, then moved over to starter in less than a year is even more unusal, but don't let that scare you. Perry is probably the hardest working kid I've seen in a long time at IU. He will never be underprepared. He studies film and just works his tail off.

RG-Cody Faulkner at 6'4" 315 and Dennis Ziegler at 6'7" 360. The heaviest combined position on the team as both Cody and Dennis really fill out the uniform. Cody is really improved from when he arrived until now. However, we can't count Dennis out either, he and Cody and James Brewer have improved greatly over the past few months and all these guys aren't just big, but they are nimble and athletic. Seems IU likes to run a lot behind Cody because he's got very good leg drive.

RT-Mike Stark at 6'7" 300 and James Brewer at 6'8" 340. The tallest combined position in the 2 deep, but in reality not if you count the 3 deep (that would be center as it goes 6'7", 6'4", and 6'9"). Anyway, Mike Stark got his feet wet last season and did pretty well. He's nimble and can pull and very good knee bend for someone that big. However, as talented as he is, don't discount Brewer either. The sky is limit for both Brewer and Ziegler. IU is certainly shaped up well in the 2 deep on the OL.

WR1: Terrance Turner at 6'3" 200 and Matt Earnest at 6'2" 185. Terrance is really starting to come on and be that middle of the field receiver. He's a big possession guy, but also has the speed to get a little deeper than the slot guys and still has the height to go up and snap a ball if needed. Earnest was kind of lost in the shuffle at camp and if Doss hadn't gotten dinged, you'd see his name here, instead of Matt's. However, Matt does well and has very good hands. He's a little light yet, but he'll factor in some I'm sure.

WR2: Andrew Means 6' 210 and Mitch Evans 6'3" 200. Andrew Means is our bread and butter. He's our leader and even though he spent his summer in Billings, Montana playing rookie baseball, he's come and after a couple of early practices, showed the ability to really lead this team at WR. Also, a big thank you to Ray Fisher who texted and/or called Andrew every single day he was gone to remind him how important Means was to the team and what they wanted to accomplish this season together. As for Evans, he came in last season at QB, switch to Strong safety, then back to QB, and now he's seemed to have found his niche at WR slot. You will be pleasantly surprised at his ability come Saturday.

WR3: Ray Fisher 5'9" 170 and Brandon Walker-Roby 5'11" 195. Big Play Ray is about to have a Big Time Year. His abilities to juke and jive really fit this scheme and though you probably won't see him on streak routes all that much, you will see him catch those bubble screens or shot passes and let his speed and that ability take over. Both Turner and Means are pretty good size WRs and can block fairly well, so I think you'll see some big runs

TE: Brad Martin 6'4" 260 and Max Dedmond 6'5" 235. This was my first shock, but not because of Dedmond. Actually, it was because of Martin. I fully expect the blocking TE to be first team on the depth chart as Max is more a hybrid (WR/TE) right now. However, it appears that Brad has been out incumbent starter, Troy Wagner for the first team blocking TE position. I don't recall much about Brad's hands, but IU has a few plays they use for them.

RB: Marcus Thigpen 5'10" 200 and Bryan Payton 5'9" 205. While none of us were surprised at Thigpen at #1, it looks like fellow blogger Bryan Payton has surpassed McCray for the #2 spot at Running Back. However, all 3 will play this season and rotate in and out. While Thigpen is our homerun guy, Payton really offers us that steady, up the middle type of player that can break a long run, but doesn't have the great speed of any of the backs. A poor man's Emmitt Smith, he is effective and gains strength as the game goes a long.

QB: Ben Chappell 6'3" 230 or Kellen Lewis 6'1" 190. Both are going to play, both will see action with the first team, but I'm here to tell you, Chappell is going to start, at least the first game. He's earned that right to do so, and he will lead his team onto the field on Saturday.

Kicker: Austin Starr has really cemented this position and has come a million miles in a year and half from where he was as a Sophmore. I remember his first big confidence boost was against Illinois and kicking the game winner over there. He's not looked back since that day and he's now a 1st team preseason All American by at least 1 publication. Congrats Austin!

Now for the Defense:

DE: Greg Middleton 6' 3" 280 and Fred Jones 6'4" 260. No position in the conference took a bigger leap in production than IU's defensive ends. And this season it is now the strength of our defense as we have 4 very solid pass rusher to rotate in throughout the game. From what I've seen of Middleton, barring injury, he's going to have a big time year. I don't know if he can 16 sacks again, but he's a load, both rushing and against the run. I believe he'll be a first round pick next year. As for Jones, I'm really high on this kid too. He'll knock the kinks out this season and really be ready to produce next season. He needs a little more weight but he's got major quickness around the corner and can follow in Middleton's footsteps very well.

DE: Jammie Kirlew 6'3 265 and Ryan Marando 6'3" 250. What made the DEs so special last season was these 2 guys. As Middleton got more and more double teams, Kirlew really stepped up and produced on his side too. He came in as more a run defender, but his pass rush skills have blossomed well and he's becoming more and more of a complete DE. As for Marando, the specialist. I would not have dreamed of a season like he had last year and I'm excited to see what he'll do this season on 3rd down. I expect they utulize him on the end and put Middleton at tackle like they did last season.

DT: Greg Brown 6'2" 300 and Keith Burrus 6'2" 285. Brown is the middle man, the nose guard so to speak, and he's been solid his whole career. However, I think this year he'll come out of his shadow a little bit and make a name for himself. He's the plugger in the middle and he will take on the double teams that will allow Mack to shoot the gaps more. Greg has the potential to be drafted and a big senior season will allow that to happen. As for Burrus, he'll rotate in and provide solid back up for Brown.

DT: Deonte Mack 6'3" 280 and Kevin Burrus 6'2" 300. Mack is strong, but he's a pretty good pass rusher from the inside. On passing downs, I expect we'll see Mack stay in the game to help with the inside rush. With the double teams that Brown and Middleton will get, I expect Mack to kind of burst onto the scene a little bit and produce. The latter Burrus twin is the another anchor and will rotate into this position as well as Brown's nose tackle area. I expect we'll see at least Emile Bass as well come in a long the DL in a solid 6 man rotation.

OLB: Will Patterson 6'1" 235 and Justin Carrington 6' 222. Steady Will Patterson as his teammates call him is just that. He won't wow you with combine shattering speed numbers or strength abilities, but he goes out and hits you and tackles you. Very rarely will you get by him once he latches on and he's really a leader of this defense. As for Justin, he'll play and will produce heavily on special teams.

MLB: Matt Mayberry 6'2" 240 and Adam Replogle 6'2" 230. What a difference a year makes at one position. Last season, we had a 5th year senior and a raw Sophmore backing him up and well we just didn't get the numbers we needed to really help the defense like we needed. Got lots of effort and leadership, but this season you will see a whole different ability and play making from this position both from Matt and Adam.

OLB: Geno Johnson 6'2" 235 and Darius Johnson 6' 245. Geno is entering his 4th year as a starter, but he needs to produce or else he's going to be sitting because Darius Johnson is nippin at his heels to play. Like all the other defensive positions, you are going to see a lot of rotation among many players this Saturday.

CB: Chris Phillips 6' 190 and Richard Council 6'1" 190. This is another bit of a surprise as I had seen Council working opposite Phillips the times that I had been down to IU this fall, but Adkins and Jones also got reps with the first team, so it's not a complete surprise. One thing is for sure, with WKY's spread attack and 4 WR sets, all 4 CBs will see a lot of action Saturday. As for Phillips, I've said a lot about him already, but he's the heart and soul of this defense and the leader as well. I expect he'll be burned some with his aggressive style, but he's going to be a real change of pace at corner from what fans were accustomed to seeing in Porter and Majors.

CB: Chris Adkins 6'1" 185 and Donnell Jones 5'10" 210. Along with Council, these 2 guys are green, but they are different than any corners that we've had in a long while. Physical and speedy, these guys probably aren't the cover men that Porter was, but they will hit and they will be physical with you. They will also attack you in the ground game, which is a plus we haven't had in a while. I really like Adkins and Council's size, and Jones can whollop you if he gets the chance too.

SS: Austin Thomas 6'2" 220 and Jerimy Finch 6'1" 215. While some are mad/surprised that Finch doesn't have the job here, I think that will be the case in a game or two. He's been getting a lot of reps this week with the #1s and his talent oozes from him. What I really like about both Thomas and Finch are the size, as they are as big as some OLBs in the conference. It's great to have size kids like this that can play close to the line and help out in run defense.

FS: Nick Polk 6' 220 and Joe Kleinsmith 5'11" 200. Nick Polk is about to have a breakout year. He was going to surprise some folks this fall, but now with Finch in the mix, he's going to really have the freedom to roam and do the things he needs to do from sideline to sideline. The one thing that he's improved on the most is his recognition skills. He's watched a lot of film and worked hard on his techniques and he's far closer to a finish product than at any time last season. Some fans have said we need to move him to corner, but that would be like asking the point guard in basketball to play the power forward spot. In other words, it's not going to end well. Nick is perfectly sized to play FS now and he'll lend his support to the run as well. As for Jack of all trades, Joe Kleinsmith. I was backing up Thomas at SS before Finch regained his eligibility, now he's backing at Nick at the Free spot. Also, when he's not on defesense or special teams, he'll be honing his punting skills as the back up punter.

Punter: Chris Hagerup 6'5" 205 won the job the 2nd practice of Fall Camp. Probably one of the tallest punters in all of college football, he really pacts a punch when he gets a hold of one. My only concern has nothing to do with Chris, but rather his little brother, whom I hope he can persade down to Bloomington when he done in Wisconsin in a couple of years.

As for the final score prediction on Saturday, I'm going to go with IU in this one. Final score: Hoosiers 54 and Western Kentucky 17.

God Bless all and hope everyone can get down to Bloomington this Saturday and cheer our Hoosiers to Victory!

IU Football Scrimmage: August 16, 2008

2008-08-18T12:02:00.000-07:00

Been meaning to get this up, but been busy.

What a day in btown Saturday for the first, live scrimmage for fans of Fall Camp. Just a great day to enjoy the sunshine and cooler than normal temperatures. As with any live scrimmage, I saw some things I really liked, some I questioned, and couple of things I didn't like at all. However, for the most part, I'm encouraged, especially defensively. Last season the offense carried this team, but not this year. The defense will carry this team, at least early on, and I like that. The old phrase still holds true in my mind: "Defense wins championships", and while I'm not ready to proclaim this team as a Conference Title contender just yet, the more we build this defense, the better off we are going to be. I will look at each side of the ball and special teams and break down what I (My opinion ofcourse) like and didn't like.

On offense, it should be noted that the following people didn't practice that would normally be starters: Andrew Means (best WR so far), Tandon Doss (2nd best WR so far) Roger Safford (starting LT and best OL), and Pete Saxon (starting LG and 2nd best OL). So we didn't have weapons we normally would and that threw the offense off a little I believe. Not making excuses, but it was pretty obvious that Gred Middleton feasted on the 2nd stringers on his side of the ball, but it was great learning experience for those kids too.

I really like what Chappell brings to the table. First off, he's not Kellen Lewis, but IMHO, he's smarter with the ball. While some fans think that IU is doomed with KL leading the charge, I'm not sure I can agree with that. Saturady, Chappell crushed KL in a head to head competition. Ben's numbers weren't perfect (I had him 12 for 21), but 2 very catchable TD passes were dropped in the endzone. So by my calculations, if those passes would have been caught, he would have been 14 for 21 for 3 TDs, instead of just 1. He also had to endure pressure from the left side a lot, but he made good decisions. He did have 1 INT, and the CB, Council, just made a very good read. He knew what was coming and the WR didn't make a good fake, and Richard just read the route. Against another team, I don't think that gets intercepted because no way Council is going to know the post is coming there unless he just guesses right.

I also liked what the Right side of OL did, especially Faulkner. Cody is strong, but he's really a good run blocker. They ran behind him some today and I pretty impressed with his play throughout his field time.

We have a bunch of athletes on the offensive side of the ball, especially at WR. These freshman are very athletic, they can jump and just control their bodies in the air and make plays. They are raw for the most part, but in a couple of years, the WRs are going to be scary good from top to bottom.

I'm not sure what to think about Kellen's play. For the most part, though he took snaps with the 2nd team offense, the Left side of the line where 3rd team guys and it showed. There was tremendous pressure on him most snaps and he did a very good job of running away and creating opportunities for the WRs on passing downs. I would have liked to have seen more of what he could do when he wasn't under so much duress, but I'll have to wait on that one. With the sack by touch rule in effect, KL was touched, but normally wouldn't have went down and the play would have continued. He was erratic most of the day, but again, I didn't see enough to say Chappell moved any further ahead of him as the starter, than what he's already done in practice over the last couple of weeks.

I also don't know what to think about the Running game yet. We have depth and Thigpen is just a big play waiting to happen. We do run more than 2 running plays now, which is great, but I just haven't seen enough to really comment. Would have really liked to have seen more runs from McCray, Willis, and Payton, just to get more of a feel of what the could do.

Willis can really catch the ball out of the backfield and make plus yards. I was surprised with his open field skills here. Also, Davis-Walker has some juke to him that I really like. One thing is for sure, each of these RBs brings something just a little different to the table. This is a deep group from top to bottom.

I thought offensively, the play calling was pretty vanilla, which I was kind of suprised about. This is really an interesting offense in that they run a play, then boom, they run another. I tried to time a lot of the snaps and the most I got between plays was 25 seconds. They get to the line and go. I can see this being a HUGE advantage in the 2nd half of games as defenses wear out and make mental errors. Also, we really have the WRs that can juke and make a guy miss and turn a short pass into a monster game.

Now for the defense. Like the offense, these guys pin their ears back and rush. Middleton was a man among boys this day. Of course, he wasn't going against Saffold, but his performance was very impressive. He's added some muscle to go on that 275 pound frame and he just comes alive, especially on passing downs. He was being double-teamed some, and it just didn't matter. Kirlew should have a big year, as will Marando, as the pass rush specialist, as both will benefit from one on e situations. Barring injuries, Greg certainly may break his sack record this season. He's a monster out there.

Really liked each defensive unit that played. I'm not sure I remember when an IU defense has been this deep, at every position, from top to bottom. The Dline and LBs are the deepest I can remember in decades. While you don't want to lose anyone to injuries, it won't hurt as bad this season on defense if we lose someone. Though some of these guys are raw/inexperienced, their athleticism is superior to what I have seen at this university. Again, I feel like the defense is going to carry us and I hope that each year, I seen an even better group of defenders than the year before.

I really like Matt Mayberry at MLB. He's quick and smart, but the only problem is Tyler Replogle is right behind him. Both of these guys will see a lot of time this season. I had Replogle at 8 Tackles today, which led the defense. Also, I'm not sure how long Geno Johnson can stay the starter. He will be early on, but the more I watch Darius Johnson, the more impressed I get with him. He'll also see a lot of time this season. Hard to believe he came in this time last season as a 6' 220 RB, then switched to OLB and picked up 25 pounds.

I don't know who will start opposite Chris Phillips this fall at Corner, but whether it's Council (leader at this point), Adkins, Jones, or Smith, I'm not going to get too concerned about it. Though young, these athletes have stepped the defense up another couple of levels. They love to cover, they love to hit, and they are vocal encouragers of each other. The spirit of this team on the defensive side of the ball is impressive!

Until Jerimy Finch is eligible, I'm not sure what to think about our depth at Safety. On running downs, we are in very good shape with Austin Thomas and Nick Polk, but on passing downs, not sure about Thomas. We could use Kleinsmith, but I was hoping for Evans here, and well, that's not going to happen. If there's one position we don't have much depth at is at Safety. Now, next season, when Finch becomes eligible, watch out!

Was very impressed again with Cortez Smith. He'll play this season, and I'm pretty much expect he and Doss to be the only ones. I think Willis will redshirt due to so much depth at RB. He'll provide a great test on the scout team this season.

Finally, special teams. Other than Starr was a major question mark last season, but no longer. This is a part of the game that rarely gets thought about until mistakes are made that cost you games. However, IU is very much set at kicker with Austin Starr, and punter with Chris Hagerup. Starr is probably the best kicker in the conference this year, and Hagerup has a real chance to be one of the best punters too. He only needs a little more consistancy to really be top notch. What I really like about Starr and Hagerup are their hangtimes on kickoffs and punts. They really give their mates time to get down the field and make plays.

The only minor issue is at Long Snapper. Brandon Bugg isn't quite as good as his brother, but he's still pretty good. We were certainly spoiled the last couple of years with Tim snapping, and you will see a little difference this year, but hopefully not a big one.

All in all a great day for football and a pretty good crowd to watch too. Hope all are well!

God Bless!

This and That

2008-08-08T10:57:00.000-07:00

Well, it's that time of year again! Football has officially started and now the anticipation of what the season will bring is finally upon us. There's a lot going on, so I thought I'd update some things that have happened in the first few practices.

Dan France made some waves this week when he committed to Michigan State. He was quoted in the article as saying that IU was full, so he decided to go to MSU. That statement sent the boards into a frenzy, trying to figure out just what that might have meant. Well, I'm here to tell you that IU will still take verbals for the class. What France basically meant was that IU was not going to take anymore TEs, OTs, or DTs, which are his projected positions in college. Rivals lists him as DE, but in reality, he played OLB last year in HS. He reminds me a little of Mick Mentzer. Mick was a 6'4" 280 Middle LB last season, but comes to IU as a DT to start with. It's possible that Mick could end up at OG, but for now, he's on the defensive side of the ball. France really doesn't have a true position as well, but he's going to MSU as a DL. While he's big, he's not quick enough to be a Big Ten DE.

Also, from this committment, I learned that IU probably won't be taking anymore verbals until after the season starts, unless someone on their "A list" wants to commit. They are holding a ship for Morgan Newton, the QB from Carmel, Bud Golden or Cory Akins, and at least 1 DE. Note: Golden committed to Illinois yesterday. With Golden off the board, and Akins not a big priority, I still believe they are holding ships for Newton and 1 DE at least.

Speaking of Morgan Newton, rumors are flying now that IU is the leader for him. I've known for awhile that IU sat a lot better than most realized or maybe dreamed about, but I still knew this was a long way from being over. Now, word has come along that LSU tried to get involved recently, but Morgan told them thanks, but no thanks. I believe IU is in his top 2 with Clemson at this point and time. Morgan is now saying he'd like to make a decision within the next month or so, so this bodes well for IU.

If IU does secure a commitment from Newton, it is the believed notion that Ed Wright-Baker will move to WR, and Dusty Kiel will stay at QB. Also, it's nice the ESPN has finally caught on the EWB is a for real prospect at QB, moving him up to #21 in the rankings across the country. That all said though, he's electric with the ball in his hands, and with his moves and speed and height, he'd be very good at QB or WR, whichever works the best for him at IU.

I've read many posters questioning what IU will do about the Defensive End position for this recruiting class, so let's talk about that some. Right now, on the depth chart: Middleton (Junior) and Kirlew (Senior) are your starting unit. They are backed up by Marando (Senior) and Jones (RS FR). The 3rd team guys are Boone (Walk-on Senior) and Kotzak (True FR). Middleton, Kirlew, Marando, and Jones will see the majority of the snaps. Boone could see some here or there, so that's 5 in the rotation. Kozak is almost assured a RS year to bulk up.

What is scary is what comes next season and the reason fans are worried. Obviously, IU will lose Kirlew as a starter and Boone and Marando as back-ups due to graduation. Also, if Middleton has any kind of year like last season, he'll almost assuredly be gone too, so if he does go to the NFL, 4 of your top 5 DEs are gone, which will leave Fred Jones (soph) and Kotzak (RS FR) as the projected starters. Even if Middleton doesn't go pro, depth will be a major concern. Anyway, I believe IU will now sign 2 DEs this class. I just don't see any other way around this, unless they play to get a JUCO to come in next spring and be eligible to play right away.

Here are the current offers and some comments about where IU stands with each DE we've offered:

1. Julius Forte-6'2" 230 DE from Gulfport, FL. IU still in top 5. Won't be deciding until Jan/Feb of 2009. Has at least 15 offers. Probably waiting to see if Florida, FSU, or Miami offer. If they don't, it looks to come down to Kentucky, Louisville, Cincy, and IU.

2. Euclid Cummings-6'3" 230 DE from Roswell, GA. IU in top 5. Won't be deciding until Jan/Feb of 2009. Has offers from almost every SEC, but it appears he'll wait on Georgia. If they don't offer, IU will be in the running, but I get the feeling he'll stay in the South. This kid is very raw, but has major skills.

3. Dylan Farrington-6'4" 220 from Adrian, MI. IU sits well here, but academics are a huge question mark. IU hasn't offered but will if it begins to appear like his grades will work out. Probably won't know until after the season is over, but if IU does offer, it will come down to a MSU/IU battle again for him, if either school has any spots to offer him.

4. Javon Cornley-6'5" 220 from Columbus, OH. IU leads for him at this time, but he's going to wait on the O$U. This kid is very intriguing because he's very raw. Some may remember his brother Jamelle, who recently graduated from Penn State as a bball player. Javon didn't commit to football full time until this season, so he did the camp circuit instead of AAU bball and IU gave him an offer. I honestly believe he'll be one of our DE verbals in the coming weeks.

5. Davon Custis-6'5" 220 from Columbus, OH. IU is in his top, but not his leader, which at this point is Boston College. Appears to be waiting on Notre Dame, and he's also a devout Catholic, so my guess is he'll be going to BC, if ND doesn't offer. Pity too, because he's a very good one.

6. Montez Robinson-6'4" 230 from Avon, IN. This is IU's top preferred choice, but the Alabama native (move to Indiana last season with parents) will head back to the south for college ball. Pitty too, because he's a special player.

7. Shayon Green-6'2" 225 from Tifton, GA. Just recently offered by IU. However, at this point, he's appears headed to Auburn, but IU is trying to get into the picture here.

8. A couple players to keep an eye on early in the season for offers is Zach Bruce-6'4" 240 from Indy Ben Davis and Anthony Wells-6'3" 240 from Chicago. IU is waiting for the first 3 games on tape to fully evaulate and then make an offer. We'll see what happens.

Those are the only offers out there, but IU is very much actively recruiting a couple more guys, but no offers yet. The staff want to see some game film before offering these kids because they were not able to come to any of the camps this summer. IU is notorious for getting Jan/Feb verbals from Southern kids, and I expect that to be the same this season. My prediction on the 2 verbals is Cornley and then another Southern player we just don't know about yet. Also, Keyt, the grayshirt for next season will come to IU in 2009 as a Long Snapper/DE. He'll be depth at DE only though.

The other saga ongoing is Jerimy Finch and whether he will be eligible this season or not. The NCAA denied his first attempt, but he's trying again and citing a couple of recent cases whether players in his same situation were allowed to play immediately. If his claims are denied, it only furthers my proof that the NCAA is out to get Indiana as much as they can with Plyes Brand leading the charge. I know IU bball deserved to be punished, but not Finch. He's just trying to be closer to his family through the situations that they are in and if other players in his same position are getting to play immediately, then so should Jerimy. Now, with all that said, I know Finch is still not 100% recovered from his leg injury so I'm very torn on whether I want him to play or not. Don't get me wrong, a 90% Finch is better than what we have, but I want 100% of him if at all possible.

