Crimson and Cream

I'd really hate to see Maryland end up with him and have him go off on us 

Not a big difference in skill, if at all. Waters averaged 25 ppg at a power prep school last year. Aside from height and LENGTH, Waters likely the MUCH better PG prospect.

Waters interviews like a complete class act. I can't say on Scruggs one way or another but Waters would be easy to root for and another quality kid.

I've been quoted saying I wanted Scruggs more, but merely based on size and I think Rojo and Newkirk can play PG.


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Sounds like Waters to IU is more and more likely. I can live with this. My only gripe is height in the Scruggs/Waters debate. I otherwise like Waters.


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Darius is apparently doing very well in preseason, Raiders fans seem convinced he's a lock to make the team, with possibly an even bigger role.

Darius is apparently doing very well in preseason, Raiders fans seem convinced he's a lock to make the team, with possibly an even bigger role.

Can IU’s Tom Allen do what so many could not?
By Pete DiPrimio, pdiprimio@news-sentinel.com Monday, August 22, 2016 6:10 PM  
BLOOMINGTON -- Tom Allen coaches on the move. He strides around Indiana’s football practice fields like a power lifter preparing to hoist a personal best.
It’s all about the fire, you see.
The defense sets and Allen sets with it. He lines up as if he’s a linebacker. Wait. Now he’s a cornerback. Wait. Now he’s a safety. Passive coaching, it seems, won’t turn the Hoosiers’ perennially bad defense into a difference-making one.
In this goal-line practice moment, the No. 1 defense braces to stop the No. 1 offense. Allen revs up as if he will make the play. A red hat wedges low on his forehead. Dark sunglasses cover his eyes, but not his passion.
The ball is snapped. Tailback Devine Redding blasts up the middle virtually untouched for a touchdown, and Allen is instant fury. “That’s ridiculous,” he says and punches the air. “I want the 2s out here!”
That would be the No. 2 defense. The No. 1 group is kicked to the sidelines to watch, stew and wait for redemption. Allen continues firing verbal shots. He does not sugar coat. If tough love is necessary, if it needs to come at mouthwash range, so be it.
“He’s a really intense guy,” linebacker Marcus Oliver says. “He’s a great guy. He will get on you, but he never crosses the line. He doesn’t curse. Not all all. He’s strong in his faith. He’s a motivator. He’s a unique kind of guy. It’s a great opportunity to learn from him.” Adds Allen: “When you do need to get on them, if a young person knows you love him, he’ll listen. If not, he’ll rebel. “Coaching is like parenting. Your personality in parenting comes out in coaching. You still have to get all those core things. They want to be great. They don’t know how to get there. So you keep teaching, coaching, pushing.”
A few minutes later, redemption opportunity comes. Linebacker Tegray Scales stuffs the offense and Allen sprints to offer high-five congratulations. “Way to go, Tegray!”
Just over a week remains before the Sept. 1 season opener at Florida International and urgency grows. Overturning a generation of bad defense starts with this change-the-culture priority -- mediocrity is unacceptable. “Tom has done a great job of having a standard,” coach Kevin Wilson says, “and he is pushing those guys harder than they have ever been pushed.”
Allen pushes himself just as hard. Cornerback Rashard Fant remembers one practice when Allen, standing close to the line of scrimmage, caught a batted pass and ran toward the end zone, caught up in Pick-6 frenzy. “It was amazing to see,” Fant says. “He caught it and took off.” Allen didn’t show Usain Bolt speed, but it wasn’t bad, Fant adds. “It was like 4.7 speed (in the 40-yard dash). It was pretty good for an old timer. He had enough to get to the end zone. Of course, we were blocking for him. We took care of him.”
A cynic could say a 46-year-old coach sprinting down the field is begging for an injury, but Allen has no time for cynicism given the challenge he faces. With six previous college stops on his resume, including SEC power Mississippi, he has the background to push all available buttons. “It was me being me,” he says. “It was just a reaction. Afterward I’m like, why did I do that? “It’s like I jumped on a kid the other day and about broke my back because I flipped over the top of him and landed on my back. I’m like, I’m getting a little old for this.”
Old or not, such enthusiasm serves a purpose. “I think the players take on my personality,” Allen says. “I know they do. I can’t just talk about it. I’ve got to be able to show them.” Scales wouldn’t want it any other way. “That’s what we need. From a defense that hasn’t had a lot of success, we need something different. We need that energy. “He’s the first one to tell you when you’ve done something wrong and the first one to celebrate when you do something right.”
Forget the new 4-2-5 defensive scheme. In the end, it’s about playing with passion, purpose and focus. It’s attention to detail. It’s getting into position to make a play, and then making it, every down. Oh, it’s about one other thing. “If we’re not having fun, we’re making a mistake,” Allen says. “When you were a kid playing football, you were having fun. It’s like I tell them, I promise you if you weren’t having fun, you would have quit a long time ago. Don’t ever forget that.”
And so the Hoosiers don’t. “Coach Allen has great passion for the game,” safety Chase Dutra says. “He brings his juice (as in energy) every day. It’s paying off. This defense will be a great defense. We’ll surprise a lot of people.” Surprise is critical given IU has allowed at least 32.8 points a game for six straight seasons. Three times in that stretch, it’s allowed 37.3 points, including last year’s 37.6 disaster that cost defensive coordinator Brian Knorr his job.
“Attention to detail is a big deal,” Dutra says. “We have to know our stuff. It’s about knowing the playbook and bringing the juice.” Allen remains the full-throttle example. He says he could never be a watch-from-a-tower coach, and the players feed off of it. “His energy is amazing,” Fant says. “Every time we make a play, he’s out there running and jumping up and down.
“Sometimes it’s scary. You think he’s one of the players the way he’s jumping all over with no pads.” Combating the spread offense is a national defensive obsession. Allen’s three years at Mississippi (a spread team) helped prepare him to deal with it. “What I really like is that Coach Allen has been a part of a no-huddle offense and he does not stress or panic about that,” says Wilson, who has had three defensive coordinators in his six seasons. “He knows what to do, how we do it and he wants to do it“ I have been very encouraged.”
Encouragement includes better players. The Hoosiers have the talent to make a defensive impact, but it’s more than that, which leads to the ultimate defensive question: What does Allen want from a player? “It’s the ability to play for somebody other than yourself. That’s the key component for me. How do you figure that out? You’ve got to get to know them. I want unselfish guys, guys who are willing to do whatever it takes to be successful. That’s what we talk about from the beginning -- loving each other; don’t care who gets the credit; and that it’s not about me. We preach that from Day 1. That’s the No. 1 thing I look for. When you get that, you have a chance to mold him into a player who can fit in.
“Obviously you have to have a base level of talent to play at this level. I get that, but if you play hard and can play with a physical component, you’ll have success on defense. It’s not a complicated game. It’s a game of tackling, of getting to the football and making plays in space. Guys who care and who are unselfish, you can get them to do that.”
 
