Is the sky really falling? New recruit and Kellen Lewis

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