Finally, for those that haven't heard, Chris Hagerup won the punting job after only 2 practices this fall. Congrats Chris! Can't wait to see you pinning opponets deep!

Hope all are well! God Bless!

What will we take to finish up

2008-07-29T18:21:00.000-07:00

So far, IU has 15 verbal committments for the 2009 class. The staff has certainly met all of their recruiting needs, except DE, and with 3 to 5 more ships to fill, fans are posting and commenting on who they think should get the last scholarships. I had a long conversation last night with a member of the staff and simply put, the staff wants to fill the remaining spots with the "best athlete available, regardless of position" approach.

You will hear that term a lot on NFL draft day, or maybe when you are looking to fill one more scholarship, but with 3 to 5, you rarely hear that phrase mentioned. However, looking at some of the kids the staff is still recruiting, it's hard to argue against this philosphy. Now, my opinion is, we need to get at least 1 verbal from a DE, but at this point, only 1 DE prospect (Cornley) is gettable, at least gettable the way I see things. A couple of major prospects (Davon Custis and Julius Forte and Euclid Cummings) have IU in their top 5 or 6, but frankly I don't see them heading to btown. With Custis, Notre Dame and BC are involved and , I see this devout Catholic heading in that direction. Forte is a long way from being resolved, as is Cummings.

At this point, I see only Cornley as a real possibility only. However, IU has done well with Georgia and Florida kids late in the recruiting game, so I'm not real concerned yet. However, I'd love to lock Cornley up. He's very raw, but he's quick and nimble. Like his brother, who played bball at Penn State, he's a warrior and has played a whole lot of bball and not much football. It would be great to add him, but if not, where else are we looking.

Well, Dan France could very well be our next commit. Hearing a lot of great things about him coming to IU, but it will be at TE first, OT 2nd, not the Dline as most are hoping. The staff ranked France higher than Hazlett at both TE and OT potential, and at 6'6" 260, it's easy to see how quickly Dan could be converted to OT without much problem. IU is also still very much involved with Merrellville QB Dolapo Macarthy. IU is still recruting him at QB, and a 6'6 200 kid that runs a 4.6 is a another one of these "best athlete available" guys. Also, I think it speaks volumes about the staff not wanting to get into another situation like it did this spring, where they have to move kids to fill spots. Also, EWB, Kiel, and Macarthy are athletes that could play other postions if need be. Finally, I think it also adds a bit of concern that maybe the staff is concerned about Kellen Lewis's ability to stay on the straight and narrow. Like all fans, I hope he does, but if he doesn't, have 2 verballed QBs with another one possibility wouldn't be a bad thing.

Also, IU is still offering WRs. I think we'll see some position changes come fall camp from some of the WRs and RBs. Just a hunch, but I suspect some true frosh and maybe a veteran or two will be moving.

It appears that IU will try to add at least 1 DE to finish the class, but if not, the rest of the kids will be the best athlete approach. I really like what the staff has done so far and how they have built this class up from 1 winning season and 1 bowl game. I can't wait to see what this staff will do with 2 winning seasons and 2 bowl games (w/ a win) in a row.

Finally, if you have access, please check out Ed Wright-Baker's highlights on Rivals. Trust me, he has about as much potential as anyone I've seen, including Newton. While Newton is more polished and a little taller, EWB is faster and can throw it pretty well too. He needs a little time, but as I've said many times, his potential is just as good as Newton's is.

Hope all are well. God Bless!

Come on ride the train, or be left at the station

2008-07-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

The staff said be patient, the commits will come. Fans worried, and still the first commit didn't role in until June 10th and even then it was a gray shirt for next season. Finally, on the 21st of June, Ed Wright-Baker became the official #1 commit for next season. Now, fast forward 1 month exactly and no one expected the landslide of commits that were going to roll in over the past 31 days. Now, IU stands at 14 commits, plus Josh Keyt, and the results are pretty good, and in fact, this class is looking like it will be the strongest class (on paper anyway) that IU will sign in recent memory.

The staff decided to employ a bit of different strategy this season. They wanted to get the majority of the class done by Fall Camp, so they evaluated and offered a lot of guys and they were honest with them from the start, we want to know your intentions early. Even the instaters were pushed a little bit, not all of them, but some of them were. For example, IU was very hot for Kyle Koehne, an OL from Indianapolis whose rated by Rivals as the #34 OG in the US. Now, fans want homegrown kids, and that's completely understandable and IU does as well, but IU also like Pat McShane, a kid that is quicker than Kyle, but not quite as big, but still projects well inside. Now, IU wanted the homegrown kid first, but when pressed for a commit, he backed off, because he feels he can get bigger offers by his play his senior season. His dream is Florida, but if not, he'd go to either IU or Boston College. IU didn't want to take the change on losing both Kyle and Pat, so Pat was ready to go, so he got the grant. Personally, I like what the staff is doing and I like the fact that Kyle was honest. Sure, he could have pulled a Sidney Glover and committed just to commit, then when a bigger school came calling, he'd back out and run to them. That stuff happens all the time, so I give Kyle the credit here.

IU also had the same issue with Tyler Eifert, the TE from Fort Wayne. Tyler was pressed some when Ted Bolser wanted to commit, again, you want homegrown kids, but Tyler's dream was to play for Notre Dame, so he wanted to wait. IU didn't wait, and accepted Bolser, who like Eifert, has a ton of potential to be a real threat at TE. For Tyler, it worked out as Notre Dame offered him a ship, and he accepted and will be a part of their class, so it worked for Tyler and his family, and for IU as well.

IU really only needs a DE or 2 to really fill all their needs for this class. Logic says we have 5 or 6 more grants to give and it appears IU is concentrating on DEs and athletic WR/DBs to round out the class. At this time, IU should hear in a day or 2 about Jeff Duckworth the WR from Cincinnati. He's 50/50 with IU and Wisconsin, but my prediction is he'll be a Hoosier and the announcement may come as early as tomorrow afternoon. Just hearing a lot of good things about him and he really fits in well with what we are doing here. After that though, it may be mid season or later before we know about anyone else coming. Recruiting has picked up down in Georgia and Florida and more DBs are being offered, so I expect that IU wants to add another DB or 2 to finish the class up, along with at least 1 DE, if not 2.

Also, I talked with Josh Keyt's dad today, and he gave me a little bit of an insight on Mitch Ewald, our new kicker commit from Aurora, Illinois. He basically said Chris Sailor ranks him as the best kicker in the Midwest, and probably Top 5 in the entire US. He's got the biggest leg, and only needs a little work on accuracy to be the entire package. His kickoffs are a thing of beauty and he's got kicking ability off a hold up to 55 yards+. Basically, this kid should be a 5 star recruit, if Rivals and Scout took kickers seriously.

So, on paper, IU has 15 commits (I'm including Keyt here): Keyt isn't ranked; Bolser, Kiel, Ewald, and Watkins are 2 stars per Rivals, and the rest are 3 stars. However, Keyt is ranked as the best long snapper in the Midwest and Ewald is ranked by Sailer as the best kicker in the Midwest, so in my mind, these kids are 5 star kids, but in reality, they are not. Hopefully, fans will understand this a little bit and know that IU is really getting some talented kids to commit, whether Rivals ranks them high or not.

What I also love about this class is all these kids are Midwest kids, so they are accustomed to Big Ten football, foul weather, and the rivalries. IU also has 5 instaters, so we are getting into that 5 to 7 window I've talked about before, where you want that many instate kids every year, every class.

With the Colts opening camp in 3 days, and IU in a couple of weeks, it's finally time for FOOTBALL!!!

Hope all are well! God Bless!

Still not quite where we need to be yet

2008-07-10T08:19:00.001-07:00

I was looking at the Rivals database the other day that lists all of our committments from 2002 to this recruiting season. It also still contains the players ranking when he signed. Now, I've not a big supporter of ranking kids out of high school, because just as many 0 to 3 star kids are stars, just like the 4 and 5 starred players. I know that there are many, many more 0 to 3 star kids than 4s and 5s, so that does cloud things a bit. However, looking back at 2002, when Gerry DiNardo was still coaching here and the kids he brought in, then Hep's arrival, and now Coach Lynch, the talent level has grown a lot over these past 7 years or so.

In 2002, we signed 21 kids and 3 of them (Graeme McFarland, Alan Webb, and Sean Miller) were 3-star ranked by Rivals. Both Webb and Miller never played a down at IU, and McFarland didn't fit into Hep's scheme offensively when he came, so he transferred. Out of that class, Bo Greer went to JuCo and then ended up starting 2 years as an OL at New Mexico; John Kerr played 1 season and then sat the bench at the O$U; Chris Taylor is the only one that made an NFL roster, albeit the practice squad of the Houston Texans. All in all, this class didn't do much of anything, though we got starting time out some of them.

In 2003, we signed 25 kids and 7 of them (Altman, Burns, Faires, Meyers, Powers, Sexton, and Stubblefield) were 3-star ranked. Again, these guys were recruited for a running, pound it out offense, and when Coach Hep brought the spread in, most of these guys ended up switching positions or leaving. Altman and Stubblefield left, Burns never did anything, Faires and Powers switched positions, and only Sexton and especially Meyers produced much, though Faires did well last season at DE. Again, this class was plagued with transfers or those not even showing up, or just plain not developing like many thought they would. We got a lot more production out this class than from the 2002 class, so the talent level was improving, but it was at a crawl.

In 2004, this was DiNardo's last class and 5 (Bailey, Jadron, Love, Price, and Szczesny) were 3-star ranked. Again, there was underachievement, position switches, and transfers throughout this class as well. That tends to happen when a program switches coaches, but to really miss out 3 years in a row was pretty devastating to the program. Of the 3 starts, Bailey, Jadron, and Szczesny left; Price has switched positions 3 differents, and Love is a 2nd string OL, not at DT where he was recruited. However, what was very good about this class was the development of the 2-star ranked or below kids that really matured and raised their games to a whole new level. Hardy, Brown, Majors, Phillips, Porter (no stars by the way), and Thigpen have all produced very well through out their careers at IU. Of this group, Hardy and Porter were drafted this year and Majors is in camp with the Bears, and I believe Brown and Thigpen will get drafted late next season as well. This class was more about development under the new staff, than anything, but again, we moved forward production wise from 2002 and 2003, so we were still crawling upward.

In 2005, Hep's first class, we only signed 3 (Payton, McCray, and Matt Lewis), 3-star ranked kids. Again, with any new coach taking over, especially from a lower conference, kids need to see progression before they bring talent in. So on paper, this class would rank lower than the other classes, because of the ranking of the kids signing. This class has been a disappointing class because only Kirlew, Johnson,Polk, and Thomas have been major producers. In fact of the 25 kids we signed, 7 have transferred out. Most of the others are role players. Personally, I feel we dropped a little bit from 2004 with this class, but that's to be expected with a coaching change in the middle of it.

In 2006, Hep's first true class, we signed 21 kids with 5 of them (Faulkner, Mayberry, Perry, Sanders, and Vernon Smith) being 3-star ranked. So this class showed progress, talent wise anyway, as we began once again to crawl forward as a program. Out of this class, 2 (V. Smith and Roberts) have transferred, 10 are back ups this season, and 9 of them are penciled in as starters. This class also brough in the "7 Blocks of Limestone" and all 5 OL starters will be from this group this season. This class also brought us Greg Middleton, who was a 2 star ranked kid, but has developed into one of the premier pass rushers in the entire country and led the country in sacks last season.

In 2007, the hype was beginning to build in and around the program. Coach Hep, though diagnosed with a Brain Tumor, was beginning to bring excitement to the program. The AD and the University announced plans for a new academic/athletic center and a renovation to Memorial Stadium. Also, fans were starting to show up, not a lot of them, but more and more each game. IU signed 20 kids with 5 of them (Boyd, Dedmond, Jones, Schell, and Thomas) being 3-star ranked. This class also featured 3 kids from 4-time defending football champion Warren Central, however, this class lost it's biggest fish in Jerimy Finch, the programs first 5-star committment in years. All 20 of these players are still at IU, which is fantastic. While only punter Chris Hagerup and Max Dedmond are penciled in as starters, this group is pretty talented, as was evident from the Spring game. The talent level that this class has brought is evident on the practice field and it is hoped that they will be able to prove that in games over the next few seasons. Again, I'd say the talent level rose up another rung or 2, especially now that Finch has transferred back to IU from Florida. Also, we went bowling for the first time in over a decade and we are now beginning to reap the benefits of a winning season and a bowl game in recruiting.

This coming fall, IU will welcome 19 kids to the team (originally 20, but Suel is not academically eligible) with 5 of them (Adetona, Covington, Kozak, Smith, and Willis) being 3 star ranked. You can just see the ability of some of these signees being a lot better than we've had over the past few years. Other than Finch, Darius Willis is the biggest recruit to come to IU football in some time, in fact, he's probably underranked and should be a 4-star recruit in my opinion. Also, Tyler Adetona and Tandon Doss are a couple of WRs that I expect will compete for playing time this season. There's a lot to like about this incoming class because we were not just battling upper echelon MAC and other low end Big Ten programs for kids, we did battle with some regional and BCS programs for these players, which is a great sign. We didn't win all our battles, but this class is the most talented, even on paper, that we've seen at IU for at least a decade.

Now, we fast forward to this current recruiting season for the 2009 class. So far we have 8 verbals (6 are 3-star ranked and 2 have no rankings because they haven't been evaluated by Rivals yet). Like I mentioned previously, last season, we went bowling for the first time in over a decade, we squeaked out a winning season, and of course, we beat Purdue and played 13 for Hep. Last season has gotten the attention of recruits in Indiana and around the Midwest. It appears to me that to consistantly get 3 star ranked kids, you have to have winning seasons and get to bowl games. However, to get 4 star ranked and above kids, you have to have a tradition of winning and producing NFL kids, win bowl games, especially high profiled games on New Year's Day, and compete for conference titles. IU isn't there yet, and I think that's why we are losing out on the 4-star kids some. We've had 1 winning season, and while we are team climbing the ladder, we are still not quite where we need to be yet to consistantly get those 4 and 5 star kids.

This season though, we have a chance to really do some things. It's extremely feasible to win 9 or 10 games this season, and while our strength of schedule won't be that great, winning that many games will get us ESPN Gameday time and should put us into a very good bowl with a shot at winning one. I will predict that if IU can win 9 or more games, and win their bowl game, we'll see some 4 stars either finishing out this class or starting the 2010 class. Kids want to know what have you done for me lately, and for the 2010 class the stadium will be done and the athletic/academic center will be complete. This season is really a big year for this program. Even with a weaker schedule, we could really reap some benefits for once with this program with some bigtime recruits.

Yeah, it stinks to be so tight with DJ Hunter and 1, 1/2 day visit to Knoxville nets a verbal, but such is life. Also, my hunch tells me we haven't heard the last of Mr. Hunter either. A big year from this program and more DB verbals from Tennessee, and I honestly think you could still see DJ in cream and crimson. It's still a long time until February. As for now, our young gun assistants are working the recruiting trails hard. We are still in on several high profile 3-star kids, so the cubboard is not bare.

Hope all are well! God Bless!!

Chester, Lewis, and Finch

2008-07-06T11:35:00.000-07:00

Jamonne Chester became the 8th member of the 2009 recruiting class this week. A 6'2" 195 WR, he runs a reported 4.5 and who caught 35 passes last season. His strength are his hands and his size/speed ratio. In the spread offense, he'll be a guy that can work the deeper route areas and use his height and hands well. After loading up at WR last season, it appears IU will try and take at least 2 or 3 WRs this season as well. I suspect some will switch positions once they get here, especially from last year's class, but as we learned earlier this week, Marquelo Suel didn't qualify, so we needed a replacement this year, so maybe the 2 or 3 we pick up will stay at WR also.

Chester is also aquainted with Gainer and Watkins from the Detroit area camps, and they had a part in his committment to IU as well. It's great to see these types of athletes committing. Last season, IU secured 5, 3-star (by Rivals rankings anyway) committments. This season, we already have five 3-star kids in our first 8. While that will probably be their peak, if some of these kids were committed to some other Big Ten Programs, their rankings would rise.

It appears now that the 2 other WR canidates the coaches are really looking at are Jeff Duckworth from Cincinnati and Duwyce Wilson from Columbus, Indiana. I suspect the staff will wait for their decisions before moving on to other prospects, if they don't commit. As it stands now though, Duckworth is down to IU and Wisconsin, and Wilson has IU right there in his top 3. Both have stated they want to commit by the end of July, but Duckworth is much closer in my opinion to choosing a school than Wilson.

Now, for our 2 unknowns, well kind of.

I was told during the first week of June that Kellen Lewis would be reinstated to the team by the end of June if he completed a couple of things. As of now, both of those things have been completed and I'm a little befuddled as to why an official announcement has not been made. In fact, everything that was laid out to him to achieve has been achieved, so all that is left is the official announcement. It's a foregone conclusion now that he'll be reinstated to the team and compete with Chappell for the starting QB position in Fall Practice.

Also, Finch is still waiting on word from the NCAA. His case is still being reviewed and it will probably be early August before IU knows anything for certain. Right now the best guess that I have gotten is 50/50, which is down from close to 100 % sure that he'd get to play next season. No word on what has changed the minds of those I talked to, but I think they are just being optimistic at this point in the process.

Jerimy has been working out and appears to be, from what I've seen/heard, pretty much recovered from his big knee injury last year against Tennessee. In my own opinion, I would love Jerimy this season, but I want him at 100%, so if he's not there, then another year to get back to normal and stronger and more familiar with the IU scheme will benefit all involved.

Hope all are well and had a safe and happy 4th of July! God Bless!

Who said IU can't recruit with the big boys?

2008-07-02T18:45:00.000-07:00

Well, we wait forever it seemed to just get that first commit. I started with Josh Keyt, who really is a greyshirt and still the fans questioned, wondered what was going on. Then Edward Wright-Baker committed, and then last week happened. It's been a whirlwind last week or so for IU football and the talent continued to roll in today with Adam Replogle.

Let's look at the kids:

A. Ted Bolser is a 6'6" 215 TE from Cincinnati, Ohio. Last season he caught 68 passes, and judging from his youtube video that is out there via Ohiovarsity, this kid can get up and has very soft, big hands. What is just as impressive is his 40 speed which was clocked at 4.63. That's quick for a TE and with added weight, he should really be a good combo with Max Dedmond. Ted was rated the 2nd best TE in Ohio, so to walk into this state and kid a kid this good, is something that IU hasn't done in a LONG time. Ted also is a standout LaCrosse player and has an offer from Maryland to play college LaCrosse. Maryland is a really good school for that sport, so you can see the athletic ability that he possesses. Ted also has a HS teammate that IU is recruiting, DB Wali Morris.

B. Dimitrius Carr is a 6'1" 200 OLB canidate from Chicago. I've received word that he is actually up to around 215 or so and will need another 10 to 15 pounds to move into that Will or weak outside LB position. A poster on Peegs commented that this is first offseason that Carr concentrated on conditioning and weight-lifting. In the past it was all sports all the time, now it's just football, so the belief is Carr will grow more and really be a steal. New Mexico was the only big school to offer him, but his stats are pretty amazing really. He's also a track guy, so his 40 time is right at 4.5 at this point. If he can get into that 230 range or so, he will be just fine. Also, he should do well in coverage, since he's been a safety his entire life as well. What I also really like about Carr is where he comes from. Mount Carmel HS is a football power, so he'll come to IU knowing what it takes to be a part of winning program. This kid is a real sleeper that may take a year or 2 to hear his name mentioned, but his speed and develope with at the very least help our depth.

C. Jeremy Gainer 6'1" 215 OLB from Detroit. So far, Jeremy is the highest rated player that has verballed so far. He's ranked as the 20th best OLB in the country, which makes him a very good get for this program. This kid really is a big time athlete. Runs a 4.5 40, strong, and has extremely good lateral quickness. According to last season stats, he forced 7 fumbles last season, which screams to me that he can really lay the wood when he hits you. He also had 97 total tackles and 7 INTS to go along with the forced fumbles. Assistant Coach, George Ricumstrict is really doing well in recruiting in and around the Detroit area and Jeremy and his cousin Kenneth Watkins (more on him in a bit) are by-products of his hard work up there. This kid has a real chance to come in an play his freshman year. He is by far the biggest defensive recruit we've gotten right out of HS in sometime. I suspect we'll have to watch out for Michigan later on down the road, but he's had IU at the top of his list since last fall, so that's a pretty good sign that we really stand out to him.

D. Adam Replogle a 6'3" 265 DT from Centerville, OH. His committment is pretty fresh off the press, but one word describes him, and that is "animal". He's really an aggressive, all out, all heart, with ability player. He's a battler and fighter on the DL, and on the tape that I've seen, he shows real burst off the snap. His brother, Tyler, is another all heart, all effort guy with ability and played his true frosh year last season. I don't think Adam will do that, as I think he needs about 25 or so pounds, but again, he adds to the quality depth up there. He did post 82 tackles and 6 sacks last season playing DT. IU loves to rotate in their DL guys and he's another great kid to use in that rotation. You mix him with Mentzer and Sliger from last year's class and you have just some animals up there that will refuse to lose and will be the heart and soul of the defense.

E. Kenneth Watkins a 6' 190 DB from Birmingham, Michigan (Detroit suburb). Cousin of Jeremy Gainer, but he's no tag along either. Recruited as a Free Safety and he's got good size (6') and speed (low end 4.4) to be a very good player at that position. He will need a little weight, probably 20 pounds, but he's known for his cover skills. He also plays in a very tough league with his team that produces several D1 kids every season.

F. Nick Zachery a 6'1" 200 athlete from Sheridan, Indiana. Nick Zachery won't be highly ranked because he's an option QB for Class A (smallest divison) team in Indiana, but what I LOVE about Nick is his leadership and heart. For 3 seasons, he's been the starting QB at Sheridan, a school rich in tradition of winning and for the past 3 seasons, he led his team to a state championship. He passes, he runs, he kicks field goals, he punts, and yeah, he tackles on defense as a safety. While he's not excelling in football, he's run as low as 10.5 in the 100 yard dash in track. A mega athlete from a small town, he's been coached by legendary HS coach Bud Wright. As on Sheridan fan told me, we have produced Brett Law (at the time, the best RB in state history), Brad Maynard, and several other D1 and D2 recruits, but Nick Zachery is just in another class. He could be a WR, OLB, or Safety, but my guess is he'll be a strong safety in college. He'll need some time to learn the position and put on about 10 pounds or so, but he has leadership ability beyond his years. I really like this kid and if you get a chance to see his youtube highlights, please do, he's a treat to watch, as he really has a burst or 2nd gear that would be interesting to see if he were to play on the offensive side of the ball.

So now that 6 are in, who is next?

Well, we should hear something about Kyle Koehne a 6'6" 300 pound OL from Indianapolis within the next week or so. If he goes elsewhere, IU will turn to Jake Baratz from Naperville, Illinois. He's 6'5" 280 and has an offer from Arizona as well. He really likes IU and again, he comes from a powerhouse program that is coming off a State Championship.