The season’s success depends on it.

Darius is apparently doing very well in preseason, Raiders fans seem convinced he's a lock to make the team, with possibly an even bigger role.

Darius is apparently doing very well in preseason, Raiders fans seem convinced he's a lock to make the team, with possibly an even bigger role.

We've had some luck with short pgs in recent history :)

10 DAYS PEOPLE!!! TIME TO GET EXCITED FOR A NEW SEASON! #FOOTBALLSCHOOL

I kind of have to agree with Old Friend here.  If Diamont is our starting QB this won't be as good of a season as we want, QBs have to be able to throw and he can't; it's not just his arm strength but his accuracy as well, last we saw he struggled just to throw on target intermediate passes.

If Zander is our QB, we will not win 6 games.  He is a novelty.  Can't throw the ball downfield, which means teams can stack safeties.  He is okay as a relief pitcher when teams don't prepare for him, but when they do?   He's a bad option. And shame on the coaching staff.  Sudfeld was a senior a year ago, and that was no secret.  To go into this season even discussing Zander as our #1 QB is embarrassing.  He IS tough.  He IS fast.  But we had one of those for 4 years under Cam Cameron, never went to a bowl game with him; and he COULD throw the ball.   There's history here, folks.  Zander is a million miles short of Antwaan Randle El.  It's very easy to think this team is different and Zander will be just fine and the team will overcome his weaknesses.  But.....he's not.   It won't.
To win in the Big Ten, you need quality QB play, which means you need a guy who can throw it; or you need dominance in other areas; and Indiana doesn't have that.  Zander as the #1 QB is a horrible idea and an ominous sign for the football team.   He is what he is....a small, quick QB with very limited skills.  He's not going to be 6'4" with a Big Ten arm.  I hate the idea of him under center.

I trust CKW to help develop these QB's

Don't know if I've met a Hoosier fan that doesn't love OG! Stud! Can't wait to watch him this year.


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Just got my tickets last night, can't wait!! Will be my first ever IUFB game.

Our seats are behind the Indiana bench, just below the halfway point

Just got my tickets last night, can't wait!! Will be my first ever IUFB game.

Just got my tickets last night, can't wait!! Will be my first ever IUFB game.

Short compilation of IUFB players in the NFL preseason

Think I'll be going to the Indiana-Michigan State game this year. Should be awesome.

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OG is almost on that Pop level of interview status.

A classic OG on-camera interview now up on Inside the Hall. Pure OG style; long-ish questions, short, focused, dead-pan answers. My favorite part of the interview?
Q: "Any goals for yourself you'd like to accomplish this season?"
OG answer: "Win a Big Ten championship. Win a national championship."
Hoosier.

Tremont Waters has officials set to Indiana, Georgetown and Kansas, per @GameTimeCT
@adamzagoria


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Honestly forgot this guy was even on the team. Great to hear some defensive players getting attention.

Or ask an IU fan since our last #1 ranked team had 2 white starters and a white sixth man.