I'm also expecting something soon from Dusty Kiel, QB from Columbus, IN. He lists IU and Central Michigan as his leaders. Also, his HS teammate Duwyce Wilson, WR, who says he'll decide in late July. No word on a leader, but IU sits very well with him, and a committment from Kiel, could push IU over the top pretty quickly.

IU also sits very, very well with Dolapo McCarthy, QB from Merrillville, Indiana. Also, Jeff Duckworth, WR, from Cincinnati has us in his top 2 with Wisconsin. Wisconsin a newer offer and he'll trip there soon for an unofficial. Jeff was down to IU last Friday with Bud Golden and DJ Hunter for unofficials. All 3 had fantastic visits from all reports. Duckworth wants to play in the Big Ten, but not far from home, so I'm hoping we can land this kid. He's got good hands, is pretty quick, and runs good routes already. He needs a little more weight, but he'd be a very good compliment at WR to Wilson if both were to commit.

John Prior a OT from Portsmouth, OH has us in top 5 with the likes of Purdue and West Viriginia. We also sit in Chapman's (OT from Michigan) top 3 with a couple of MAC schools. My hunch with him is he's waiting on instate schools to offer though. Another real intriguing prospect from Cleveland Ohio is OT prospect Henry Conway. Right now, it's an IU/Cincy battle for his services. Also, we are right there with Nate Klatt a true center prospect from Ohio.

On defense, we are done at DT with Replogle's committment, so now we will concentrate on DEs. I think we will snag a couple for this class to help our depth here. The big cat that is still out there is Montez Robinson from Avon, Indiana. He's cat quick, but he's listed Auburn and Alabama as his favorites. IU is giving it a yeoman's effort, but I just don't think we'll get him, as he's Alabama native anyway and like Jordan Luallen, appears to want to return to his roots.

Of course the big name still out there in most fans eyes is DJ Hunter from Ohio. Right now, it's an IU/Tennessee battle for him. As I mentioned earlier, DJ was on campus last week and had a great time. He'll visit the Vols though before deciding, but honestly, IU still sits extremely well here. I still believe, he'll be a Hoosier when all is said and done.

Hope everyone has a SAFE and HAPPY 4th of July. God Bless!

Is the sky really falling? New recruit and Kellen Lewis

2008-06-24T18:37:00.000-07:00

So Cincinnati has gotten 4 verbals from Indiana kids, another kid from Pike really likes them, and we lost Jordan Stepp to them. Kind of shocking and already there are posts questioning what on earth is going on and what is the appeal of the University of Cincinnati over IU.

Well, I'm not all that well versed in Bearcat football, but looking at their roster, especially the defense, it appears Coach Kelly likes smaller defensive players that can scoot and make plays. Kind of sounds like Coach Hep's preference for a defense. Hep liked smaller guys, but then beefed them from athlete to football player with solid coaching mixed in. His strategy worked, but sometimes it took a high powered offense to keep scoring and scoring. Cincy also has a very good spread offense attack that can really score. They also appear to play a lot of kids in a rotation. As soon as Jordan Stepp steps foot on campus next summer, he'll be their biggest DT. My guess (only a guess) is that he'll play right away and rotate in. At IU, more than likely he'd be redshirted and then join the rotation. Though I don't totally know why Jordan chose the Bearcats, I'm going to assume that immediate PT played a part. I think he'll do well there and I wish him and his family nothing but the best of luck. Jordan reached his dream of gaining a full ride scholarship to a Division 1 school.

As for Mitch Meador, Andre Cureton, and Will Saddler, the other 3 Bearcat commits, IU had not extended offers to them. They have personally watched all 3 of them in practice and/or games, but no offers were extended, though offers could have came later, but we will never know. Either way, all 3 have the potential to be good, solid players for the Bearcats, but they are just not the type of players that IU is looking to verbal at this point and time. So, what kind of players are the Hoosiers recruiting?

Well, IU has set it's sights on a number of highly ranked players. This class will be a smaller class of signees when all is said and done (17 or so), so the recruiting philosphy is a bit different than in the past. Now, don't get me wrong, IU has recruited very solid kids in the past and last year, got some very good early verbals, but this year is a little different. Normally, under Hep, the staff would offer about 30 grade A kids, then settle into the rest of the kids they knew they could get. Of the 30 or so grade A's, maybe 5 or so would visit, but rarely did we get any of them.

Now, fast forward to this winter and spring, again we offer probably 30 or so grade A kids, but something different happens. John Decker from Scout mentioned this as well, but the majority of the Grade A talent, along with the top talent instate and in surrounding states came to camp at IU. This is a brand new thing, but something that fans need to pay attention to. When you begin to get your kids to camp, even if it's one day, you will begin to reap the benefits of that in the coming recruiting seasons. IU football can't recruit on name recognition like the bball program. Also, Coach Lynch and staff can't let the recruits see banners from the past either. In the words of the movie Field of Dreams, "If you build it, they will come", well, that's the only thing IU can do, and it's beginning to work. Sure, it's not a quick overnight fix, but reshaping a program the right way rarely is. Sure, IU could have hired Ron Zook to rebuild this place, and he's recruited well, but his arrogance is already wearing on players and it will only be a matter of time before he bolts to greener pastures. Ron is also just one example, as there are many others out there just like him. IU has had to start completely over, and though fans want a quick fix, just like Coach Crean is giving the bball program (believe me, IU bball will be much better than people think and they'll be back in the tournament in a year or 2 based solely on tradition and name recognition recruiting).

S0, is the sky falling? No! IU seems to be going after the bigger names and they are winning some battles. Sure, they will lose battles too, but if IU doesn't get all the midwest kids they are targeting, they'll just wait until after the season and bring in some Georiga and Florida kids. Those type of athletes certainly are not secondary prizes at all. I really do expect more verbals in the next couple of weeks. We sit very well with Nick Zachery from Sheridan and the Carr kid from Chicago. We also have a couple of kids from Ohio coming in this weekend and we sit well with instate kids. I still believe we will land 6 or so top instaters, which is just fantastic to haul in 1/3 or more of your class from instate. That would be my preference every year, but it all depends on the talent instate as well.

Now, for Edward Wright-Baker who committed to be a Hoosier this week. I've said a lot about him in past blogs, so I won't repeat a lot of that, but I will say his committment is HUGE for the program. In my opinion, he's a far better prospect than Ohrian Johnson was last season, and he's the 2nd best QB in the state (again my opinion). He's really not that far behind Morgan Newton either, and I know the staff really likes this kid's ceiling, and compare it very favorably to Newton's. He has a great arm/great leg ratio, so he can throw and he can run. He's also fairly tall at 6' 2" and well built body wise at 205 or so, so he doesn't need anything but some muscle to step in and play. He's also raw, but he plays in a spread attack at Jeffersonville, which is great because he'll adapt to what IU does pretty easily, or at least he should. He's rated as an Athlete by Rivals, but he's coming to IU to be a QB and will stay there unless Newton commits, then it's feasible that he could switch somewhere else, as he's athletic enough to do that.

Right now, we have the best long snapper in the state and the 2nd best QB in the state committed to be Hoosiers. Sure, we missed out on the best DT in the state, but we can't win them all. I don't I have ever remembered IU being so selective with their verbals than this season. This is a very good problem to have, as the staff should be commended on their hard work. They just put on some great camps, got a ton of prospects in here, as well as some extremely good underclass talent, and they are now ready to hit the recruiting trail again for the next month. Also, many of the incoming freshman are here and doing 7 on 7 work and running and doing drills. Chris Phillips is really taken over the leadership of this ball club and he has them up and running at 6 AM and preparing. IU tasted the sweet nector of a bowl game last season, but they want more. They don't want to just play 13, they want to win that 13th game. Their desire and hunger is the best I've ever seen or heard of here, and I hope it continues to march in that direction.

Now, for Kellen Lewis. Of course there have been an awful lot of questions and posts and emails about this kid and rightfully so. Coach Lynch hasn't said a whole heck of alot about it, so he remains indefinitely suspended, but there appears to be a light at the end of the tunnel and it's beginning to shine a lot more each day. I fully expect to hear something on KL within the next 10 days or so. He has met and exceeded everything that was put forth for him to do and he's crossed every hurdle that stood in his way. I fully believe that unless he does something extremely bad before the announcement, Kellen Lewis will be fully reinstated to the program and will compete with Ben Chappell for the starting QB job this fall. I also fully expect him to win the job, and lead the Hoosier offense onto the field for their first game this coming season.

Hope everyone that reads this is doing well. God Bless!!

John

The big deal about Josh Keyt

2008-06-10T17:33:00.000-07:00

Well it was bound to happen sooner or later, and last night it did, IU got its first verbal for this class, but it wasn't what many fans expected and it's gotten a lot of fans and forum posters questioning why in the world Lynch would give up a scholarship to a Long Snapper. Well, the questions are valid, but let me assure you, Josh Keyt isn't just a run of the mill long snapper. In fact, if Rivals or Scout rated long snappers, Josh would be a 5 star recruit. He's the top LS in the Midwest this year, and unless IU reals in Morgan Newton, I can assure you that Josh will be the highest rated kid at his position in this class.

Josh will come to IU next fall and redshirt as a preferred walk-on or greyshirt, then come January 2010, he'll get his full ride and be on scholarship throughout his career. Josh will be doing just exactly what Terrance Turner (WR) did a couple of years ago. This way the staff doesn't lose a scholarship this season, but still locks up the Midwest's best player at his position. Josh is also a pretty good DE, and besides his snapping, he'll start his career as a LS/DE and go from there, but regardless, he's here to do mainly one thing, and that's long snap.

Tim Bugg was IU's long snapper last season and he consistantly snapped the ball from his down position to the holders hands or punter's hands in .70 to .75 seconds. The average NFL snapper is between .7 and .8 seconds, so you can see that Tim ranked right there with the very good timed snappers. Also, Tim was accurate, and rarely did a ball go anywhere but right to the punter and/or the holder. Even in bad weather, the balls were consistantly placed and the times were the same. Not many people can LS it consistantly every time and that's why Tim was the best LS in college football last season. Next season, Brandon, Tim's brother takes over and though he's not quite as quick getting the snap back there (averages .80 seconds), he's just as accurate.

Josh Keyt snaps consistantly at .70 seconds, which is right where Tim was last season and faster than Brandon. He's also pretty consistant, which is why he's the top snapper in the Midwest. He crafted his trade at Chris Sailor's kicking camps and credits his instructors and his dad for helping him achieve an offer from a division 1 school and earning a scholarship. Also, if you saw my post on Peegs today, he's a friend, and I'm pretty pumped up about having a Putnam County athlete playing for IU.

The funny thing about Josh is that he lives within about 5 minutes of where Coach Lynch has a summer house in Putnam County on Heritage Lake. It's a small world sometimes. Anyway, so for those that fear or question that Coach Lynch and staff are out of their minds offering a long snapper, rest assured that Josh is special and pretty hard to pass up. Fans have stated that IU needs to offer the state's best players and Josh is the best at his position. Games are won and lost constantly on special teams play and unless it's a kickoff, it all starts with the long snapper and if he fails to do his job, the play doesn't go anywhere.

Hope this blogs finds it's readers well and may God bless you all!!!

Odds and Ends

2008-06-03T17:43:00.000-07:00

Been a while since I updated this, and I've kind of been waiting for the camps to get done before doing much, but I want to update a little bit on a few odds and ends.

First, Jerimy Finch is, as you all know, enrolled at IU and taking online classes. He has also applied for a hardship waiver with the NCAA to play next season, instead of sitting out the normal 1 year that is required for transfers from one D 1 school to another. For those that don't know what hardship waivers are, I thought I'd not only educate myself, as well as inform those that don't know and look into it a bit more. The official NCAA website provides the standards and codes that all schools and student athletes must follow, so this is where I got my information.

To be eligible for a hardship waiver, the tranferring student and the institution that the student is transferring too, must support their request via documentation as to why the player needs to play right away and not have to sit out the year. This documentation must be submitted to the NCAA subcommittee for review, and then a ruling is made. If the waiver is denied, the institution and/or the player can request an appeal hearing with the subcommittee for denial requests. This is almost like a hearing in that the transferring player and/or the institution can call witnesses before the committee to support their documentation request. At this point, this subcommittee will make a decision that will either agree with the original decision, or reverse the decision. Whatever the decision, this is as far as you can take it with the NCAA. I suppose you could take it further or outside the NCAA to the court system, but those do not usually end up in a timely matter.

Now, I'm in no way saying that Finch's case would ever go as far as I described above, but that are his, and IU's option. One of the most recent cases for hardship that was granted that IU fans may be familiar with is that of Tyler Smith. Tyler played at Iowa for Coach Alford, then transferred to Tennessee to play for Coach Pearl. He was allowed to play the following season, because he transferred to be near his ailing father who had cancer.

In one of the stranger requests of recent memory, was the family of Colin Peek. Colin transferred to Alabama from Georgia Tech. The appeal for hardship was orchestrated by Coach Nick Saban, because GT didn't employ a TE in their scheme, so with Peek's position basically eliminated from the offense, Peek requested immediate playing time because Alabama was going to use their TEs a lot. Basically, Saban needed a TE, and Peek was his best option. Of course, this request was denied.

Finch's issue is family related, but that's as far as anyone really knows. This is of course a very private issue that will only be made public once a ruling is given by the NCAA. It will more than likely be July before we know the NCAA's decision on this one, and of course, if it's not favorable, Finch and/or IU could appeal.

I wanted to let those that read this blog know that Coach Tom Crean and Coach Bill Lynch have become very good friends very quickly and they often share a meal as their time allows them too. In fact, Coach Crean has leaned on Coach Lynch some through all this turmoil and strife that the men's bball program has went through recently. Coach Lynch and his staff are all too familiar with adversity and strife, as they dealt with the illness and ultimate death, of their leader, Coach Hep. Coach Crean has really bent Coach Lynch's ear, as well as other trusted friends about all that is going on with men's bball. Personally, I cannot remember, at least in recent memory, a school's athletic program that has dealt with as much adversity and strife as IU's fball and men's bball programs. One thing that I've heard Coach Lynch say about the late Coach Hep, is that you can give a player all the chances in the world to succeed, get them help, even drive by their house or call the apartment and make sure they are home, but ultimately, if a kid doesn't want to change, he won't. While I think that is obvious, I think some of that advice that was giving to Coach Hep staff, trickled down to Coach Crean. Sure, he could have given some of those many more chances, but sometimes you just go with your gut feeling. A lot of times, a person's past history will dictate their future behavior. This also leads me to my one and only comment about Kellen Lewis. I certainly made waves saying that in my opinion, there was a 99.9% chance that he would never don the IU football jersey again because of what he'd done. While I will certainly stand by that statement, I recently posted on Peegs that I think there is a 75% that he will play again. These percentages are merely based on the vibes and statements I am/was getting from those within the program. Things were laid out for KL to accomplish while he was away, and he's on track to complete those things by the end of this month. If he completes those things in the satisfaction of the staff, it appears it may ultimately come down to what his teammates want. At this point, that vote could either way.

Now that June has begun, that means it's time for football recruiting to really heat up. Kids all over the country will be making trips to football camps and taking unofficial visits. IU is no exception to this and here is the schedule of camps that will be held at IU this summer. These camps include the position coaches, as well as former and present players. During these camps, you usully wake up at 7:30, have breakfest, practice, eat lunch, practic, eat dinner, practice, then have a simulated game, then it's off to bed. It's jammed packed IU football.

This coming weekend IU will kick off their camp season with their 7 on 7 passing camp. Then on June 8 to 11 will be Session 1 of the Team camp. Session 2 will be from the 11th to the 14th. Finally, Coach Lynch will hold a youth camp for youngsters on the 16th and 17th. Also, Coach Bobby Johnson will hold a special Lineman camp on the 10th. Many offered lineman will be in attendance, as the staff will get a first hand look at what these kids can do. Also, Coach Ted Ginn's bus tour will again be making a stop in btown for a one day camp. No date yet on that one, at least none that I've seen listed on his website.

Ultimately, the staff believes that as many as 7 kids may very well verbal once the camp season winds down. I've gotten a few emails and saw comments about why in the world IU doesn't have any verbals so far and should we be concerned. Well, not having verbals by June is a little unusual, especially for IU, but IU has certainly upped it's effort on top notch talent. Almost everyday, the ticker lights up with another rated prospect that has IU in his top 2 or 3. It's only a matter of time before someone gets the ball rolling, then watch out as the dominos fall.

Well, that's it for now. God Bless!!

Finch, the key to the OL this year, and OL/DL recruiting updates

2008-05-05T19:53:00.000-07:00

Well, Jerimy Finch will be a Hoosier after all, well maybe. First off, Finch was granted his release today and his intent is to enroll at IU and begin taking summer courses next week. So he is coming to IU, however, he's got some work to do in the classroom before he gains eligibility. I'm told it's not impossible, but he's going to have to work, so with held breath, we will take a wait and see approach.

Now, let's say he gets eligible, where does he play? One of the reasons he decided to transfer, and I'll get into those in a bit, is that he wants to play safety, and he feels that it's his best shot to get to the NFL is to stay at the FS position, so he'll have to drop some weight, but if he can get down to the 215 range or so, he'll be more than fine. He's got a year to do this, so he should be just fine. Nick Polk is currently listed at 215 pounds, so Finch, being a little taller, could play with a little more weight if needed. If Finch does come in and start play in 09, I fully expect Nick Polk will move back to WR full time. Nick is going to play some WR this season anyway, and he attends the WR meetings, so the transition wouldn't be all that bad.

Now, why does he want to transfer? Well, there are a few reasons really. One is he's really homesick and he misses his kids. I think he's maturing and wants to be a bigger part of their lives, which is great to see. Some will criticize here, but he's growing up and learning to take responsibility, and whether that happens at 19, 20, or 40 years old, that's very good to see. Finch was also injured for the first time in his career and the injury kept him off the field, so he got experience the long journey of rehab, away from home, and I've been told, this really changed him. Finch wasn't the most liked guy at WC, but amends have been made and his former mates have really talked with him about this impending transfer and can't wait to be united. Also, at IU, he will get the chance to play FS, which is what he wants to do.

Finch is a big time player and while he needs some classroom help, he's going to get the programs here with people he's familiar with. I have blogged in the past about a person that was involved in the academic help side of things at Warren Central, is now working at IU, and some of the WC kids cited her as one of the many reasons they chose IU. The whole academic support staff at IU is just incredible (don't let the bball issues fool you). These people really deserve a big pat on the back for their efforts with all student athletes in all sports.

Now, I want to talk a little bit about the OL. Most believe this position really holds the key to the offense this season, and that's very true. In fact, the old saying in football at any level is to win games you have to control the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball. So, to move the ball offensively, you have to first win the battles up front. While most people will group linemen together, it's neat I think to take a look at each individual position and determine just who might be the biggest key for the success of IU's OL.

First, the Left Tackle is usually the high profile position on the OL, because he protects the blindside of the QB. Most people assume this has to be the hardest position to play, because game in, game out, this guy gets to block the opponets top pass rusher. To play this position at IU, you must first have quick, nimble feet. Just like in the pros, you have to be able to push the rusher to the outside, while your QB steps up in the pocket to deliever the pass. This is what you'll see this season from IU's LT.

Next is the Left Guard, he moves in concert so to speak with the LT and they work in tandem. IU will have the priviledge of having 2 guys (Saffold and Saxon) that have been together for 2 years now, so they work very well together. The LG also is responsible for recognizing stunts. Depending on the scheme of the DL and/or blitzes, the left side of the OL, with the C, will move together and leave the right side to get help from other places. As IU's left side of the line has improved over the past couple of season, IU has been able to get their RBs in passing routes, because the TE can stay and help the right side. The LG in IU's system is a mauler type that has to be able to pass block, as well as run block. Saxon is a big old mauler and fits that bill pretty well.

Next is the Center, he is the onfield coach of the OL. He makes the calls and must recognize what is presented to him, all from the squatted position. First off, he has to be smart. He doesn't have to be big, last season Wyss was only about 275 to 280. He was limited athletically, but he was very smart and he played with heart and had pretty good technique. This season, IU is a lot bigger at this position, but they may even be smarter. Josh Hager is 6'7" and his back up, Jarrod Smith, is 6'4". Smith is backing up the C and LG positions, so he's pretty nimble guy, but smart. Hager was moved inside from OT during his redshirt year because he's athletic and nimble and he's smart. The biggest adjustment for him was learning to recognize the DL formations and blitzing schemes. The only real way to learn that is through trial and error and a lot of film viewing. This will be interesting to watch early on, but to me, it's not the biggest key for success.

Next is the Right Guard, and in my opinion, through research, this is the key position to IU's success up front. I make this statement for one big reason, this person usually has no help inside or from a RB in pass blocking, so he has to maintain his block, one on one, or the play will be blown up. As stated earlier, the left side of the OL work in concert together and can kind of help each other out and bottle things up when one position gets off balance. However, on the right side, it's different. The RT usually gets the TE help, which has happened at IU the past few seasons, and the RB goes on a route, or stays in to pick up an extra blitzer, still leaving the RG by himself. Currently, Faulkner is the starter, but Brewer is closing fast, very fast. In fact, by game one, he may be the starter. The RG at IU must be strong, and should be able to handle guys one on one, which requires those quick feet againt. Last season Sandberg was the strongest guy, but he wasn't that athletic. You could punch him off balance, but he couldn't handle nimble guys and when the OL failed, it was mostly due to a failure at RG. Sure, at DE may get the sack, but when the RG loses his guy, others have to compensate from the left side, and it just screws the whole thing up. Also, in run blocking, the RG usually gets (with center help) the nose tackle, the biggest, strongest guy on the DL, so thus, this person has to be good at leverage and understand how to use their strength. You learn to succeed at RG, you will go a long way of winning the battle up front.

As for the RT, not much to say that I haven't said. Although, this position usually gets the TE help. Emerson got by on limited athletic ability, but a lot of smarts and technique. This season, Stark is a much better athlete and hopefully, this will allow for the TE to be used down the field much more on passing downs, instead of staying home to block. This tackle doesn't have to be all that quick or nimble, but he needs to be adapt at both run and pass blocking, because he's on the outside and will be the one asked to seal that side of the field, when running plays are called to the right side.

Hope you can get something out of that, as I really got into some interesting reading and viewing of last season tape to research that. Never really gave the OL that much indepth thought prior to doing this, but it gave me a whole new appreciation for what John Madden calls "the big uglies"!

Now, let's see who has offers on the OL so far. Note that IU will probably take 2 or 3 OL commits this year, and the state is as loaded here as it's ever been, so I expect us to be pretty picky.

Kyle Koehne 6'6" 300 from Indianapolis Catherdral HS. Some will argue he's the best tackle prospect in the state, and IU is in his top 3 with Boston College and Iowa. All that could change if Notre Dame would offer, but so far they haven't. He's getting a lot of national looks, and I really believe that IU stands a very good chance to land him if ND doesn't offer. If ND does offer, I'm 99% certain, he'll be a domer.

Austen Bujnoch 6'5" 260 from Cincinnati, OH Elder HS. This kid comes from a mega football program in Ohio. Could be a guard or a tackle, but needs weight. The thing you like about him is he's pretty athletic for a big guy and has some speed and quick feet. He's the type of player you like in IU's system. IU is right there with a lot of other Big Ten and MAC schools at this point.

Michael Schofield 6'7" 280 from Orland Park, Illinois. A very good prospect, rated a 4 star by Rivals. Many offers, so we'll see what happens.

Zach Martin 6'5" 270 from Chatard HS in Indianapolis. If Koehne isn't the top tackle prospect in the state, then most experts say this kid is. IU has offered, but so has every other Big Ten program, as well as some SEC and ACC schools. However, I think he'll end up at Notre Dame, but as of yet (it's only a matter of time) they haven't offered yet. If for some reason they do not offer, then it's going to come down to Michigan or O$U.

These are the only OTs that have been offered, but here are some other instate kids that are being recruited by IU.

Brooks Michel 6'7" 280 from Carmel, Indiana. Lightly recruited so far by IU, but he has offers from NC State and Purdue. Not sure why IU hasn't offered, because he's got some skills and he's coached by former IU coach. Also, his dad Tim played baseball at IU and Brooks older brother goes to IU currently, as a student. My guess is he'll be available later, if Kyle or Zach go elsewhere.

Andre Cureton 6'6" 295 from Pike HS in Indianapolis. Very good athletic tackle prospect from Pike. Coach Lynch watched he and some of his teammates work out a couple of weeks ago. Kind of an unknown, but he's got a ton of upside, possibly as much upside as anyone in the state. IU hasn't offered, but I think we will after he comes down to IU's camp in June.

Chris Watt 6'3" 285 from Glenbard, Illinois. Chris is the #2 ranked guard prospect in the country by Scout. We have offered, but so have just about everyone else.

Adam Bellamy 6'4" 280 from Auroa, Ohio. Seems to be leaning toward Michigan State at this time, but I'm thinking he's going to wait a while to see if O$U offers. IU has offered, but chances are slim it appears.

Ryan Spiker 6'5" 295 from Dresden, Ohio. Currently IU is in his top 3 with Cincinnati and West Virginia. No clue on how much of a chance IU has with him, but he's a mauler type that IU really likes at Guard.

Desmond Kenner 6'4" 335 from Fort Wayne, Indiana. A true mauler in every sense of the word. Raw, but with some upside. He'll camp at IU this summer in June. No offer from IU yet, but that could change once camp gets here.

Corey Reece 6'4" 3oo from Floyds Knobs, Indiana. Could he join Pat Graham as the only kids from Floyds Knobs to don IU uniforms? At this point, no offer, but he'll camp here in June, so we'll see.

Robbie Piper 6'4" 380 from Leopold, Indiana. I had never heard of this kid, but he's in the scout database. He's huge though.

Nate Klatt 6'4" 285 from Canal Fulton, Ohio. Nate is the only center prospect that IU has offered. Rivals has him as a 4-star recruit and size wise, he could put on a bit of weight and be guard pretty easily. Only 2 MAC programs have offered over IU, but he's waiting to see what the big boys will do with him I'm sure.

Steve Fiacable 6'2" 280 from Fort Wayne, Indiana. He's the best center prospect in the state and IU is watching him closely. We haven't offered yet, but it appears the MAC and other Big Ten programs are watching as well.

Jordan Stepp 6'1" 290 from Ben Davis HS in Indianapolis. This kid is one the strongest players in the state, if not the country. He can really lift some weight, and if football doesn't work out, I think he could get into competitive weight lifting and do pretty darn well. As for football, he's strong, but so far IU hasn't offered.

On the defensive line, I don't expect a lot of action, due to adding so many pieces last season. My guess is we'll add 1 DT and 1 DE. So far, we haven't done a whole of recruiting in this area.

Adam Replogle 6'3" 270 from Centerville, Ohio. Adam is the younger brother of current IU player Tyler Replogle. He plays with the same warrior mentality as his brother and has good quickness for DT. IU has offered, but for now, IU is battling West Virginia and Iowa. He claims Tyler will not influence his decision, but I don't think it will hurt IU's chances either. I really do expect Adam to be a Hoosier when all is said and done and the one DT recruit for this class.

Julius Forte 6'3" 225 from Gulfport, Florida. Julius is a former teammate of Ohrian Johnson, who chose O$U last winter. Julius is quite the DE prospect and he's got big time speed for a DE at 4.65 in the 40. He had 11 sacks last season and IU offered him last season when they scouted Ohrian. IU has been on him for a couple of season, so this will really help I believe, but he's going to get offers I'm sure from most of the SEC, and it's going to be hard to get him out of SEC country because of that.

Montez Robinson 6'5" 230 from Avon, Indiana. Montez is probably the best DE in the state of Indiana this coming season and he's a kid that I'd LOVE to see IU grab. He's got tremendous speed and with some weight, he's got a real chance to become a force in IU's attacking/blitzing defense. The one school that scares me here is Purdue. The Boilers have really had a lot of success taking DEs with Montez's size and measurables and turning them into solid pro propects. Here's hoping IU can reverse that trend and nab Montez and start a new tradition.

Davon Custis 6'5" 220 from Columbus, Ohio. A mega athlete that ran a 4.5 40 at IU's camp last summer. He's scary and IU has already offered, but with his speed, he's going to be a national recruit. Just about ever Big Ten and MAC program has offered, but one hasn't yet and that's the O$U, and I'm assuming he'll hold out for them. My guess is, eventually, he'll get that offer.

Antwon Johnson 6'3" 270 from Detroit, Michigan. This kid likes IU, has visited IU, and wants an offer, but so far, as far as I can tell, he doesn't have one yet. He's a very good athlete and could put on weight and move inside if need be.

Okay, next time, I'll dive into the LB and DB recruits as well as any updated information that pops up over the next couple of days. As always, GOD Bless!!

Offensive Skill Position Recruiting so far

2008-04-25T17:45:00.000-07:00

I have wanted to get this up for awhile, so once again, I apologize for the delay. Andy Romey of Peegs and Jon Decker have done 2 very good articles this week on QB recruiting, so I won't say too much more. However, there are a couple of names that haven't really been discussed, because they are out of state kids. First is Clayton Moore, 6'2" 205 from Louisville, Misissippi, and the other is Alex Gillett, 6'1" 180 from Clyde, Ohio. Clayton is a long shot to put it mildly, as most of the SEC has offered. As for Alex, I had never heard of him until Peegs mentioned him the other day, but he appears to have a live arm from the video I saw of him. However, I still say that IU will probably land 2 QBs this season and both will be from the State of Indiana.

Here's my own personal rankings of the State of Indiana QBs:
1. Newton
2. Wright-Baker
3. Luallen
4. Kiel/McCarthy tied

Obviously, Newton is the #1 option, and I have been told that right now, it's a 4 team race, with those 4 being (IU, Clemson, South Carolina, and Illinois), but many, many others are trying to get involved, so even if IU were to be the eventual choice, it's going to be interesting to see how this all goes. Next on my list is Wright-Baker. As I've blogged before, I really love this kid. And the tape I've seen of him compared to Newton the only real difference I can find is Newton is 2" taller. On tape, they are mirrors of each other. However, EWB just started coming into his own, where Newton has been very good for a while, but when all is said and done, EWB is going to be a very good QB.

I put Luallen 3rd on my list, only because of production. However, if I'm recruiting at IU and rank the instate kids based on readiness for the spread offense, Luallen isn't my 3rd choice, as that would be Kiel. I'd say Luallen is all but a Yellowjacket at this point, but heck, that type of offense was developed for a QB like Luallen, so you can't blame him for going to a school that fits his skill set.

I'll admit I haven't paid that much attention to Kiel until IU offered, but after rewatching tape on his teammate WR Wilson, I came away pretty impressed. He does remind me of Ben Chappell at the same stage of their careers, and he is a very accurate passer. His feet also seem pretty quick, not that he's real fast, but he fairly nimble. Mechanically, he's the best in the state throwing the ball, but with his blood lines, that shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone at all. The fact that IU is the first real major school to offer is very surprising to me, because I would have figured Ball State or at least another MAC school would have offered by now. Dusty certainly gets attention because of his teammate being a highly sought after WR. Going to be real interesting to see what he does, since he's probably Plan C (behind EWB and Newton) at this point. Not that that's a knock, but those 2, athletically, are a couple steps above, even though Kiel is the best passer of this group.

Finally, McCarthy is still someone that I believe IU will sign. He's 6'6" 200 and Scout clocked him at 4.7, though I don't know how accurate that is. Though that's not greased lightning quick like Newton and EWB (both are low end 4.5s to high end 4.4s) that leaves room for IU to move him if they so desire. His brother signed with Ball State and promptly put on about 50 pounds and became a DL starter, so he has the genes to grow and grow a lot. Though for now, like Kiel, IU has offered at QB.

Okay, I said I wasn't going to say much about QBs, but oh well. Let's see what else IU is up to. I want to give kudos to Coach Springer, because of the job he is doing in the state of Georgia and Florida. IU really won't do a whole lot this recruiting season on the offensive side of the ball, since that was a heavy interest last season, but they still will sign some kids that could go to RB or LB or DB or even WR.

Cory Atkins, 6' 195 from Madison, FL. Cory is extremely athletic and is quite the leaper I'm told. He was offered as a RB, but could switch to DB in the end. Very good looking prospect and his profiles are saying Florida Internation, Florida Atlantic, and IU are his only offers so far.

Mike Gillislee 5'11" 180 from Deland, Fl. Don't know much about this kid other than Rodriquez offered him already for Michigan. His stats say he's probably a RB all the way as he posted 1,200 yards last season. I'm told Coach Springer had very good success at Deland HS in the past at Western Kentucky, so I think that's why we are involved here.

Bud Golden, 6' 190 from Cincinnati, OH. This kid is a pure stud and rated in the Top 250 nationwide. IU has been on him for a couple years now and offered early last season, which I believe was his first. He's being recruited by everyone in the Midwest as well as Stanford, which makes me believe he's a very good student. My guess is he'll hold out for an offer from the O$U before making any kind of decision.

Rolandan Finch 5'10" 205 from St. Xavier in Louisville, KY. He was up for the spring game and though Rivals doesn't mention it, I'm pretty sure he got his offer after the game. Kid is all athlete and could be a DB or RB. Very fast and another very good leaper. We are battling the SEC and of course, hometown Louisville for his services.

Kurt Freytag 6'2" 225 from Carmel, IN. Teammate of Newton and a very versitale prospect that could be a LB, RB, TE, or even one of those hybrid H-backs in the spread. Coach Lynch saw him the other night, when he went to watch Newton practice and he's a kid I hope we offer. Real good kid and a warrior in both heart and spirit. The kind of kid you want on your team. Not sure where IU would put him, but that can all be figured out later.

Rashard Wynes 6' 205 from Warner Robbins, GA. He came to IU for spring practice and has IU leading with Troy running neck and neck, at least that what I was told. He's being recruited by several of the SEC schools as well, but no offers yet. Very good athlete and another one that could move to the other side of the ball when all is said and done.

Toney Williams 6'1" 230 from Alpharetta, GA. This is another big surprise when I had heard he came to spring practice. A real bruising back that obviously could end up at LB in IU's offense, or he could still be a RB, especially with 4.6 speed. IU and KY lead at this point, but the homestate schools haven't offered yet, with an emphasis on yet. Was again told that Coach Springer has had a lot of success at Alpharett HS, so that's why we are sitting in the cat bird's seat at this point and time.

Eric Williams 5'11" 200 from Indy. He is a kid I think will garner a lot of attention once he gets going this season. He plays at Warren Central and IU is aware of him and they are recruiting him, though they won't offer until they see what he does with increased playing time. He's sat behind some really good backs at WC the past 2 seasons, and he's itching to play. The bad thing is, WC will switch to a spread attack from the wing T that they've ran for several season, however, for IU, this a great thing because they'll get to see what he can do in an offense similar to theirs. Eric could end up at RB, WR, or even DB when all is said and done.

Now for WRs, again, like RBs, IU tends to recruit kids that could end up at WR, DB, or even LB, like Issac Price. IU signed a very good group last season, but they'll sign at least 1 or 2 more WRs this year too. Leading the group that IU covets appears to be Duwyce Wilson, 6'4" 190 from Columbus, IN. He's just a very good WR and he's quick as well. Could he be a package deal with HS teammate Dusty Kiel?? Could be, and I certainly wouldn't be disappointed at all. Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, and Cincinnati have all offered and many more will follow I'm sure. IU has hosted him a few times, so we are right there. Let's hope he desires to stay close to Cbus and play for the Hoosiers!!

Here are the other WRs we've offered so far:

Fritz Rock, 6'1" 200, from Plymouth, Minnesota. Love the name if nothing else, but this kid has some real skills and we are in for a large battle for him. IU and Minny ha ha are the only offers, but he's camping at Notre Dame and he loves Louisville. Miami Fla wants him at CB, so I think he's pretty much a long shot for us, but he's worth a flier for sure.

Patrick White, 5'11' 175 from Pickering, OH. A mega-athlete that could be a WR or CB, but will definitely return kicks whereever he ends up. We offered early, but O$U, Penn State, and Pittsburgh are really getting involved now.

Jammone Chester, 6'2" 190 from Redford, MI. A suburban Detroit kid that has only MAC offers, but IU has just recently offered and the favored Michigan State Spartans appear they will offer very soon as well.

Marlon Anthony, 6'5" 190, from Marietta, GA. Once again, thank you Coach Springer for eyeing this talented kid. The kid will commit to Auburn if they offer, but so far, only IU has. My guess is Auburn will soon enough. Though he needs muscle, the kid is a major talent.

The state of Indiana has several other Division 1 prospects here and I want to quickly mention those. While none have IU or any Big Ten offers, these kids could very well play their way into an offer with a strong senior season.

1. Bobby James, 6'3" 220, from Hobart, IN. This kid is a prospect at WR, TE, and LB. Good quickness
2. Wes Winkle 6'3"170, Yorktown, IN. Probably Ball State bound
3. Demory Lawshe 6'3, 190, from Indianapolis. This kid could very well play his way into an offer. Very good speed/size ratio
4. Luke Swift, 6'1" 175 from Greenwood. A real burner, but he's playing in the wing-T, so his catches are few and far between. However, he could be a DB or a returner.

Finally TE recruiting. Though a forgotten position under Coach Hep, it's seen a bit of a revival with the addition of Max Dedmon, the hybrid H-back, and I think we'll see this position utilized more and more under Coach Lynch who is a little more a traditionalist when it comes to using the TE to actually catch passes.

The best TE in the state is a toss up between Will Saddler, who committed to Cincinnati already and Tyler Eifert from Fort Wayne. Tyler is 6'5" 220 and is being recruited by many. Purdue may lead due to his dad playing bball at Purdue in the 80's. However, if IU can use the TE more this season, we'll still have a shot, but Tyler has to like what Purdue did with Dustin Keller. Tyler reminds me of Todd Yoder who played at New Palestine HS, then Vanderbuilt, and has had a very successful NFL career with several teams.

A couple of other TE prospects in the state of Indiana are Ed Hazlett and Patrick Bade. Mr. Hazlett of Warren Central HS may be listed at TE, but at 6'8" 275, he's going to move to OT or DL when all is said and done. The real scary thing about Ed is he's quick and he ran a 4.8 last year at IU's camp, so he's got quickness. He may very well be the second coming of Ed "Too Tall" Jones, for those that remember him.

Also Patrick Bade is a 6'8" 230 football/basketball player. He's got skills to be very good at each sport, but from what I've read, I think he'll be bball all the way.

Okay, next time I'll dig into recruiting along the offensive and defensive lines.

Take care and God Bless!

Spring wrap up and my opinions on some things

2008-04-20T16:03:00.001-07:00

As I was returning home last night from a meeting, I wondered how IU football fans would feel about what they have witnessed and read about the coming season vs. last spring? I wondered how many would questions the offensive strategy, since it's very different that what IU has done lately? I wondered how many would notice improvement players verses the overall out look of things? While I've read many different opinions on what the current state of IU football is this spring, I have to be honest, I can only think of just how far this program has come in the past 4 years. We should expect improvement this season, and I only hope that when we conclude the regular season in November, that we can look back to this time, at the end of Spring practice and see just how far we've come.

I didn't make the trip down on Saturday for several reasons, but I saw enough of practice time to know what needs to improve. Basically, everyone at every position has to get better. I don't mean to sound negative, nor am I trying to spell gloom and doom. Trust me, I saw enough first hand to know this team, as it currently stands now, with the system that is currently in place, is good enough to make it to a bowl game. But we as fans, nor the players or the coaches, should settle for improvement, we must get better and more efficeinct. We have too.

I've read an awful lot of opinions on IU's new offensive scheme. The coaches that post on the boards will tell you they really like it, because if you can reach the objective of gaining 3, 4, or 5 yards on first down, you have opened up your entire playbook and keep the defense guessing. However, those passionate about wide open, big plays, and lots of points, will tell you they hate it. One things is for sure though, there's no way anyone could fairly judge this new scheme by just going to the Spring game, and with all the injuries to key people that are a big part of why this scheme exists, not taking part in the game, it's extremely unfair to garner any solid opinion. In fact, judging by what I've read on the write ups, as well as fan posts, most probably think IU is in huge trouble offensively because this game certainly didn't do much to bolster people's opinions of the new scheme.

So what exactly is IU trying to do on offense compared to last season?
Well, with the spread, you can do a number of things. Last season, IU chose to run a zone option spread, with Lewis making the decisions based on what he read from the line of scrimmage pre-snap. A zone spread allows for the QB to get one and one match ups and use his speed and allusiveness to gain yardage. If the QB is being zoned, as in contained, then a pass is thrown, usually to a WR that is 10 to 15 yards down the field. With defenses "cheating" (bringing up a spy so to speak for Lewis) that would open up things for Hardy and Means to work 10 to 15 yards down the field in 1 on 1 situations, which in Hardy's case, he usually won. The zone spread offense requires 4 things. First, a running QB that is both very quick and very elusive. The QB doesn't have to be a good thrower, but he has to be able to get the ball down the field. The QB must also be smart and know when to run and then when to throw. Second, a big time WR that can catch the ball in 1 on 1 situations. Third, a game breaking running back. Finally, an offensive line that can block in one on one situations. The times that IU's offense really moved the ball was when Lewis was on top of his game and the OL sustained there blocks long enough to allow him some space to move around or get the ball to Hardy.

This season, with Hardy gone and Lewis suspended indefinitely, Coach Lynch and Coach Canada went back to the drawing board with the spread. This time, they chose an offense that is pass-friendly, so as to take advantage of their new QB, Ben Chappell. Ben isn't a runner. Oh he can side step a little bit, but he ran his 40 this spring at 5.1, so he's not going to get much done on the ground. Where Ben is head and shoulders above any QB IU currently has is with his accuracy underneath. Ben is extremely accurate and puts pretty good zip on the ball. Lewis has a strong arm, but he's not accurate whatsoever. So Coach Canada did his best to design an offense that will work with what personnel was available to work with, and in my opinion, he gets an A+.

What is IU is trying to do is (let me borrow Bligedy's words here if I can) "dink and dunk" it's way down the field. Purdue has ran this type of spread offense for several years, so this is kind of what IU will do. This offense will require the QB to throw it 30 times or so per game. It's also designed to get the ball to the Fisher and Thigpen in space, so they can take advantage of their speed and quickness. It might be a 5 or 10 yard pass, but it could very well end up a 30 yard gain by the time either one of these guys are done. Also, IU currently has a lot of possession receivers on the roster with Earnest, Taylor, Turner, and Walker-Roby, so these guys will go "sit" in the zones so speak, which are usually 5 to 8 yards off the line of scrimmage and wait for Chappell to run his options and find them. This offense requires 3 basic things. First, a QB that is an accurate passer, but smart enough to understand pass coverages to find the holes. Second, it requires some small, but quick receivers that are sure handed. Finally, and probably most important, the OL must be able to pass block and sustain their blocks long enough for Chappell to go through his reads, because if he's given time, he'll pick apart the opposing defense no matter how good they are. IU also throws in the no huddle into the mix, which gets DLs and LBs winded and thus not as mentally sharp. IU can simply throw a quick 5 to 7 yard pass to Fisher and the defender will "whiff" or miss him on his move and then he's off. The Colts have done this for years, hurrying to the line of scrimmage and taking advantage of a defensive player that is trying to catch his breath and thus not as mentally sharp.

Again, the spring game was not a good way to judge this offense, because of all the injuries and key players being out due to other committments. Also, when all the new WRs arrive in the fall, you will see some guys play early from that group, especially those that can get down the field and be that vertical threat. However, the spring game proved that lots of work needs to be done in several areas, before anyone can even begin to feel comfortable.

Now for my opinions: (Caution, some of you will not agree with me)
Now, I've had several emails and questions about Kellen Lewis and his status. I'm going to caution those that watched the spring game and left thinking that the only thing that is going to save IU's season is Kellen Lewis. First, this offense is not Kellen Lewis friendly. Now it can certainly be modified or even switched back to a more of a zone spread look, but Kellen's strengths do not include standing in the pocket and checking down to option #3 or #4 and completing the pass. His strength is getting out of the pocket and becoming a run first, pass second QB. So if you are of the belief that KL will thrive in this type of scheme, you may want to go back and watch some film on him from the past couple of seasons. James Hardy bailed KL out multiple times. KL would throw it up there and James would simply catch it. Pretty basic stuff. Also, there are several of the opinion that KL will just be automatically reinstated and named the starting QB from the get go. I can pretty much guarentee you this will not happen. IF he's reinstated, he needs to earn his way back to being the starter.

I don't know if anyone else is a draft junkie like me, but if you want some really good first hand information on players, go to either draftdaddy.com/blog/nfldraft.cfm or tyfdraft.com
Both are excellent sites and gives you an idea of what teams are talking with what prospects and plenty of "inside information". However, there is certainly a topic that I'd like to discuss, since it really hits close to the IU program and that is the amount of positive drug tests that seem to be going unpunished and/or completely ignored. Now, many people tell me that in college you "dabble" with things, and while I personnally have never smoked or injected anyting like that into my body, I certainly didn't shy away from alcohol back in my college years, so I can see that point.

Recently, draftdaddy pointed out that Mario Manningham failed several (some reports I've read, as many as 10) drug tests in his years at Michigan. Aquib Taliq of Kansas, and several other high draft eligible players have admitted to failing multiple tests during their tenures. Obviously, IU isn't alone in this matter either. Currently at least 1 high profile student athlete is suspended indefinitelybecause of multiple, and I mean multiple, failed drug tests, which of course leads to not going to class or flunking classes all together. So where does it all end? Or maybe the question is, where do you draw the line?

Even if you suspend these kids, do you let them come back, just so you have a better chance to win? The obvious answer would be no way, but I have a hunch that winning is the most important thing and therefore kids get away with failed tests because suspending them, could cost a coach his job. Do you let them try and go through rehab? Do you just cut them off? So many questions, but I've got to be honest, reading what I have about the problems with drug activity among college athletes leads me to say this: The NCAA should be far less worried about illegal phone calls, and instead worry about how many of their member schools are allowing their student athletes to get "laced", and caught mind you, on a regular basis and do nothing about it.

While I'm sure to be blasted for even writing this blog (remember, it's my opinion), I will say that in all cases, except IU's, I'm reading these things, instead of knowing first hand. However, I'm pretty sure this won't come as a shock to many of you that read this on a regular basis. In fact, I'm sure this is not a new problem either, but it does raise the question of when will the NCAA make their member schools crack down on this activity? It seems only fair to me that if you are going to make a school perform well in the classroom or face some sort of penalty, you should also hold them accountable when players fail multiple tests and yet are still allowed to participate on a regular basis. To me, it's a no brainer, but I think it's high time (no pun intended) the NCAA step in here and hold these coaches and schools accountable. Sure, players are being suspended for failed tests, but it's usually failed test number 5 or 6 or 7. If Manningham is telling the truth in interviews to teams that he failed 10 times and narry a suspension (why would you even tell a team this in the first place), then what else did Lloyd Carr allow to go on up there? I find it quite humorous that people blast Rich Rodriquez and his "lack of morals", yet hearing from Manningham, it almost certainly needs to be applied to Coach Carr as well, and I don't care how "nice of a guy" he is. Okay, I'll get off my soap box now.

Lots of things to look forward to, as I'm going to begin to dig into recruiting now and try and get some updates going. I will say that I really believe that Edward Wright-Baker, the QB from Jeffersonville will be a Hoosier, and I'm hearing that will happen sometime very soon. However, there are many, many offers and previews to do, so as time allows, I'll dig into those.

Take care and as alway, may God Bless you and yours!!

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

2008-04-16T18:15:00.000-07:00

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!

Linebackers, Greenspan, Who's hot, and Bailey's departure:

2008-04-01T17:15:00.000-07:00

Well, today has certainly been eventful on the bball side, and yet the fball side of Indiana University continues on in their preparations of learning new schemes and adapting to new players due to injuries. First let's look at the LBs and see where we are at with these kids.

Going into last season, IU had experience in starters MLB in Adam McClurg, an all-heart, tough guy but just didn't give you the athleticism at the position that it really needed. He played well his senior season and performed extremely well against Purdue. His experience and leadership will be missed, but those behind him offer his strength with a lot more athletic skills and quickness. At OLBs last season, you had Johnson and Patterson, again 2 guys that had experience, but were learning to harness their athleticism into their positions. While Patterson was the 2nd leading tackler on the team last season, I felt that Johnson underachieved and really needs to step it up this season. He's uber athletic, but he's a thinker instead of a reactor, and that's not good for an OLB with low 4.6 speed. IU brought in 4 LBs last season and all redshirted, got bigger and stronger, and appear to have kept their speed and athleticism, which is always the key. All appear to be smart kids that will push for field time this season.

Leon Beckum 5'10" 210 OLB walk-on from Bloomington, IN; RS FR
Leon redshirted last season

Justin Carrington 6' 220 OLB from Leesburg, VA; RS Junior
When you are buried on the depth chart as a 215 pound or so RB, what do you do, well Justin switched to OLB, and though he's only been at the position right at a year, he's climbed to 2nd team, started one game last season, and performed way better than expected. He saw action in every game last season and contributed 37 tackles with 2 more tackles for loss. He's very quick and once he diagnoses what is going on, he's very quick to the ball, actually, he's probably the quickest in that department on the team. Being a RB helps him a lot in that aspect, as he understands how to read OL guys and decipher where the play is going. His one biggest problem, understandably, is diagnosing the play. He needs to be more reactive, but that will come with experience. Also, he's learning coverages. He understands routes from a RB prospective, but he's learning to do everything backwards. Once he retrains his mind to do that, he's going to be a very good player. Also, he was very good on the coverage teams last season, and I expect that to continue into this season as well.

Dane Conwell 6' 230 OLB from Uper St. Clair, PA; RS FR
Dane came to IU last season and redshirted. He came in at 220, so he's put on about 1o pounds of muscle and has performed pretty well so far this spring. He's probably 3rd team right now, but he's hitting hard and learning. He's part of the 4 LBs that were brought in last year that the coaches are really excited about. This season, I expect we'll see Dane on kick and punt coverage teams and mop up time, but don't fret, this kid is going to produce down the road for us.

Darius Johnson 6' 245 OLB from Highland Park, MI; RS FR
Darius came to IU last season and redshirted and boy did he put on the muscle. When he reported last August, he was 220 pounds, so he had great year in the weight room. Darius was a very decorated RB in HS and some thought maybe that would be his college position, but his 4.6 speed hurts him as a Big Ten RB, so now he's switched to OLB and he's already earning a big reputation in early spring ball as a collider. In other words, he'll meet you in the hole and you go backwards, not him. Will be interesting to see what happens when he and Darius Willis meet each other on an off tackle run come fall practice. You may be able to hear the collison in Elletsville. At this point, Darius is 2nd team, backing up Will Patterson at strong side LB.

Geno Johnson 6'2" 230 OLB from Bartow, FL; Senior
An uber-athletic OLB that came to IU as a 210 athelete that was forced to the field to learn on the fly and he's done fairly well, but hopefully, as a Senior, he'll step up his game, as well as provide the leadership for these young guys. He started all 13 games last season and provided 58 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, 1 sack, 1 INT, and 1 pass breakup. Pretty decent numbers, but with his speed (low end 4.6) those numbers have to come up. He's getting pushed a lot by Carrington and even Johnson right now, so that's a very good thing. If he wants to keep his starting spot, he'll need to continue to get better.

Jaime Lukaszewski 5'9" 200 OLB from Mishawaka, IN; RS Junior walk-on
Even Jaime put weight on this off season, as last year he was listed at 185. Jamie got into 1 game last season (Indiana State) but didn't record a tackle.

Matt Mayberry 6'2" 235 MLB from Darien, IL; RS Junior
Matt was at 222 pounds last season so he's added some muscle, which shouldn't be suprising, since Bryan Payton's blog says he's a "weight room junkie". Matt is a lot quicker than McClurg and now that he's put the muscle on, he should be able to fly around to the ball a little more, as well as shed blockers to get in there and make the tackle. Also, with more beef in front of him (Brown and Boyd or Mack), this should engulf more OL, to let Matt use that quickness too. Matt will be our starter at MLB this season. Last season, Matt produced 42 tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss, and 1 pass breakup.

Brandon McGee 6'1" 235 MLB from Jeffersonville, IN; RS TR walk-on
Brandon walked on after a very good career at Jeffersonville HS where he recorded 60 tackles and 8 INTS his senior season.

William Patterson 6'1" 235 OLB from Indianapolis, IN; RS Junior
Will has been a starter since his freshman season. He settled in pretty well at strong side LB and produced 104 tackles, 8 tackles for loss, 2 sacks, 1 INT, 3 pass break ups, 3 fumbles caused, and 3 fumbles recovered. Yeoman's work for him and his experience and leadership will be counted greatly this season, but doesn't mean he won't have to work. He, like Johnson, is getting pushed by our youngins'!. I expect Will to be name pre-season first or second team big ten and a lot will be expected of him this season.

Issac Price 6'2" 250 MLB from Detroit, MI; RS Senior
Issac came to btown, along with James Bailey as a 3-star WR, yet he chose Indiana mainly because they gave him the opportunity to play defense. He came in at 6'1" 210, and looking back, the decision to switch to defense was probably a mistake. He's bounced between LB and DE and now has settled in at MLB. He's fairly quick, but he's really behind the 8-ball experience wise and injuries continue to hurt his development. Last season he was only able to play in 6 games, but did produce 4 tackles on special teams. He'll be looked upon to again be a special teams guy this season.

Ian Reeves 6' 245 OLB from Ferndale, MI; RS FR
Like Johnson, Reeves came to IU at 220 and yet has managed to put on 25 pounds of muscle and he's looking like another of the quad youngsters at LB that is going to push to see the field this season in more than just special teams role. He's battling for 2nd/3rd teamer right now with Johnson and Carrington, and it's a very spirited battle. Ian seems to have pretty good field awareness as he's picking off passes some this spring and he had a knack for that on the scout team last season as well.

Tyler Replogle 6'2" 235 MLB from Centerville, OH; Sophmore
When Tyler came to IU last fall, it was pretty obvious he was going to play as a true frosh and until he tore his ACL in the middle of the season, Tyler really was pushing for more than special teams field time. Now, the injury has done 2 things: first, he's moved back to MLB from the outside and will back up Matt Mayberry this season, and second, it's stunted his development a little bit. But this kid is a beast. A true Ohio born, bred, tough as nails MLB that will produce at IU and is going to be awful hard to keep off the field once he gets that knee closer to 100%. He's limited to basically cardio right now, but he's itchin' to get back out there and buy the end of the season, I expect him to really be pushing Matt.

Jerry Williams 5'9" 230 OLB from Merrellville, IN; RS Senior walk-on
After spending 4 years at safety for the Hoosiers, Jerry has put on 10 pounds and was moved to OLB for depth purposes. Jerry played in 12 games last season and recorded 9 tackles exclusively on special teams.

Coming this fall:
Chad Sherer 6' 200 OLB from Cicero, IN, will redshirt due to knee injury suffered back in December playing basketball and he will not be 100% by August.

Rick Greenspan has certainly not made many friends on the message boards lately, but I wanted to take a little closer look at this guy, not to defend him, but to take just a few paragraphs to look into what he's done while he's been here and the hires he's made. Since he was hired in September of 2004, he's had a very interesting tenure at IU.

Rick came to IU from West Point and was known for generating profit margins and building facilities. He has shown that he tends to like coaches that are a little older with experience, instead of up and comers, which has drawn both criticism and praise from his peers and fans. Here are some highlights of what he's done so far in about 3.5 years at IU where he oversees 24 sports programs:

1. Captured 6 individual or team national titles
2. IU has ranked 3rd in the league in academic all-league selections since his arrival
3. The football program has seen a 39% increase in home attendance, 46% increase in season ticket sales, and 110% increase in season ticket sales for students. This alone is a major accomplishment for anyone.
4. Hired Coaches: Football: Terry Heoppner (probably the best of his hires so far) and Bill Lynch; Men's bball: Kelvin Sampson and Tom Crean (as of tomorrow anyway vbg!); Women's bball: Felisha Legette-Jack; and Baseball Tracy Smith (probably his second best hire, though IU baseball isn't followed that closely)
5. Saw an 8.3% increase in Varsity Club annual giving and a record 11.5 million dollars in gifts and pledges to the Endowment Fund.
6. Overseen the installation of 2 million dollar scoreboard/video board, new field hockey field in 2006, and new, banked indoor track, as well as the new Athletic's Center currently under construction.
7. He's also primarily respossible for getting "money donors" involved in the 2 bball hires and getting them to donate planes and other means of transportation, as well as people ponying up money for buyouts.

When Rick arrived, IU's athletic department was broken both financially and down trodden by a poor football program, an underachieving basketball program, and no real facility upgrades to speak of. One thing people will never be able to criticize Rick for, at least fairly, is that he's come in and gotten his hands dirty and worked to improve the athletic department from top to bottom and he's done that. Personally, I've met the guy, and he's personable from what I've seen of him and he really does always seem to have the student-athletes interest at the forefront. And while the Kelvin Samspon hire was NOT a good move, overall, he's gotten things done at IU so far in his short tenure. He's not a fan favorite, because he's a guy that tends to go for experience and enthusiam, over young and flashy. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't, but for Rick's sake, I hope Tom Crean pans out, because if for some reason he doesn't, Rick will be shown the door.

Rick certainly has injected a lot of time and effort in the football side of things and for us football fans, that's enough to hope he sticks around, it really is one reason he was hired as well. Rick was also a guy that came in and really got the Big Ten Network to become a reality. It was discussed for years, but when Rick got involved, many people associated with the deal credited him for really being the final piece of the puzzle. IU, as well as all the conference schools, are going to greatly benefit from this historic venture.

So, who's hot so far this spring? I know we are only a few days into spring practice, but I'm going to give some kids some kudos here. This is certainly just my opinion based on what I've heard and witnessed so far.

First, Ben Chappell has really impressed me. It's too bad the only memory fans have of him so far is that picked off pass at Northwestern, but for anyone that watches this kid, after a couple of practices, I think you will really like him. He's a passer, not a runner. He's accurate, and what I really like about him is he's a technician QB, and by that I mean, he gets his footwork right, he's on his toes (ala Peyton Manning), does his mechanics right and then really gets some zip on the ball. I like his passes and I like the rappaport he's developing already with Ray Fisher. That's going to be a very good combo for us in the future.

Next, as a group, the LBs are really impressing me, especially the 3 RS FR. This group has really dedicated themselves to improving in the weightroom, as well as on the field and it's paying off already.

Another person that has impressed me is Chris Hagerup. For a guy that was a Punter all season, he's shown me some things early. While I don't think he'll unseat Ben, he's a kid that I'd like to stay at QB, as well as be the main punter. Also, you are going to witness a much more relaxed punter this season, than what you saw of him in fall ball. Chris is also a born leader, and you can see that though he's young (RS FR), he's going to develop into a real leader of the entire program in a year or two. I know the coaches, especially Coach Canada have really been impressed with him so far this spring.

I'm also impressed with the DL, and I'm going to predict that the DL will be even deeper than last season, especially at DT and be able to run some real bigguns in there. Also, Emile Bass was back at DT today, so I don't know if the OL experiment is over, but for today he was back at DT and will only help the rotation if this is permanet, which I'm going to assume it is. I've also enjoyed watching Boyd and Fred Jones. These 2 RS FR are going to be MAJOR contributors to our program in a year or so and maybe even this season for Boyd.

Donnell Jones is a kid that I really paid a lot of attention to today as well and I liked what I saw. he's really quick and he's pretty well built. He looks about Porter's height from what I remember, but he's much thicker and he's not afraid to stick his nose in there. Right now, he's the 3rd corner and I'll be interested to see what he does more and more when the turn the lights on.

I will have to say that the OL is a patch work bunch of projected starters, 2nd and 3rd teamers, but they haven't done badly either. Of course, I really like Coach Johnson and feel he could get me ready to play the OL in a week if had to. VBG! I will say also that Ziegler is one big guy, and I thought he looked pretty good at RT from what I saw. For such a big guy, his feet are probably the best on the team, he's nimble, if that's possible for a guy that probably weights 340.

From what I've heard there's been a lot of kids in for the practices so far and many more expected in over the next couple of weeks as well. Nothing appears to be coming down the line for a committment, but the real hot name right now is Edward Wright-Baker a 6'2" 200 QB from Jeffersonville, IN. This kid is a real sleeper, but the staff absolutely loves him and believes his ceiling is higher than Newton's and Luallen's. At this point, IU appears to be heavily involved with 6 QBs that I know of and they really would like to take 2 for the upcoming class. Baker is a true runner/passer. He's been a sleeper but last season he really came into his own and put up 1,467 yards rushing and 15 TDs and 1,333 passing yards and another 18 TDs. He also had 5 tackles and an INT on defense. He's a kid I can see IU really putting at the top of their wish list, especially if Newton and Luallen go elsewhere.

A couple of other quick notes:

James Bailey is transferring and going to a D 1-AA program. Bailey had pretty much been relagated to kickoff return duty and spot time at WR, so look for him to end up in a pass-happy program somewhere near Michigan.

With Bailey's ship open, it's conceivable that we could see another committ for this class, but nothing really concrete to point to anyone. I had an email about a possible Florida LB commit, but haven't found anyone that could confirm that. I know the staff was following a couple of kids down there that were waiting on test scores, so it's always a possibility, but with the plethora of the HS class instate next season, smart money says they will give the opening to a deserving walk on for a year and then try and bring in an early enrollee next season.

Nothing much on the KL situation as opinions vary widely on what is going to happen. Coach Lynch is being very "PC" about it all to the media, but the coaches were pretty disappointed in what took place with him over spring break. I'm really beginning to question whether the kid really "gets it" or not. We'll see and I hope I'm wrong, but after witnessing Chappell first hand, if KL doesn't come back, IU will be okay, and I really believe that.

Well, next time, we'll take a look at the Corners and Safeties for this season as well as update anything new on the recruiting front and what's up in spring ball.

Take care, be safe, and God Bless all of you!!

Spring is in the air, DL, KL, kickers, and a position change?

2008-03-25T17:16:00.000-07:00

Thanks to a bowl game, the break from IU football just hasn't been all that long. What a difference a month of extra practices make. Today was first day of Spring practice, and a lot has already been reported by Peegs and Scout. Also, the new spring roster and depth chart came out, which has brought a lot of questions and lots of comments from fans. With all the "crap" that is going with IU basketball and the coaching search, at least for the first week or so, IU football will probably see a lot more curious fans, because message boards will be buzzing with "inside information" from "realible sources" on the new coach and that gets old for most.

So the first practice started with many absences today with 14 kids out due to injuries, KL suspended, and James Bailey excused for the first week or so to concentrate on some personal issues, which I've been told should be cleared up by the middle of Spring Ball. So for all the fans that have been wanting IU to develop depth, now is the opportune time to do so, as many positions will have back ups as starters and 3rd and 4th stringers as the primary back ups. While I expect there to be sloppiness, I also expect some very spirited practices and competition among the back ups, because many of these kids will not get this many snaps come fall.

As promised for several weeks now, I want to take a good look at the Defensive Line. I don't recall a bigger improvement or maybe the key words should be a bigger surprise than the entire Defensive Line last fall in terms of pressure, depth, and development. The group came into the fall as a young, yet experienced group. Most believed the players would improve, but I don't think too many people would have predicted their impact, especially the amount of sacks the unit as a whole produced. In 2006, the DL produced 10 sacks and 6 QB hurries, but in 2007, this group produced a whooping 36.5 sacks and 8 QB hurries. Of course Greg Middleton had 16 of those sacks, but still that's a montrous improvement. Now, let's see what we return this season.

Fabiene Boone 6'3" 250 DE RS Junior (walk-on) from Evansville, IN
Fabiene came to IU as a 215 walk-on and has saw time each of the past couple of seasons on kick and punt coverage teams and occassional DE time. He played in 9 games last season and 2 tackles, 2 assists, and 1/2 tackle for loss. This season, he's expect to again be a special teams leader and add depth to the DL.

Jeff Boyd 6'3" 305 DT RS FR from Warren Central HS in Indianapolis
Jeff just plain tore up the scout team last season, and he played well enough last fall to earn a team spot, but the coaches really wanted to RS him and give him an opportunity to add some muscle/weight and boy did he ever. He came to IU around 275 and he weighed in this spring at 305, a 30 pound gain. He also hasn't seemed to lose his quickness, nor stamina, as he's performed extremely well in off season conditioning. He and Deonte Mack look to battle it out for the other starting spot opposite of Greg Brown.

Greg Brown 6'3" 300 DT RS SR from Centerville, OH.
Not much more can be said about Greg as he's been the anchor of the DL for 2 years now. He is out for spring ball it appears, but things are really not going to change all that much scheme wise for the DL, so all he'll need to do is catch up conditioning wise. Greg truly became a good anchor last season and seemed to really mature as the leader that was needed as the season went along. Last season, Greg put up 29 solo tackles, 21 assists, 3.5 tackles for loss, 1.5 sacks, 2 passes broken up, 1 QB hurry, and 1 forced fumble.

Keith Burrus 6'3" 285 DT JR from Indianapolis, IN
Keith's twin brother Kevin is also a member of the team and both have really improved since last season getting bigger and stronger to really improve the depth at the DT position. Keith played in 10 games last season and registered 9 tackles, 3 tackles for loss, and 1 sack. He will again provide quality, rotational depth for this season, which is a must to keep your key players healthy and fresh entering the 4th quarter.

Kevin Burrus 6'2" 312 DT RS Soph from Indianapolis via Coffeyville Comm. College in Kanas
The bigger of the twins, Keith played in 12 games last season and registered 11 tackles last season. Like his twin, Keith, he'll provide quality depth that will be rotated in throughout the game. At 312 pounds, he's the heaviest DT on the roster, and that will be utilized on the goalline defense for sure.

Fred Jones 6'4" 265 DE RS FR from Tyrone, GA.
Another RS FR that tore it up on the scout team last season, as he and Jeff Boyd really gave the OL fits running the opponets DL schemes. Fred is very quick and during his RS season, he's put on 30 pounds of muscle and weight. IU lost 1 DE from last season, Brian Faires, and Fred will be expected to come in and rotate in as a speed rusher. He's been mentored by Greg Middleton, as both are close to the same side and he'll back up Greg this season.

Jammie Kirlew DE 6'3" 266 RS JR from Orland, FL
Jammie is entering his 2nd full season as starter and last season saw him produce steadily with a monster game against Iowa registering 3 sacks in that game alone. Last season, Jammie put up 57 total tackles, a montrous 12.5 tackles for loss, 4.5 sacks, 2 passes broken up, 1 QB hurry, 1 fumble forces, and 1 fumble recovered. As Greg became a major force and offenses were forced to double team him, Jammie saw more and more one on one match ups. This off season, he's put on right around 10 pounds and again will be expect to form the dynamic duo with Middleton.

Deonte Mack DT 6'3" 280 RS Soph from elkhart, IN
Deonte has had a very good off season as his weight is now at 280. He played last season around 260, so he's done the work that he needed to do to play. He's also been a leader during off season conditioning and would have entered the spring in a battle with Jeff Boyd to start opposite Greg Brown, but that battle will have to wait as he's battling a shoulder injury that will limit his contact this spring. It's not a major problem, but the staff wants him healthy for the fall, so he's not going to get all banged up for now. Last season, Mack saw action in 12 games and recorded 18 tackles and 1 tackle for loss. This season, his production should see a major increase, as once again, IU plans to rotate their DL guys regularly.

Greg Middleton DE 6'3" 275 JR from Indianapolis, IN.
I don't think any player from Indiana had a bigger season than this kid did. He was a MONSTER on the DL and it came as a major surprise to most people as well. Many remember, Greg verballed to Purdue, then changed his mind, and IU is now reaping the benefits. With IU's improved DE depth, this should give Greg even fresher legs in the 4th quarter, though he'll see many more double teams, but that will only open up his teammates. Greg also, pulled an Indy Colts trick on 3rd downs and switched to DT, so Marando could come in and rush from the DE spot. Greg put on right at 10 more pounds of muscle this off season and looks to improve on what was a record season for him at DE last season. He posted 50 total tackles, an unheard of 17 tackles for loss, another 16 sacks (school record), 4 passes deflected, 1 QB hurry, 2 fumbles recoverd, and 1 fumble forced. I'm not sure what else he can do for an encore this season, or next even, but I'm excited to see him improve. He's got a chance to work himself into a sure fire first round draft choice in a year or two.

Ryan Marando 6'2" 251 DE from Lakewood, OH.
If Greg's production was the most unexpected, then Ryan's had to be 2nd among the DEs. Ryan had bounced around from TE to DE looking for a position for a couple of season, and then all of sudden, when IU needed another rush DE on 3rd and long situations with Middleton moving inside, up stepped Ryan to fill the spot and boy did he ever produce. Ryan saw action in all 13 games last season and recoreded 20 tackles, 6 tackles for loss, 5 sacks, 1 QB hurry, and 1 forced fumble. Ryan will have some competition this spring and fall for that rush specialist spot in the form of Fred Jones, but you can be sure that Ryan will still see action on a rotation basis as yet another rush end.

Eric Thomas 6'4" 265 DT from Cleveland, OH.
Eric came to IU as a 250 DE, but moved inside as was expected. He needs more weight, but he's quick for 265 and in another year or so, he'll contribute. Also, with Mack out, he'll see a lot of time this spring, so we'll see what he's able to do.

Terrance Thomas 6'1" 256 DE Sophmore from Detroit
Terrance came to IU as a walk-on after a short stint in the military. He was an All City pick his senior year of HS and last season posted 5 tackles playing in 11 games via punt and kickoff teams. Will again be looked upon as a special teams demon.

Arik Wolf 6'3" 235 DE RS SR from Bright, IN (East Central HS) walk-on
Arik appears to be the only kid that lost weight from last season. He saw action in 1 game last season (Indiana State) and didn't post any tackles or sacks. He'll again provide depth this season.

Coming this fall:
Larry Black 6'3" 290 DE from Wyoming, OH
Kyle Kozak 6'5" 240 DE from Chatham, Virginia
Mick Mentzer 6'3" 280 DT from Fort Wayne, IN
Nick Sliger 6'3" 290 DT from Cicero, IN

As I mentioned, it appears that Emile Bass, a 6'3" 297 RS JR has switched from DT to OG, and this was just recently, but that is what he was listed at for the spring. With that happening, I expect all the incoming Frosh to be kept on the defensive side of the ball. Last season, Emile posted 3 tackles, 1 tackle for loss, and 1 sack in 8 games. Will be interesting to see how he does this spring.

Since Austin Starr is a Senior, and IU only has walk-ons Nick Ford (5'9" 203 from LaPorte, IN) and Charlie Klingensmith (6' 170 from Carmel, IN) as his back ups, smart money says that IU will bring in a kicker this season.

On the 28th of this month, Ryan Stokes from Merrellville, IN will be tripping to IU for an unofficial visit. Ryan is 5'8" but don't let the height scare you. This kid has a big time leg. Ray Guy's website rates him as the #6 kicker in the country this coming season and his averages are as follows: 63 yards per kickoff, 3.26 second hang time on kickoffs (Starr is around 3.5), 90% FG average. IU hasn't offered Ryan, but they are recruiting him, and getting him down for the spring will be great for both sides. Ryan has kicked a total of 23 FGs in his career and kicked a 56 yarder at Ohio State's camp last season, so he's got a serious leg. Furthermore, he's kicking in the not so best of conditions, as Merrellville is very close to Chicago, and we all know how bad the weather and footing can be for a kicker in that city. He's a big time prospect and I hope that he can get that offer from IU, and he will come. While I like Nick Ford from LaPorte, Ryan is a step above and has as what appears to be a more accurate leg.

Just ahead of Ryan is Logan Powell a 5'10" 140, from Northrup HS in Fort Wayne. Logan is the #5 ranked kicker according to prokicker.com and lists Notre Dame as his #1 choice, but no offer from them or anyone yet. He doesn't get the distance that Ryan gets on kickoffs, but he has almost 4 second hang time which is very, very good. I don't have any stats on him, but he's also suppose to have an accurate leg as well.

Those appear to be the top 2 prospects in Indiana this season along with a kid from Fishers HS near Carmel, IN, but he doesn't appear to be D1 material at this point. IU did offer Cody Kemps and Nick Freeland as preferred walkons for this coming fall, but Kemps chose to go to Purdue with the same opportunity and Freeland is going D 1AA I believe.

Thought it would be fun to look at kickers, as they are rarely mentioned, but as we know with Austin, they can make or break your season.

Also, just a quick blurb on KL. He is getting treatment and if he can stay clean, he'll be back by Fall practice. Of course, it's all up to him, so we'll see what happens.

Next time, I'll dig into the LBs.

God Bless!!!

Ben Chappell and the Offense

2008-03-09T17:40:00.000-07:00

Well, it certainly has been interesting the past couple of days around the football program for IU fans. However, the players are doing their best to move forward and thanks to the total collapse of the basketball team, the football team has been able to move forward fairly well without much fanfare.

Thought tonight I'd type a little bit about our new starting QB, Ben Chappell, what he brings to the table, where IU will go, and what they will need to do to be successful, which in this writer's opinion, they can still be.

I've gotten a lot of emails since the last blog and some think this could really destroy the program, and we'll be lucky to be .500, but I hope that we as fans can take a second look and maybe see some advantages that IU has while looking toward the future. While Kellen Lewis was a big part of the offense last season, we need to remember that the offense was basically geared toward him being that big part of it. While we had a very good WR, the rest of the Offense was fairly mediocre, so KL was asked to do an awful lot. If you look at the numbers only, yes, KL made up an awful lot, but that doesn't mean that others can not step up on both sides of the ball and IU still can not be competitive and win games.

First off, the schedule is pretty favorable with 8 home games. For a first time QB, this is a very good thing, so here's one positive. Remember, IU went to a bowl game this season and the TEAM believes they can do it again with players that are 100% committed to being a part of it.

Next, let's see what Ben Chappell brings to the table compared to KL. First off, Ben is a lot bigger. KL was listed at 6'1" 175 pounds which is pretty generous height wise. He ran in the 4.5 range, and while he could throw the ball pretty far, his accuracy was a large issue. He also didn't make very good decisions with the ball in his hands, as was evident at the end of last season.

Now Ben Chappell is 6'3" and 230. He can run a little bit, I think he's a 4.8 guy, but what he lacks in speed, he makes up for in accuracy. Don't let the interception vs Northwestern fool you, Chappell can play, he's just green in terms of experience, but he can make all the throws as scouts would say. He's got very good arm strength and puts zip on the ball.

The great thing about running the "spread" offense is it's really pretty adaptable to the type of QB you have. KL was a running type/zone spread type of QB, so the staff adapted the spread to fit his strengths. The problem I thought, especially with Coach Canada was Matt was a like Ben Chappell in college, more a thrower than a runner, so I'm going to really be interested to see what the offense becomes under Canada now that he has a QB that more mirrors him when he was at Northern Illinois. Now, I'm not knocking Canada's coaching ability, he did a very good job with KL, but KL struggled a lot this season with decision making, but I thought Coach Canada put KL in a position to succeed, but it was hard for the offense to succeed all the time when the OL and running game was mediocre. For IU's offense to succeed this fall, it is going to rest heavily upon the coaches to put in systems to take advantage of Chappell's strengths. By running more a spread/no huddle offense, I think IU will really take advantage of their receivers more. Also, the OL is really intrical in the continued success of this offense. The OL will be MUCH bigger than last season, but believe it or not, I believe they will be much more athletic, but we are still going to have to run the ball and take some pressure off of Chappell. In other words, others are going to have to raise the level of their play for IU to be successful, but you know, I think they will. I think you will see more TE catches, more RB catches out of the backfield, and more 4 WR sets. Really spread the ball around, spread the field, and become more a tradition throwing spread offense, than a running/zone spread. We'll still run some, and I'd expect Chappel might even pitch the ball some, but ulitmately, the OL is going to have to pass block and allow Ben to read the defense and know where to throw the ball. The hardest thing with game experience isn't really the speed of the game, after about a quarter or so, you are used to that. However, it's reading defenses at game speed, learning how defenses will trick you into seeing one scheme and playing another. That's where Ben will lack early. I expect to see some forced throws, some INTs, some poor decisions, especially in conference play, but he's going to have to overcome that, work through it, and learn.

Also, if something like KL's situation is going to happen, I'd much rather it happen before the start of spring practice, than right before the season opener. With Schell being out with injuries, Chappell is really going to get a TON of work, which is exactally what he needs. He needs reps in this offense and now, he's going to get it. Most people that saw him in high school remember he really was a good, passing QB and all he's done is gotten bigger and stronger, and he's really got some ability. I liken him to a poor man's Ben Rothlisberger, because he really puts the same kind of zip on the ball. In all honesty, it's always been my thought, in the back of my mind that as Chappell matured, it was conceivable that IU would put him at QB and move Kellen to WR. I will tell you this, the staff has complete confidence in Ben and they believe he'll bring a lot to the table and allow IU to win ball games, but it will be up to the coaches as well to scheme the offense to fit his strengths, so this spring and summer is going to mean an awful lot of hard work for both Ben and the coaches, as they prepare for the upcoming season.

I hope fans will be patient, though the past few weeks with basketball, has probably burned any chance of fans being patient and understanding while a young QB works through the transition of back up to starter. There's a lot to like in Ben and what he'll bring to the table. There's also a lot to like in what the improved OL will bring to the table, and when the freshmen arrive this fall, and Darius Willis begins his career, they'll be a whole lot to get excited about. I'm also pretty excited about what this team can do, but we are at the bottom of the stairs now, and it's a long climb until November. A lot can happen between now and then, as well as a lot of improvement can take place. Personally, I believe in Coach Lynch, his staff, and his schemes to put the players in the position to succeed. Now, it will be up to the players to learn the schemes and take advantage of what is there for them.

Now, a little bit more on Kellen Lewis and what is going on with him. Kellen has had this problem for a while and was given every opportunity to correct it. He always said he would, but never followed through with those promises. Now, we'll see if he can, on his own. I personally want to thank those that have emailed me with ideas and testimonials about their own struggles in the past. It's certainly not out of the relm of possibility that KL can beat this addiction and improve his life and be a member of the IU football team, but he's got a long road until that happens.

For now, KL is still enrolled at IU. He's talking about entering a program this summer, as to stay eligible to play, he'll have to stay eligible in the classroom and complete the semester. However, I hope that this isn't just words, that he really stays clean, and gets help. I don't care at this point about football, this is about life and KL's ability to live life to the fullest. He's a very good kid, smart, and funny, but he's just made some bad decisions, so now it's up to him. I'm still a big Kellen Lewis fan, always have been, and I'm pulling really hard for him to succeed in getting through all this, again, not for football, but because life can be so short and opportunities like he has don't come around very often. Let's go #15, show everyone just what you are truly made of!!

Also want to congratulate Chris Hagerup for all his hard work and I'm glad he's got the opportunity to show the staff what he can do at QB this spring. Even if it's short-lived, he'll have a shot. Chris has worked extremely hard on his punting and his consistency and fans should not let 1 single worry cross their minds abou the the punting job this fall, Chris will have it well under control!

God Bless and next time, we'll dig into the defensive line!

Kellen Lews, QBs, pro days, and other tidbits

2008-03-07T08:24:00.000-08:00

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

TEs and OL

2008-03-02T17:05:00.000-08:00

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.

A look at this year's recruiting class

2008-02-07T07:43:00.000-08:00

Well the letters are in and IU came away with 19 student athletes. Of course, as usually, the "experts" ranked us last or next to last, but since I could care less what other people think, I think we met each of the objectives that we laid out to accomplish last year. What IU likes to do it seems is scout out the talent they really want and offer early. This is a tactic that MAC schools usually employ, because they try to get relationships built early, so when the big boys come calling, you are not a complete disadvantage. What I saw this season is IU offered probably 40 or so kids early, just like they always do, but this recruiting season, several verballed early, so you know IU got a lot of the kids they wanted. Also, the staff likes to then pick out 15 to 20 kids that will be great fits in the scheme, but we will have to battle for and work on them all season. Again, we won a few and lost a few here.

Bottom line is we did well. If you look at Terror's post on Rivals, he did a breakdown off of ESPN's recruit rankings. Interesting to see when you break stuff down, we average only about 8 points less than O$U. We went into the class needing depth and speed at the skill positions and depth and athleticism on both lines. We got that. So let's see what each can do for us.

Tyler Adetona 6'1" 205 WR from Gainesville, GA. Tyler runs a 4.45 and has some shake and bake to him. He's a strong player, as he already benches 315 and squats over 400, which is very good for a 205 pound kid. This season, he caught 75 passes for 1169 yards and 15 TDs. Tyler also runs track. He's a kid that could come in and play this season, especially if Means goes pro in baseball. As you may have also read on Scout and/or Rivals, Tyler has the bloodlines to become the ruler of the Ibeju Ode tribe in Nigeria, which is comprised of around 42,000 people. IMO, he's really an explosive type of recruit that I'm glad we got.

Larry Black 6'2" 290 DT from Wyoming, Ohio. Larry reportedly runs a 4.9, which is pretty fast for DL. He played DE in high school, but will move inside and joins a couple of other signies that are very similar in playing style. IU wants their DL to attack the gap and occupy the OL, so the LBs can come in and make the plays. Too many times these past couple of season, IU DL could be handled with one guy pretty effectively, which meant blockers could get downfield and take out the LBs and the safeties and corners had to make the plays. Larry was relatively unkown until he went to one of IU's camps and really shined. One of the things that the coaches really like about Larry is his quick and powerful handwork. He's got quick feet as well, but he can really battle inside and knock the guards and centers around. What I really like about him is he's aggressive and rarely takes a play off from the video I've seen of him.

Shane Covington 6' 180 Athlete from Milwaukee, WI. Shane ran a 4.51 which is pretty fast these day. I listed Shane as an athlete because he could play a number of positions at IU. Recruited as a RB, I don't expect him to stay there much past the first day of practice. I like when IU gets these type of kids that can play multiple positions and can run. He could be a WR, a safety, or even a CB. He's a lot like Nick Polk, and I also expect Shane to end up on the defensive side of the ball when all is said and done.

Marc Damisch 6'6" 285 OT from Buffalo Grove, IL. I really like Marc and I think he'll end up being a very fine LT for us after a red shirt year. What I like most about Marc is he's a basketball player. Those guys know a lot about positioning and footwork and I expect that once Marc gets some more muscle on him, he's going to be very good. He's the type of kid you put out there at LT, on that island, because he has the height, the reach, and the footwork to control those speed rushers.

Tandon Doss 6'3" 200 WR from Indianapolis, IN. Tandon runs a 4.5 and is another very versitale kids that could end up on either side of the ball. He was a RB this season at Ben Davis, but will start out at WR at IU. As good of a kid as Tandon is on the field, he's even better off of it. Like Coach Lynch said, IU has to recruit well in Indianpolis, and while they only got a couple of Marion County kids this season, they are well on there way to doing much better next season with Indy Metro players. Most scouts will tell you that Doss looks slow because he's so tall and lanky, but he's a lot faster than you'd think and he's quick too. He really has some moves to shake and bake. I really like what he, Adetona, and Love III bring to the table, as I'm not sure IU has recruited these kids of players before this season. Doss is another one that wouldn't surprise me if he played this coming year. He can also return kicks, which is an added bonus.

Adam Follett 6'4" 200 QB from Alma, MI. Adam runs a 4.78, which isn't too bad for a QB. While most IU fans were salavating about the propect of bringing in Ohrian Johnson, who was also 6'4", but ran a 4.5, many forgot all about Adam Follett. My advice to those folks is get to know this kid, because he's going to surprise you. Most know that Adam played 3 years in a run oriented offense and only could show off his arm at camps. IU took notice of his arm strength and accuracy. They knew he was raw in reading defenses, but that can be taught, because IU runs mostly out of the shotgun. When you are in a pro style offense, a QB must learn to look down and away from defenses, do a run fake, then look back up, read the defense again and fire, all in about 3 seconds. Not an easy thing to do. IU's offense is complex, but it's fairly simple for QBs, once the learn defenses. The very good thing that Adam will have going for him is high school ran the spread this season. While he had some interceptions, he atleast got to feel the offense and see how teams defend it. This will only help him in the future. We are seeing Kellen Lewis still adjusting to reading what the defense is giving him, and remember Kellen ran a triple option mostly in HS, so he's had to be taught everything from scratch. With Adam, you won't have to completely start over. Adam is a very smart player and I fully expect after a redshirt season that he'll come in and really be good player in a couple of season.

Alex Hunt 6' 200 RB from Buford, GA. Alex runs a 4.47 and is shifty, yet powerful, as he benched 185 pounds 22 times at a Scout combine. He was a forgotten man because he was hurt for much of the season and didn't play a whole lot. Buford is a lot like Carmel or Warren Central. They are a big time program and produce many D1 signies every year. Alex dominated at a lower level in GA his first 3 year, and when he had the opportunity at Buford, he produced big time. Another player that will more than likely redshirt, but don't forget about him. He's another track guy, as Coach Lynch likes to say, and during his junior year, there were feelers out there from LSU, Georgia, Georgia Tech, and Vanderbuilt. This kid, more than any other kid we signed, has a real chance to be a big time player.

Kyle Kozak 6'5" 240 DE/LB from Chathm, VA. Kyle runs a 4.5, no, that's not a misprint. How on earth he's only a 3-star prospect in a world where you rank kids based on size/speed ratios, is really beyond me. While Alex Hunt has the most potential of anyone on offense, this kid has the most on defense. He truly is a freak of nature as an athlete. The problem is his grades were never very good. He can really "fly around" which is what IU's defense needs is more of these type of kids. He's on campus already and will play Spring Ball. I'll be curious as to how he does on the field, because on paper, he looks really good.

Charles Love III 6'3" 190 WR from Memphis, TN Charles is a 4.4 flat guy that is tall and has good hands. He was also another one of the unknowns but Gerald Brown really has an eye for talent and spotted this kid. After a very good junior year, he was being looked at by the SEC big boys. But 4 QBs later, at the end of his senior season, the numbers just were not there. He has all the intangibles you want in a WR: tall, can jump, has long arms, and can run. Once he puts on some muscle, he should be a very good receiver for us in the future. The thing that I really like about this kid is he can play the slot, or he can run the outside. I like this versitility in a player. Also of note, he won the City of Memphis triple jump crown last season, so he's another very versitale athlete.

Will Matte 6'2" 265 OL from Wheaton, IL. I've seen a lot of posters look at this kid's measurements and say why, but this kid is going to start out at a position of real need, because of the lack of depth. Will is going to be a center. He's pretty quick and pretty powerful already and Bobby Johnson thinks he's going to be a very good player. It's probably going to take him a couple of years to develop, as he's been a guard in HS, so he's going to have to learn to read and call out line assignments and blitzes, but if he can get to the 290 range, I think we are onto something here. He's also a winner, as his team was state champs in 2006, and runner up this past season.

Mick Mentzer 6'3" 280 DT from Fort Wayne Indiana. They call him the freak, not because he's a weird guy, but because he played Middle LB in high school. How would you like to bust through the line in high school and get hit by a 280 pound guy? Most HS LB are 200 or so, but 280 is something else. Mick is another former basketball guy. Never really scored a lot, but was a fierce rebounder and played solid defense. This will serve Mick well in positioning and footwork. He also has strong hands, which you like in a DT. Another thing about Mick that I really like is he's just a football player. He's aggressive, hates the enemy so to speak, and just hustles. With Black and Sliger, we got 3 really good DTs in my opinion.

Justin Pagan 6'4" 290 OL from Chicago. Justin is a brawler, in that he loves to mix it up. He's had to be a fighter, growing up in Chicago and playing at St. Patrick's in the Chicago Public League. The coaches first saw him at the Rivals Chicago combine, then brought him into their one day OL camp and offered him on the spot. Coach Johnson will put 15 pounds on him and he's tagged to replace Saxon at LG. He's got a mean streak and he can also get out and pull a little bit, which is good that he can operate effectively in space.

Chad Sherer 6' 200 OLB from Arcadia, IN. Coach Lynch loves this kid. He was a 1,000+ yard RB in HS, but he'll be a OLB at IU. He can run, all he needs is about 20 pounds of weight. There's a chance that he could get up to 230 or so that he could go to MLB, but start outside. While Chad ran a 4.6 in the 40, it was his shuttle speed of 4.2 that caught the coaches eye. Those numbers tell me that he really holds his speed when in pads and cleats. The one thing that set him back is a knee injury in basketball. He's had surgery, but he probably won't be 100% by fall camp. He'll sit out a year and be ready to go in 2009.

Nick Sliger 6' 3" 290 DT/OL from Cicero, IN. If Mentzer is the freak, then this guy is the beast. He's not huge, not like Ken Plue the Boilermaker recuit that's 6'8" 350, but what makes Nick is beast is his play on the football field. He committed to IU way back in April of 2007, and he just lives, eats, and breathes football. He's like a gym rat in basketball, he's just always there trying to get better. He's the kind of kid you root for, and you rally around not matter what, he's not going to quit or give up. He wants to be pushed, yelled out, because he knows it will make him better. Coach Lynch has already called him the king of the training table. Of all the kids in this class, Nick will be their emotional leader. You need kids like this every class, and Nick also has the ability to play on either side of the ball. They will start him out at DT, but don't be shocked to see him move to OG before it's all said and done. Also, he's a wrestler which will help him on either side of the ball too.

Cortez Smith 5'10" 195 Athlete from Detroit, MI. Cortez runs a 4.54 and is listed as an athlete by me because like Shane Covingington, he can play a number of positions. He's rated as IU's 2nd best player in this class as well. IU staved off a fairly good challenge by Ron Zook to keep this kid, so it's obvious he has ability. Recruited as a RB, I think it's pretty certain that he'll be a DB in college. Some have compared him to a bigger version of Bob Sanders and expect him to move to strong safety. I'm not sure that will be his position, as I think it will be CB, but one thing is very certain about Cortez, and that he'll lay the wood on you and won't back down for any reason. He, like a lot of kids in this class, have a mean streak on the field to them. Their personalities are similiar in the "no quit attitudes". That's another thing that rankings and stars don't measure, and that's the heart and drive of a player. I truly expect Cortez to be all big ten at whatever position he's at by the time he's a Junior. The one thing I really like about Cortez is he's pretty strong for a 195 pound kid and he can jump, which makes me believe he'll be a CB for us. He benched 185 pounds 17 times at West Lafayette NIKE camp and he recorded a 38" standing vertical jump which is very good for a 5'10" kid.

Peter St. Fort 6'2" 180 from Naples FL. Peter runs a 4.56 and had the nickname of lumber in high school. He gained that nickname because he brought the lumber everytime he hit you. Peter is tabbed as a safety, but he can play CB as well. He reminds me a lot of Jerrell Drane another Florida kid from last season. It's really interesting how St Fort ended up at IU. Coach Lynch went to Golden Gate HS to watch JD Woods and Anthony Mains play in the game, but came away so impressed by the play of St. Fort, IU offered him and got him. It appeared for awhile that IU would also get Woods, but he ended up at West Virginia, but IU really gets an underrated versitale DB. He's another name I'd stow away in the back of your mind, because in a couple of years, we will hear a lot about him.

Marquelo Suel 6'3" 175 WR from Fort Wayne, IN. Marquelo runs a 4.5 and was IU's very first verbal to this class way back in April, just before Nick Sliger verballed to us. This kid is another one of those athletes that can play a number of positions, in fact he played 5 different positions over the course of his senior high school season this time around. This season he rushed, passed, and caught over 500 yards in each catagory. He was also a safety and CB on defense and he sometimes returned punts and kicks. He's just a kid, when you watch him on film, coach Lynch says just "jumps out at you". Of all the athletes IU has in the class, Suel is by far the best and most versitale. He'll come in as WR, and he'll probably stay there. He needs some weight, but he's not someone to overlook. He's a very good player and of course, another track guy.

AJ Thompson 6'2" 295 OL from Lakeland, FL. AJ is a native Kentuckian, but for his senior season, he played down in Lakeland, FL at Kathleen HS, one of the premier Florida HS in the state. Between Kathleen and Lake Gibson high schools, the community of Lakeland produces a dozen or so high end D1 prospects each and every season. AJ didn't disappoint this season and was nicknamed the road grader, because he can get low to the ground and just plow you over. He's a very good knee bender and should do very well at IU because he's still fairly quick (imagine John Sandberg with quick feet). His dad is Shelton Thompson that some will remember played at Florida State and for the Tampa Bay Bucs several years ago. What I like about AJ is that he's already enrolled and participate in spring drills and also he's a very versitale OL guy that can probably play any of the 5 positions. I think he'll start out at OG, but I wouldn't be shocked to see him to Center if Matte doesn't pan out.

Darius Willis 6' 210 RB from Indianapolis, IN. The jewel of IU's class this season, Darius is a major league RB that runs a 4.4, but can run over you as well and just keep haulin the mail. There's just so much to like about Willis in all honesty. He's an honor roll student, he runs on the track team in the 4x100 relay, he finished 2nd in Mr. Football voting this season, and set school and regional records in the 200 meter dash as well. He's an big time athlete, but him calling is football. To me, and this is just my opinion here, he reminds me a lot of Maurice Clairett, but faster. Thank God though he doesn't have Maurice's mental issues!!! I'm not expecting Darius to come in and lead IU to the promise land, but I believe he'll be the starter by mid season. IU hasn't had a RB like him in years. Again, it's beyond me that he's rated so low because his size/speed ratio and production are top notch! Another great thing about Darius is he played in the Spread at Franklin Central, so he's used to not having to run behind a fullback. That's one reason he's a great fit for this offense.

Well, next time, I'll try and get more stuff done on the end of the seaso reviews. Go IU!!!

Does Pryor hold the key to Ohrian Johnson?

2008-02-01T07:15:00.000-08:00

Terrell Pyror is a 6'6" 235 freak of nature that just so happens to be a QB. He runs a 4.4, can throw it 70 yards in the air, and just plain Vince Young you in the blink of an eye. He's wanted by everyone, so why in the world does he hold the key for IU getting Ohrian Johnson, a 2-star, 6'4" 200 QB/Athlete from Gulfport, FL. Well, here's what I know.

Ohrian is down to 3 schools: Ohio State, Indiana, and South Florida. It's been reported that IU and USF want him at QB, but don't be fooled by this information. O$U wants him at QB, and he appears to be plan B if the Buckeyes do not get Pryor.

As of today, it appears Michigan and the O$U are neck and neck for Pryor. Michigan was seeking a back up plan in BJ Daniels from Tallahassee, FL, but that appears to have fallen by the way side. Michigan needs a QB, heck, their top 2 from last season have graduated and transferred, so Pryor can start from Day 1 there in an offense that fits him to a T. At O$U, he probably will play, but maybe not start. The Offense will fit him as well, because he's simply a bigger, more accurate version of Troy Smith, so that's not a worry.

I feel that if Pryor chooses O$U, Johnson will be a Hoosier, and if he chooses Michigan, Johnson will be a Buckeye. I really believe it's a 2 horse race for OJ, IU and O$U. For fans that have been screaming for IU get into battles with the big boys, well you are getting your wish here. Don't be fooled by Johnson's 2-star rating, he's a mamoth star in waiting, and IU spotted that very early. He's 6'4" 200 pounds, runs a 4.4, has a vertical of over 40", and he's improving by leaps and bound in his ability to be a QB.

IU really doesn't have a back up plan at QB for this class, but of course they are after at least 4 QBs for next years: Morgan Newton, Jordan Luellan, Dolphao McCarthy, and Dusty Kiel (may end at MLB).

We'll see what happens, but OJ plans to choose the hat at his press conference. If I was to give a percentage I'd say they are as follows: O$U 50%, IU 49%, and USF 1%.

Offseason Part 5: Wide Receivers

2008-01-31T17:45:00.000-08:00

Thought I would group WRs and TEs together, since there are not that many TEs anymore, but I'm short on time, as the snow is coming, and I need some shut eye, because I'm sure I'll be out working accidents tonight. So, first, I want to start with James Hardy, and just simply say that it was a real pleasure to watch him play and mature as a player and as a person over the past 3 seasons. He came in with loads of potential, but someone that was going to be a 2 sport guy that NEVER had concentrated on football. In 2 seasons, he's improved so much it's scary, and I can not imagine how much he'll improve over the next 2 or 3 years, as he continues to concentrate on football only. From what I can read and gather, he'll go anywhere from 15 to 40 depending on what teams need, but if he can run in that high end 4.4 at his pro day, the sky's the limit in my opinion. He did so much for IU football in terms of it's offensive production it's not even funny. Many times, when KL was in trouble, he'd simply lob the ball up and James would just go get it. In 2006, James caught 51 passes for 722 yards and 10 TDs. In 2007, James caught 79 passes for 1125 yards and 16 TDs. What a season!

Now for the rest of the team!

James Bailey 6'2" 205 senior to be:
James started a lot last season and some this season, but saw his pt cut very much by the emergence of Ray Fisher. James didn't pout, instead, he kept working and found a very nice niche as the primary kick returner and he even returned a kick for a TD. In 2006, James caught 40 passes for 401 yards and 0 TDs. In 2007, he caught 26 passes for 270 yards and 2 TDs and also returned the ball 18 times for 456 yards (25.3) and that TD.

This season, I expect James to provide depth with his size and experience as well as be the top kick returner for the Hoosiers. If Andrew Means would happen to go to baseball, James will have to step into a starting role, but he's got experience there, so I'm not that worried.

Chris Banks 6'2" 180 redshirt junior to be:
Chris hasn't seen much action so far at IU, but that doesn't mean this Ohio HS product isn't talented. In fact, he showed last spring that he's very capable. The only real negative about him is he just can't seem to hold much weight on his frame, but he's working very hard none the less. Banks didn't catch a pass in 2006, and this past season, he didn't either, but he did appear in 3 games at WR and all other games on kickoff coverage. I expect Chris to continue to add depthat WR, but playing time is going to be hard to come by.

Matt Earnest 6'2" 180 redshirt freshman to be:
Matt came to IU from Crown Point HS in northwestern Indiana. During his RS year, he mimiced the opposing team's best WR on the Scout Team. Matt was very impressive in the fall and though he still needs to add some muscle, I expect him to play a little bit this fall in the slot. The staff is very excited about the potential of Matt, and though we may not see it this fall, he's going to really help this team his sophmore season.

Ray Fisher 5'9" 170 redshirt junior to be:
"Big Play" Ray as his teammates call him, really came into his own this season. He ended up 2nd on the team in receptions, and now that Hardy has moved on, he'll assume the #1 postion that KL will look to. Ray is a speed demon (4.29 40) from the football factory of Glennville HS in Cleveland, OH. Ray claims that he beat Ted Ginn regularly in sprints last summer before Ted Jr headed to training camp in Miami.

Ray caught 24 passes for 215 yards in 2006, and he upped that total in 2007, catching 52 passes for 482 yards and 4 TDs. Not to be outdone, he also ran the ball 7 times for 35 yards on reverses. In 2008, I expect Ray to be a huge part of the offense both in the short and long passing games, as the staff finds ways to get him to ball in space so that he can use his speed and quickness.

Jake Kocal 5'10" 180 redshirt junior to be, walk-on:
Jake saw time in the Indiana State game, but didn't catch a pass.

Andrew Means 6' 21o junior to be:
Andrew will play pro ball, but it will probably be on the diamond that Andrew will make his living. However, this past season on the gridiron, Andrew really became a force at WR. He came to IU as a WR, but was really valued as a CF for the baseball team. Andrew doesn't hit for power, but he's a stud defensively and can slap hit, hit for average, and swipe bases very effectively. I talked with a scout friend of mine, and he thinks of Andrew in the mold of Mike Cameron. My friend thinks he'll be drafted somewhere between round 15 and 20, so it's anyone's guess of whether he'll go pro this summer, or come back to school for another season. Of course, it's aways possible that he could play summer pro ball, then return to school in the fall, but we'll see.

In 2006, Andrew played some and caught 20 passes for 263 yards and 1 TD. This past season, he caught 48 passes for 560 yards, which was best for 3rd most on the team. In 2008, I expect Andrew's numbers to continue to go up, if he decides to stay at IU. It would really help this unit if he did stay, but IU has tons of depth here, including at least a couple of kids that could come in and play as true freshmen, so all wouldn't be lost, but it would allow most of the new comers to redshirt if Andrew did stay.

Eddie Miller 6'3" 190 redshirt freshman to be walk on:
Eddie has a chance to contribute down the road as a slot guy. He reminds me a lot of Jake Standeford who was a walkon senior at Purdue this season. I don't expect him to do much this season, but he has very good hands and is a smart player.

Nick Polk 6' 205 redshirt junior to be:
Nick is mostly known as the starting free safety on defense, but he did see action on offense some this season. Last season, as a WR only, he caught 32 passes for 326 yards and 1 TD, which was good enough for 3rd best on the team. However, the coaches obviously saw something in him and moved him to defense full time in the fall, and boy did he produce. He still was able to catch 1 pass this season for 10 yards, and I expect he will continue to see some time on offense, especially if Andrew Means doesn't return.

Collin Taylor 6' 180 redshirt junior to be walk on:
Collin got to see his first game action this season against Indiana State, though he didn't catch any passes. He also saw some action on kick coverage in another couple games as well.

Terrance Turner 6'3" 200 redshirt sophmore to be:
Terrance came to IU as a grayshirt after though a couple of years ago in the same class that brought in WRs Josh Bailey (ended up at LB), Chris Banks, Andrew Means, and Brandon Walker-Roby. However, it's Turner that now offers the most potential and is really on the verge of busting out this season. This season brought a lot of eye popping potential in fall practice , but a knee injury ended his season after only 5 games, he surprisingly he only caught a hand full of passes, though he did see a lot of action in those 5 games.

As some have probably read in Bryan Payton's blog today, Terrance ran during conditioning drills Tuesday and more than held his own. Though the staff will limit him during spring practice, he appears to be well on his way to being ready for fall practice and I feel will be starting by game 1. Terrance is a low end 4.5 kid and has big hands and can jump. I look for him to really break out with about 40 to 50 catches this fall.

Brandon Walker-Roby 5'11" 190 senior to be:
Brandon came to IU as a very promising recruit, and right after his brother, Courtney, left IU will records and as a high draft choice. Brandon even played as a true freshman, but he's never really been able to put it all together and have a breakout year. However, he's another of those unsung leaders of this team and I expect him to be a team captain this season, though he'll be no more than role player on offense. His main problem is his size/speed ratio isn't compatible. By this I mean, he's not a very fast runner, so he has to do his work over the middle, and he's really not big enough to take the punishment of being pounded by LBs and strong safties.

In 2006, Brandon did catch 5 balls for 40 yards, and in 2007, he managed 4 catches for 64 yards. In 2008, I expect much of the same from him. He'll see spot duty on offense, but will be a presence in the lockerroom and off the field.

Of course, IU has really recruited this position for this recruiting class, and they may not be done either. So far, IU has verbals from 4 kids, with a RB that could switch to WR, and another 3-star picking between IU and Memphis.

1. Tandon Doss 6'3" 200 WR from Ben Davis HS in Indianapolis. Runs a low end 4.5 and could see some PT this season, but like all freshmen, the staff would rather RS him.

2. Tyler Adetona 6'1 200 WR from Gainesville HS in Georgia. Runs a middle of the road 4.4 and could be another kid that gets early PT next season.

3. Marquelo Suel 6'3" 180 WR from Fort Wayne, Indiana. He was IU's first commit way back in the summer. Marquelo could be moved to FS, but for now, he's a WR with middle of road 4.5 speed.

4. Charles Love III 6'3" 190 WR from Memphis, TN. A fruit of Gerald Brown's labor, this kid is a hidden gem that is probably the less heralded of any of the before mentioned kids, but man, he's got some serious skills. runs a low end 4.4 and has a good vertical and reported soft hands.

5. Shane Covington is signed as a RB, but as I mentioned in a previous blog, he will probably be moved to either WR or CB. He's 6' 180 and reminds the staff of Nick Polk both as a receiver and athletically, as a DB.

Also, IU is in a heated battle with Memphis for Marcus Rucker, a 6'3" 175 WR from Memphis, TN. Marcus was pretty much set to go to KY, but scholarship crunches has eliminated them, and so he's down to IU and Memphis. He's another of Gerald Brown's hidden gems as IU was recruiting him and several of his teammates at Whitehaven HS in Memphis. Now that Gerald is in the NFL, I was concerned we'd lose out on Marcus, but I'm going to go out on a limb and say he'll be a Hoosier.

I've also been assured that IU will take Rucker and Johnson if they have the chance, but I'm believing more and more that Ohrian Johnson will be a Buckeye and Rucker will be a Hoosier.

Well, next time, I'll get the TEs.

God Bless!

Offseason Part 4: Running Backs

2008-01-25T12:39:00.000-08:00

Today, a look at the running backs.

Marcus Thigpen 5'9" 190 Senior to be:

Marcus had a very up and down year in terms of health and production. Last season, Marcus was used primarily as a returner and at WR, but the staff wanted to utilize his amazing 4.3 speed, so they wanted to get the ball in his hands much more often, so he was moved to RB full time. Coming to IU he had been a WR, RB, CB, and a returner, but had never been asked to carry the load on offense, and I think this year was a rude awakening for him in terms of the preparation that you need to do in order to take more of pounding in the fall. A look at Marcus's stats from 2006 shows that he ran the ball 98 times for 387 yards and 2 TDs. He also caught 18 passes for 180 yards and 2 TDs, and he made the most impact as a returner with 24 kickoff returns for 723 yards (30 yard avg.) and 3 TDs including 1 for 100 yards.

This season's numbers show him running 138 times for 568 yards and 0 TDs, 21 catches for 181 yards and 3 TDs, and 18 returns for 453 yards (23 yard avg) and 0 TDs. His body simply didn't hold up to the pounding it took to run between the tackles 10 to 15 times a game. He explosiveness was pretty much non-existant, and he was inactive for 1 entire game and played sparingly in a couple of others.

This coming season that staff is really after Marcus to get his mind and body ready for a 13 game season. The staff really likes him at RB and for now, he's the first team guy there. His pro potential makes him a returner who could be a 3rd down back to use that speed to throw too or even run a little. The staff would like to see Marcus add about 5 pounds of upper body muscle and still maintain the quicks. He did perform very well the last couple of games at RB and has a laot of potential there.

Personally the biggest thing at RB right now will be Darius Willis and whether he can come in and win or at least get the majority of the carries this fall. If he can, Marcus will move all over the place on offense and be that versitale player. If Darius can't, we are back to where we were this season with Marcus coming in and others filling in.

Demetrius McCray 5'11" 195 redshirt junior to be:

Demetrius's season was wrecked by injury from the word go, however he was able to play in 3 games which will probably cost the staff the chance to get a medical RS out of him. In 2006, Demetrius showed a lot of promise running 88 times for 361 yards and 2 TDs. He also caught 8 passes for 69 yards and 2 TDs.

This season, he came in as the #2 RB with the idea being he'd get around 10 carries or so a game to spell Marcus. However, he got hurt with a variety of different things and his final numbers show him with 22 carries for 154 yards and 0 TDs and 1 catch for 0 yards. Demetrius appears to be fairly healthy, so I expect a big spring from him. He's more of a complete back than Marcus and is still a good pass catcher out of the backfield. IMO, he would have taken the starting RB job from Marcus by the middle of the season if it wasn't for the injuries. Hopefully things can fall into place for him and he can be utilized this fall as the 2nd string RB.

Bryan Payton 5'9" 210 redshirt junior to be:
Bryan hasn't really had that much of a chance before this season to show what he could do, but this season, with the injuries to Marcus and Demetrius, he was able to show the staff and fans a little of what he could on the field. While he's probably most famous for his internet blog and his deep Christian faith, it's pretty evident that Bryan has a lot of talent, but he's buried on the depth chart. Bryan is a little bit of a bowling ball type of runner. He's not as fast as Marcus or Demetrius, but he's quick enough and certainly strong enough to absorb a hit and keep on going. This past season, with the injuries to the RBs and the lack of beef on the OL, Bryan's style of running was just what this offense needed in a few games.

In 2006, Bryan 15 times for 36 yards and 0TDs and didn't caught any passes in mop up duty in 7 games. This season, his stats were 90 rushes for 381 yards and 4 TDs and 12 receptions for 70 yards and 0 TDs.

This spring I expect Bryan to see a lot of carries and he will be competing once again with Marcus and Demetrius. Bryan is one of my favorite players on this team and he's certainly a leader on and off the field.

Trea Burgess 6'1" 220 redshirt sophmore to be:
Trea is a walk on at IU and due to the injuries to the top 3 RBs, he actually saw some game action and didn't disappoint all that much. He's a bruiser, plain and simple, but he's got some talent to play and he was a nice change of pace here and there last season. This season he ran 18 times for 77 yards and 1 TD and caught 1 pass for 14 yards.

This spring, I expect to see Trea a little heavier and doing spot duty at Fullback. While I'm not sure how much we will use a FB, if we need to, it will either be Dedmond or Burgess or maybe another of the OL guys.

Josiah Sears 6' 250 graduated:
Josiah was another walk on that bled cream and crimson. He was mainly useds as a FB early in his career, but got to carry the ball some the past couple of seasons as IU mainly had scatbacks on their roster. Josiah was truly one of the team leaders this past season, and while his yardage can easily be replaced, his leadership will be difficult.

Josiah was your typical hard-nosed walk on who put forth max effort every play, every practice. This season he racked up 36 carries for 114 yards and 4 TDs (the first of his career at IU) and he also caught 14 passes for 150 yards and 2 TDs. His production this season was much needed in a couple of games and he's another of my favorite players that has every played at IU.

As for Josiah's future, not much has been said, though I would expect him to attempt a pro career as a Fullback.

Zach Davis-Walker 5'8" 180 redshirt freshman to be:
Zach redshirted this season as he came to IU from Plantation, FL. Coach Hep and Coach Lynch have also liked this small scatbacks that can turn the corner and change the game with a long TD run. The problem for IU is that the OL hasn't always provided that opportunity to do that very much and the small scatbacks have struggled.

Last season, while on the scout team, mimicing the other team's top RB and running behind a much bigger OL than the starting OL, Zach showed a ton of potential. He was named scout team offensive player of week several times and the staff believes that he can come in and play some this fall. I will be interested to see how he looks this spring. He'll come in 4th string, but I'm going to bet he moves above that by the end of the spring.

Shawn Winston 5'10" 200 redshirt freshman to be:
Shawn has walked on at IU and redshirted this season. Shawn played his HS ball at South Bend Adams and has many opportunities to play D1 AA football or lower, but chose to come to IU and walk on. Though he hasn't gotten a whole lot of work since he's gotten here, the staff believes that in time, he can earn some. He's pretty quick and fast, so we'll see what he can do this spring and beyond.

Also, RB has obviously been a huge position this recruiting season as IU has potential gotten 4 verbals at this positon, though I'm pretty confident that some will move to other positions. I won't break down these kids too much, as that's for a later blog, but I will predict where they will be come spring ball.

1. Darius Willis-6' 215 and runs a low 4.6 to high end 4.5. Darius is the biggest RB recruit to come to IU in a decade and many believe that he could easily come in and start, and at the very worst, get the majority of the carries by season's end. Obviously, he'll stay at RB.

2. Alex Hunt-6' 200 and runs a high end 4.4. Alex was hurt most of this season, but the 2 games he played in, he did very well. I expect Alex to stay at RB and redshirt next season. Though lightly regarded, he showed in 2006 that he had a ton of potential with several SEC schools looking at him.

3. Shane Covington-6' 180 and runs a very low end 4.5. Shane is very versitale, as he played RB, WR, CB, and returner this season. I truly expect Shane to move to either the defensive side of the ball, probably CB. He was recruited at RB though, but I don't think IU is going to keep 3 guys there, or at least in my opinion, they should not. Shane will be redshirted to gain weight, but I really do think he's a CB for us down the road.

4. Chad Sherer-6' 200 and runs a low end 4.6. Chad was recruited as an OLB, so he will be moving. The only question with him appears to be when he gets here. He was hurt this fall in football and healed up, but did more damage to his knee playing basketball and has now had surgery. There has been talk of a grayshirt possibility, since his knee won't be 100% yet by fall ball, but there is nothing official on that decision yet. Chad had a very good career in HS as a RB, but he's definitly going defense whenever he gets to IU.

I could also name Cortez Smith here, but it's pretty obvious that he's going to come to IU as a DB, though he was intially ranked by Scout and Rivals as a RB. Smith is expect to be either a CB or SS at IU.

IU still has an offer out to Isiash Pead from Columbus, OH. IU hosted him in December and he had a decent time. He wants to be a RB and currently has Pitt as his leader. IU recruited him as a RB, but really did want to switch him to CB, so they can utilize his high end 4.3 speed. My thoughts are he'll end up at either Pitt or Cincinnati. I don't think IU is going to get him.

Next time, I'll take a look at the WR and TEs

GOD BLESS!

Offseason Part 3: Quarterbacks

2008-01-17T15:51:00.000-08:00

Tonight I want to start looking at each position, player by player, and break down what was done individually, and as a group. I will also look at incoming recruits and breakdown their impacts as well. Also, if you didn't see my post on Peegs, there no kids coming in this weekend.

Kellen Lewis: 6'1" 180 RS Junior
Kellen was the starter from day 1 this season and started all 13 games. Since IU runs a zone type of spread offense, the QB position has to be able to run the ball, throw the ball, and smart enough to read the defense and be able to decide just what to do, either hand off, run himself, or throw it. It's an offense that desires an athletic QB, but still has to be able to throw it. KL came to IU as a run first, pass second type of player, and he's still learning how to be that passing type of QB.

In 2006, KL started the last part of the season, but still played in 11 games. His numbers were 124 rushes for 441 yards and 5 TDs, and he completed 190 passes in 346 attempts for 2221 yards and 14 TDs with 7 INTs. He accounted for 2662 yards by himself with an average of 242 yards/game.

In 2007, KL ran the ball 147 times for 736 yards and 9 TD, and he completed 265 passes in 442 attempts for 3043 yards and 28 TDs with 10 INTs. He accounted for 3779 yards by himself with an average of 291 yards/game.

KL started out the season like a house a fire, but from the Illinois game on, he really went through a Sophmore slump that continued all the way through the bowl game. KL is immensely talented, but he has to learn to be smart with the ball and use his legs to set up the pass. In games that he would struggle, he would try to set up the run, with the pass, and it just didn't work. There are many reason as to why that was, but for IU to improve on offense and limit the turnovers, especially the fumbles, KL has to improve. There is no doubt in my mind that he will. He's the leader of this team and not much rattles this kid. I fully expect another huge year from him and he'll enter the Spring as the #1 guy.

Ben Chappell: 6'3" 235 RS Sophmore

Ben was IU's 2nd string QB last year and was able to play in 3 games. Unfortunately for Ben, his most memorable performance wasn't a very good one, as he was inserted into the Northwestern game and to everyone surprise, he tried to throw a pass, and it was picked off and returned for a TD.

Ben did have 4 rushes for 2 yards and he completed 1 pass for 14 yards with 0 TDs and that 1 INT. Though Ben is very, very green in terms of in game experience that doesn't mean that the coaches don't like what they see out of him. Ben performed very well in the spring last season and he continued to grasp the offense very well during fall practice. Ben came to IU known for his QB smarts and throwing ability and he's not disappointed there, and Ben has shown the ability to run the ball too. Obviously, he's not the shifty runner than KL is, but he can run the ball and he pack a real punch when he runs into you.

Ben will start the spring as the clear favorite to be 2nd string. Fans should not be as concerned if KL would go down, because Ben can step in and do pretty well.

Blake Powers: 6'4" 235 Senior
Blake lost the starting QB job last year, so he made an attempt to switch to TE. He played that position last spring and into the fall, but the decision was made to switch him back to QB during the season, as the TE position was once again going to be used as a blocking position to help the OL, and that certainly wasn't Blake's strength.

For the season, Blake only played in one game this season, Purdue, but he was able to do a QB sneak and picked up a huge first down for the Hoosiers. That sneak, comprised of picking up 2 whole yards, was all we saw of Blake on the field. But that wasn't really the true impact of Mr. Powers, as we didn't see what he did off the field as a leader that was the true impact of this team and one that will be hard to replace this coming season.

When Blake was replaced as the starter, due to injury, but completely after his return, he never said anything. In fact, he just worked and was a leader and showed his young teammates what it met to be a real leader. He mentored KL last season. This season, he mentored KL and Ben and Teddy. Blake was one of my favorite players when he was starter, but even more when he wasn't. He will be truly missed, and I think he would make a great coach one day.

Teddy Schell: 6'5" 220 RS Freshman
Teddy redshirted this season and spent the fall running the scout team for IU. Teddy came down to IU early last summer and participated in 7 on 7 drills and really did a very good job. In fact, if the OL had shown more, and Blake Powers wasn't summoned back to the QB position, I believe Teddy could have played had their been an injury to KL or Ben. However, it was very good that he got a RS year. He's put on about 10 pounds of muscle and he's working at learning the zone spread. Since he's a true pocket passer, IU would have to change it's offensive approach a little bit if he were to play. He's not a runner, though he could scramble a little in a pinch, but his true strength is his arm. I'm looking forward to see him in Spring ball and showing a bit of what he can do with this offense.

Dustin Hass: 6'1"220 RS Senior (walk-on)
Dustin has never played a down at IU so far, and I highly doubt he ever will, but that doesn't keep him from working hard and doing the things he needs to do. Dustin is very athletic and had offers to play QB in low football division as well as baseball in other divisions, but he chose to walk on and play for IU.

Adam Follett: 6'4 200 True Frosh from Alma, Michigan
Adam will be a true freshman this fall. Adam is a real sleeper, as he runs a 4.7 40 and has a very good arm. This season, he transferred to Alma, so that he could play in a pass first offense. Adam will no doubt redshirt next season, but though this kid is raw, he's really got a live arm and he can run. As he learns the offense, he really has to the potential to be an impact player at IU.

IU has also offered, and hosted on an official visit, Ohrian Johnson. He's a 6'2" QB/athlete from Gulfport, FL. He's a lot like KL in that he's got offers from Tennesse, South Florida, and interest from O$U as an athlete, but IU has made it clear, they want him at QB. Ohrian has stated he doesn't care where he plays and he's in the process of taking his visits and won't make a decision until very near signing day. He really enjoyed his official visit here, and several kids that visited that weekend did commit. Darius Willis has been in touch with him trying to persuade him that IU is the place for him. I think at this point, IU sits pretty well with him, and we will take him if he wants to commit, regardless if anyone else commits or not.

Next time, we'll look at the running backs.

Offseason Part 2

2008-01-13T14:07:00.000-08:00

Before we get to the defensive coaches, I wanted to clear up that Alex Hunt did make his official this weekend. He was the last one of the verbals to come up and I was beginning to wonder if he would follow through with his committment. I know John Decker will be doing an interview soon with him, and it will be interesting to see what he has to say. Also, according to Dutra (RB from Center Grove) father, his son has been offered a preferred walk on chance at IU as an athlete. Dutra is small but runs in the low 4.4 to high 4.3 range. Could be an excellent return guy, much like Lance Bennett. Dutra has offers from Ball State, Indiana State, and Western Kentucky, so we'll see what happens. Probably won't know until after signing day.

Also, I have talked with some very close to Trent Mossbrucker, the kicker from Mooresville, IN who has told several he wants to go to IU. He's back and forth as now Iowa's staff has been showing him much more love and telling him to "honor his committment" and he'll develop more as a person away from home, than right next door. Sounds to me like, he'll probably end up a Hawkeye in the end, but we'll see. If anything does happen, it won't be until signing day at the earliest.

Okay, now for the defensive coaches: At the beginning of the season, I made a post on Peegs that I thought that IU's offense was good enough to win 10 games, but it would be up to the defense to get us to a bowl game, and this season, the defense was good enough to allow the team to win 7 games. However, much improvement is needed for the team to go on to the next step.

While there were many rumors before the start of the season, IU stayed with the 4-3 scheme and went very vanilla in terms of mixing up formations. The coaches were very simplistic with their approach, the DTs would hold the line and the DEs would blitz. The LBs would pursue, and the DBs would play a deep zone, thus allowing underneath stuff, but nothing over the top and the safeties would also purse the ball. This scheme works well with fast players that are not afraid of contact, but for IU, I still don't think they have the type of players in certain positions to really make this defense work. Also, we saw the coaches go with experienced guys, instead of more athletic, greener players. I can completely understand those moves, because the coaches were really playing for their coaching lives.

DL/Co Defensive Coordinator Brian George:
Brian is another of the coaches that came with Coach Hep from Miami of Ohio. What I really like about Brian is that he was an OL coach at Miami before he was their DL coach. You can tell that IU's DL, especially this season, really understands what the opposing OL is trying to do, and that's a direct correlation to being taught the tricks of the trade and knowing some moves that will offset an OL guy. This season, IU's DL guys emerged from basically out of nowhere to record 35.5 sacks. Compare that to those same positions having only 10 the year before. Brian has always been known to have DLs that really generate pressure, and the increase of 25.5 sacks from one year to the next is just insane really.

Brian also oversees the running game defense for IU as Co-defensive coordinator. Last season, the IU defense gave up a 2089 rushing yards to opponets for an average of just under 175 yards a game. They also gave up 101 first downs running the ball. The defense as a whole gave up 394 points last season with a whopping 54 TDs and 7 FGs.

Now, this season, the defense gave up 2076 yars rushing to opponets for an average of just under 160 yards a game. Of course you have to add the fact that IU played an extra game this season, so don't be fooled by the stat that IU only gave up 13 yards less than last season. On the scoring front, IU gave up 370 points with 48 TDs and 13 FGs.

So there was improvement from one year to the next, but it has to get better in my opinion. I've always believed that you have to controll the line of scrimmage both offensively and defensively first to win games. In recruiting, IU loaded up with the 7 blocks of limestone on the OL, but didn't really do a lot to the DL until this current class which has seen several verbals that will play DL. I think in another year or two, we'll begin to reap some reward here as far as getting the DL to control the line of scrimmage much, much more.

Cornerbacks/Co Defensive Coordinator Joe Palcic
Another of the assistants that followed Coach Hep over from Miami of Ohio. Joe serves as IU's CB coach as well as the passing defensive coordinator for IU. Joe was a LB at Miami and then became a grad. assistant, before becoming Hep's LB coach, then DB coach. His father, Bob, has been a long time college and NFL assistant for several teams, so Joe has been in and around football for a LONG time.

Last season, IU gave up 2739 yards passing in the 06/07 season with an average of 229 yards/game and 29 TDs in 12 games. This season, the passing defense gave up 3168 yards with an average of 244 yards/game and 21 TDs over 13 games.

Last season, IU gave up more TDs than FGs, but this year, the defense seemed to hold up more in the red zone and give up more FGs and less TDs. What the numbers also show is that IU improved a little bit in the front 7 from one year to the next, but not that much in the passing game. It's a little deceiving I think because teams were behind against IU more and thus had to pass, but with 2 kids that are expected to be NFL draft picks, I think the passing defense really needs to improve for this defense to take the next step.

A lot of people bag on the LBs, and the running game, but it really was the pass defense that didn't show the improvement, which is disappointing, because the DL was creating a ton of pressure and generated all those sacks. For the record, IU generated 42 sacks total, so one can deduct that the pass defense got a ton of help upfront, or it could have been much worse back there. There are a lot of reasons for this I think, but I think scheme wise, IU must be more physical in their CB play, but this season, they really didn't have the personell to do that. I do expect this to change with Phillips starting next season and Jones and Adkins are much more physical players as well, so Joe will have some green kids to work with, but they are players that will allow IU to be more aggressive. As for the safeties, I'll save that for their coach, but across the defensive backfield and our cover LBs, IU has to improve here and that should be a priority this spring and for fall practice.

I should also mention that IU's CBs were able to pick off 11 passes this season and break up 15 passes, which were both increases from the previous season (7 INTs and 14 breakups). However the stat that worries me is the break ups. It shows how non-aggressive the guys were. They played the receivers well and read the eyes of the QB and jumped routes to intercept, but they have to be more aggressive. I'd actually take less INTs and more break ups if it got our players more aggressive. Also, Phillips has shown over the last couple years to post a lot more big plays than Majors. Majors was a lot faster and had much more experience, but he's not even close to as aggressive as Phillips will be.

I should also note that Joe is our main point of contact in the Ohio area as far as recruiting goes. He was very responsible for IU getting into and landing some Cleveland Glennville guys, which is a very good thing.

Linebacker/Special Teams Co Coordianator George Ricumstrict:
Big George was another of the assistants to come from Miami of Ohio. George played at Central Michigan and coached there, as well as t Miami before coming to IU. George started out at CMU as a special teams coach and his teams became very good at blocking kicks as well as returning them for TDs. He immediately impacted IU's special teams in the latter category of kick return average and TDs last season, and got Marcus Thigpen preseason all american honors for several magazines. Though this season wasn't as successful, James Bailey did return a kickoff for a TD and Tracy Porter did very well in punt returns.

The linebackers were under a lot of fan criticism this season, especially the MLB position, and there were some issues in terms of the LBs getting engulfed by blocks and not using the speed to get to the play. When your defense is based on pursuit and gang tackling the ball, your LBs have to be aggressive and make plays. When IU won games, the LBs usually had pretty big games, but the losses, showed that the LBs had to get more bigger, yet faster to really be able to fly around.

IU prefers smaller, faster guys, which is fine, as long as you can get to the ball and tackle it. That will be another point of emphasis for this defense next season. As far as speed goes, IU has that, but they lack tackling technique as well as beating block techniques. Last season, IU's LBs had 247 tackles, 4 sacks, and 1 INT. This season IU's LBs posted 349 tackles, 4.5 sacks, and 2 INTs. I think this shows the improvement of run support that IU had, but the lack of consistancy in pass defense, especially in the middle of the field. IU's LBs are fast. Johnson runs a 4.5, McClurg is a high end 4.5 guy, and Patterson is a 4.6 guy. All are good in run support, but not so much in pass defense, thus you saw IU use the nickle a lot and use an extra DB, instead of LB. For IU to improve the pass defense, they must find OLBs that can defend the run, as well as the pass.

IU could essentially start 3 new LBs next season with Mayberry in the middle and Carrington and Replogle on the outside. I think IU will improve the passing end with the Justin and Tyler, but I don't know if it will be enough. George really has to get both of his units, LBs and Special teams, to improve this spring.

I should also note the George works Michigan pretty exclusively recruiting wise and was big, along with Matt Canada in IU landing Adam Follett this year, along with Cortez Smith from Detroit.

Safeties/Recruiting Coordinator Mike Yeager:
Mike is yet another of the long list of guys that followed Coach Hep from Miami of Ohio to IU. Mike is young, but in his young life he has really become known around the Big Ten as a solid Safety coach and recruiter. He's really had an impact in both areas for IU, and the coordinator is especially key in making sure every stone is turned over so to speak recruiting wise.

As far as safeties go, Mike really did well last season with Will Meyers and Troy Grosfield. They led IU in tackles last year and though they were not fast, they were really the heart and soul of the defense. Fast forward to this year, and Mike had to break in 2 new starters and tutor a WR to start at FS, and in my opinion, he did extremely well. Austin Thomas is a big time SS in the run game. He's limited in passing situations, but run wise, he's a monster. In fact, he's almost like another OLB out there. Polk is a star in the making and rarely made mistakes last year. He played way off the line, but once he got the play diagnosed, he would just fly to ball. Both safety positions I suspect, will be much more aggressive next season, and of course waiting to snatch any extra PT at SS is Mitchell Evans, who is built a lot like Thomas, but is much better in the pass game, but not quite as good in the run. While Thomas led IU in tackles this season (104), the safeties were much improved from the year before, and I expect them to be even better next season.

Director of Football Operations Harold Mauro:
Harold has been around IU for many years. He's the only person I know of that has been a part of all of IU's bowl games as either a player, assistant, or administrator. He was the starting Center on the 1967 Rose Bowl team and was an assistant for the 1979 Holiday Bowl and a Senior AD during Mallory's bowl games in the 90s. This season, he was in his 3rd year as director of fball operations and it's a perfect role for the guy.

As director of fball operations, Harold is responsible for most day-to-day aspects of the program, including travel and budget management. He is involved in every non-coaching aspect of the program. He's also a very neat guy to talk too and can tell you about the good times, as much as the down times this program has seen over the pas few decades.

One coach that IU doesn't have on either side of the ball per se is a quality control coach, though this season, the grad assistants handled that role. A Quality Control Coach is responsible for breaking down opponent's game film. Usually they are a week or two ahead of the team they are playing. They also can enter and analyze data and try to generate tendicies of opponets on what they like to do. Usually, young grad guys do this with hopes of moving on as a position coach, then to coordinator, and then of course to Head Coaching. Grad assistants can change every year, so it was nice to see former grad assistant Kyle Conner move on to coach the TEs and get a permenant gig at IU.

Bottom line is that IU's defense has to improve across the board for IU to move another step forward and get into bigger bowls and more wins.

God Bless!!

Offseason Part 1

2008-01-06T13:46:00.000-08:00

Thought I would start the offseason by doing some overviews of the coaches and what we saw from them this year and what we can expect in the future, and also a breakdown of what the players did by position this year and what we can expect going into Spring ball. Add in the signing of a new recruiting class and of course who will still come for officials over the next couple of months, and this blog out to be pretty active this offseason. So I thought I would start with the head coach and the offensive coaches first.

First, Bill Lynch:
If you could use one phrase to describe Coach Lynch, mine would be: "Indiana born, Indiana bred, and Indiana until the day he dies". Coach Lynch has been in, and around football in the state of Indiana since he was a player at Chatard HS in Indianapolis in the early 70's. He has been the HC at Butler University, Ball State, DePauw, and now Indiana. He served as the Offensive Coordinator at Ball State, and as QB coach at IU under Bill Mallory. He has an overall HC record of 88 wins and 73 losses with 3 ties. He also was a football and basketball player at Butler University and he was inducted into the Butler Hall of Fame in 2000. He was a litte all american at QB while at Butler as well.

Because of his extensive background of coaching in the state of Indiana, it should be no surprise to anyone that he really has a strong foothold with many, many coaches and programs around the state. Even the President of the Indiana coaches association came out and said some very encouraging things about the association's feelings about Lynch becoming the head man at IU. This should only help cement IU as a contender from many of the top players that the state of Indiana produces, year in, year out.

Coach Lynch is a competitor, and he doesn't back down from anyone. He's certainly a player's/coach, though that should not be misinterpreted as someone that let's the players run the show. He's a lot like Coach Hep, in that he will be a father figure to you. He believes in family and he believes that the classroom should come first, because you are a student, then an athlete. He really tries to make the team just a big family, and I think we all saw that this season, as this team may very well be the closest knit team that I've ever heard of. Of course, all that is good, but in terms of x's and o's, what should we expect from Coach Lynch in the future.

One thing is clear, no one will outwork Bill Lynch. He's a tireless worker who will have his teams concentrate on the foundamentals and doing the little things that make teams successful. He will continue to run the spread at IU and it appears next season that the IU offense will run a lot of zone spread, which really utilizes the QB to make the decision of whether to run or pass, based on what the defense is presenting to you at the line of scrimmage. On defense, he prefers a 4-3 with heavy pursuit to the ball. He also has the DBs playing a deeper zone, which keeps you from being beat over the top. It has a similiar feel of the cover 2, but it's still an attacking/pressuring defense.

Overall, Coach Lynch is a solid HC that lets his assistant teach and coach, but will be very hands on with the players. He will insist on grades first, football second with a heavy emphasis on fundamentals and attacking offense and defense. IU fans should expect high scoring games, solid recruiting, and the continuance of bowl games for the IU program over the next several seasons. Coach Lynch is a solid choice to continue to build this program upward and outward.

Offensive Coordinator/QB Coach Matt Canada:
Coach Canada is really an up and coming HC in the making. A former QB at Northern Illinois, he started his coaching career at Northern Illinois, where he spent 6 seasons as RB coach, QB coach, and OC. At IU, he's been QB coach and now has added OC to his responsibilities. Matt's offenses have really been known for 2 things, good QB play and lots of points. At Northern Illinois, his only season at OC saw them up reach the Top 12 in the National Polls as well as #10 in the BCS. Northern Illinois averaged 32 pts/game that season and the QBs enjoyed a rating of 140, which is extremely high. Once Coach Hep came to IU, he immediately tapped Matt to be his QB coach.

In 2004, he came to IU and Matt LoVecchio enjoyed an unbelievable season. IU went from 11th in the Big 10 in passing effeciency to 5th, and from 10th in scoring to 4th. Some of it had to do with a scheme change, but a lot of it was coaching as well. In 2005, IU QBs threw for a school record 24 TD passes. Things have continued to climb forward in 2006 and in 2007, Matt was named the OC at IU which put him in charge of calling plays. While 2007 had it's down moments, IU achieved more wins that it has had since 1993.

Matt is also a very good recruiter and has been working in and around the state of Florida for a couple of years, as well as being one of the main points of contact for any QB that IU is recruiting. Matt was intrumental in IU landing Adam Follet and he's the main guy in the continued recruitment of Ohrian Johnson from Gulfport, FL, and he was in attendance yesterday watching Darius Willis in the Under Armor All Star game. Already, he has IU in the mix for 2009 prospects Morgan Newton and Jordan Luallen.

Many believe that Matt could be the next HC at IU, but for now, he's a young, and up and coming offensive coach that continues to see his teams put up large numbers on offense and his QBs be efficient with the ball. This coming season will be KL's 3rd year under Matt and he's improved every season. Though KL had some fumbling and interception issues toward the end of the season, I believe he and Matt will get those issues worked out and KL will be a very dynamic player that will lead the team back to another bowl game next season.

Assistant HC/Running Back Coach/Special Teams Co-Coordinator Gerald Brown
The elder stateman of the assistant coaches, Gerald has become a very hot name for offensive coordinator positions at other BCS schools. Tennessee has tossed his name around this season, and as his RBs and players continue to blossom at IU, I think it's going to be harder and harder to keep him here. His brother, Kippy Brown, is the new OC for the Detroit Lions of the NFL.

Gerald Brown was the recruiting coordinator for the state of Texas up until last season, when he asked Coach Hep if he could switch over to Tennessee and the Northern part of Georiga. Since the switch, he was cemented IU into the minds of several top players in the state of Tennessee and especially the City of Memphis. This state produces a lot of underrated talent, and this season, IU landed one of the biggest sleepers that I've seen in sometime in Charles Love III from Memphis. I fully expect IU to continue to tap into the state of Tennessee because of Coach brown for years to come. Though I don't have a list, I've heard that IU is on some very highly ranked kids from that state, which is unusual for a non SEC school to get this involved with recruits.

At IU, RBs have averaged, well, until this season, 1,550 yards per season. This season, saw that change, and will be a point of emphasis for the coaches in the spring time. Darius Willis will help, but IU must improve it's OL play in the running game to get the RBs more time.

Offensive Line Coach/Running Game Coordinator Bobby Johnson
Bobby Johnson is quickly becoming on of the best OL coaches in the entire country. His summer camp has attracted huge names to IU over the past couple of years, and this season that camp was instrumental in IU landing as many OL prospects as they did. Coach Johnson came to IU with Coach Hep from Miami of Ohio and he's had several former players make it to the NFL.

This offseason may bring coach Johnson's biggest challenge yet, as he must replace 3 starters on the OL and figure out someway to bring the running game into a consistant attack for this offense. It still amazes me that IU could win the amount of games they did win and put up the offensive numbers that they did, without much of a running game. Like Coach Brown, Coach Johnson will be working a lot this off season with the running game. However, IU is very solid here with Coach Johnson and we should continue to see the new recruits and the 7 blocks of Limestone improve every year.

Wide Receivers Coach Billy Lynch Jr.
Younger Coach Lynch is another of the group of young assistants that IU has on its coaching roster. Another coach that came from Miami of Ohio, he is also a tireless recruiter that is responsible for luring almost 1/2 of last year's class and many from this year's verbals as well. Lynch jr. concentrates in the Midwest and in the state of Indiana. He was present yesterday, along with coach Yeager at the Junior Combine at the Army All Star game, and already has IU in the running for several kids in Ohio, Indiana, and Illinois for 2009. Last season, IU's receivers totaled over 2,600 receiving yards and that was good for 4th in school history. This season, again, the WRs posted 2600 receiving yards and this year, Billy has tutored James Hardy into a probable first round draft choice.

While the off season will bring in a new crop of WRs and a huge challenge to find replacements for Hardy, and probably Andrew Means, IU has a strong, young group of WR that are not only talented but bring a lot of athleticism to the table. Coach Lynch Jr. will have a lot to work with this spring and fall, and it will be fun to watch all of these kids develop.

Tight Ends Coach Kyle Conner
Yes, IU does have a TE coach and they do have TEs on the roster. This season, the TEs actually caught 5 passes and they were mainly used as blockers on the right side of the Offensive Line. Kyle was at IU in 2006 as the Offensive Quality Control coach, but move to TE coach for this season. He was instrumental in developing Blake Powers from QB to TE during the offseason and Spring. In fact, Blake remarked that Kyle was great in teaching him what he needed to know so quickly. However, Blake and the staff felt it best that he return to QB after the season started to get more experience behind Lewis.

This offseason he's been responsible for the development of Max Dedmond. With only 3 scholarship TEs on the roster, it appears that IU only views the TE as a position of necessity, not necessarily a position of need. I also expect Dedmond to come in and lead block at times at Full Back. Kyle hasn't really recruited all the much until this season. Kyle is another of the deep group of young assistants that IU has, and will only continue to get better with time.

Well, next time, I'll talk about the Defensive Coaches, as well as the Harold Mauro, the Director of FBall Operations at IU.

God Bless!

Do what we do

2007-12-28T18:30:00.000-08:00

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!

Gray and over-signing

2007-12-19T16:28:00.000-08:00

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.