Hoosierfan2017

Rashard is an awesome dude. One of the nicest people I met during college. 

Rashard is an awesome dude. One of the nicest people I met during college. 

Link to iuhoosiers.com
Classy kid.  Love seeing things like this (I added the bold to the end):
 
Dear Indiana University,
 
THANK YOU! I feel it is only appropriate to begin this letter with those two words because of everything that you have given me, shown me, and experienced with me. I came to Bloomington as an 18 year-old boy, but now I am leaving here as a soon to be (January 8th) 23 year-old man! I must admit that prior to arriving on campus, I did not know much about this prestigious university other than it was known for basketball and being the birthplace of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity. Honestly, when I first received an offer from IU, attending here was the last thing on my mind. Without hesitation, I can say that I am so thankful I ultimately chose to come to IU! I have met many amazing people during my time here, have had life changing experiences and conversations, and have had the opportunity to get out of my comfort zone and find myself as a person. It was not always easy during my time here, but each time I had to face and overcome adversity, it helped me grow as a student, as a football player, and most importantly as a man. As a student, IU has given me more than I could have ever asked for… a Bachelor's degree, soon to be a Master's degree, department and community engagement and outreach experiences, all while playing the game that I love.
 
I came to IU thinking that I might be able to continue what I had started in high school, which was to help build up and contribute to a football program. I wanted to help bring more of a winning mindset to this football team. However, what I was actually given was the opportunity to accomplish more than I could have imagined both on the field and within the community. Although we did not win a B1G or a national championship, we got to the first bowl game in eight years, then made it back-to-back bowl games the next year, all while beating Purdue four times in a row, and being able to improve the defense to one of the best IU has seen in years. I think that could definitely be considered helping to turn a program around and working toward holding each other and the program to a higher standard. With that being said, as I leave, I hope that I am not remembered as an All-Big Ten cornerback or any other statistic or catchphrase, but rather as a great representative of all that this university and athletic department hopes to instill during a student's time here. I always talk about how my goal in life is to positively affect as many lives as possible. Being a student-athlete at Indiana University gave me unlimited opportunities to do just that. I only hope that, whether it was a brief encounter or a lifelong friendship, anyone whose path I crossed would say that the thing they appreciated about me the most was that I cared about people, was positive, and wanted to bring laughter and smiles to the faces of people, whether I knew them or not.
 
Coach Shelby and I always talk about leaving a place better than it was when you arrived, and I believe I have done that and hope those who know me would agree. Lastly, I want to say thank you to the administration at IU who helped me grow as a man and provided me with everything I needed in order to succeed at IU, giving me opportunities that allowed me to reach far beyond the sidelines to make a difference in both the community and the department. Thank you to Coach Shelby, the many teammates and coaches I have had over the last four-and-a-half years that believed in me, have helped me grow as a player, and have aided in my success on the field. Thank you to all of the professors that have worked with me, challenged me, and that have taken the time to not only educate me but to get to know me as a person. I want to give a special thank you to Professor Cheryl Hughes for impacting my life in the greatest way a professor ever has! Thank you to the fans who have not only cheered the team on but also believed in me every step of the way. We know it was not always easy and there was a LOT of heartbreak, but my teammates and I definitely appreciate you all sticking with us. While I cannot say that I was in a rush to do so, I am now excited to be a part of the loyal fan base of the IU Football team and I cannot wait to see the Breakthrough that will come soon. Last but not least… I want to say, thank you to the "24 Sports 1 Team" Family! As athletes, we share many characteristics although we play different sports, but the support we provide for each other is second to none. I came here thinking "24 Sports 1 Team" was just some catchy mantra on the walls, but actually it is what the athletic programs here truly live by and I am honored and proud to have been a part of it. Bloomington is not just some city in Indiana or where my school is located, it is a part of me for life. It is my second home!
 
For the athletes that will come after me here at IU, and especially in the football program, remember these three things:
Your sport is not who you are; it is what you do. Find yourself outside of athletics! You are a part of something that is bigger than yourself! Leave a place or a team better than it was when you joined it!  
Much Love,
Rashard Fant #16
 
"Be strong and courageous. Do not be afraid or terrified because of them, for the Lord your God goes with you; he will never leave you nor forsake you." –Deuteronomy 31:6

Firing Debord should be the #1 priority for CTA this offseason. He was beyond terrible calling plays. 

Bro wrong saying haha. "Dime a dozen" means common

I don't have a problem with the OC calling the offensive plays.  My problem is DeBord's playcalling was atrocious all year and showed zero improvement.  We saw times he'd open the playbook up more and the offense would move the ball, then he'd immediately go back to the extremely conservative calls; I don't care if he got away with that with the likes of Dobbs and Kamara.

Firing Debord should be the #1 priority for CTA this offseason. He was beyond terrible calling plays. 

I was about to comment in the Purdue thread when I realized most of what I have to say is about the 2017 season as a whole. It didn't look like there was a thread for that and this was going to be a long post anyway (as per usual) so here goes...
This campaign will go down in the record books as 5-7 (2-7). We rode into the season with some momentum coming off back-to-back bowl seasons and returning the majority of our (much-improved) defense while returning our QB along with a lot of WR talent/production. There were question marks surrounding our O-Line, run game and coaching staff as we brought in a lot of new faces in those areas... particularly a first-year head coach. While some believed this season was ripe for a "breakthrough", many (including myself) simply hoped that we could sustain the momentum created in the past couple of season and make it back to a bowl for the third season in a row. Unfortunately, it didn't happen. So what went wrong? My thoughts...
- Quarterback play. We were hoping Lagow would take the next step this year, but it didn't happen. His QB rating dropped from a not-great 128.8 in 2016 to an even less-effective 124.8 in 2017. Perhaps the biggest drop in efficiency was the fact his yards per attempt decreased from 7.68 to just 6.56. His completion percentage slightly rose from 57.8% to 58.3%. To his credit, he did limit his INTs to just 8 in 295 attempts compared to 17 in 438 attempts in 2016. But as a whole? There wasn't much improvement. At least not near what we needed to "breakthrough"...
So we got to see what Ramsey provided us. From a passing standpoint, his QB rating was slightly better than Lagow at 127.9. He did have an impressive completion percentage of 65.4% but only a measly 6.11 yards per attempt. His INT ratio was similar to Lagow with 5 INTs in 205 attempts. But to be honest, we saw a lot of "dink and dunk" with Ramsey at QB and there were a lot of punts. He did provide a spark at times with his ability to scramble/run, but it was limited as the season progressed.
Personally, I don't believe our coaching staff ever felt comfortable with either QB. And it showed with the play-calling. I completely understand that they didn't want to put their guys in positions where they wouldn't succeed, but after awhile, I would have figured they would have tried to throw in some new wrinkles. I didn't really see that this year. It seemed like we were "searching" on offense in just about every game this season. And I think a lot of that started at QB and trickled down to the rest of the offense.
- The Rest of the Offense. The O-Line could never make up for the loss of Feeney and Co. from the year before. Players who were we hoping to step up in a big way like Knight and Cronk battled injuries throughout the year and never seemed to get in a groove (although Wes Martin had a good year.) Guys like Stepaniak, Littlejohn,  Crider, Baker and Nworah struggled a lot. I knew our RB unit would be a problem when Redding left early for the NFL draft and Patrick got a medical hardship waiver. We just didn't have near the talent or experience to make up for those losses and it showed. I thought both Ellison and Gest showed promise for the future, but we need a lot more than that. Hopefully Ronnie Walker can help us with that next year. Our talented WR corps took a hit early in the year with injuries to Westbrook and Hale. I do believe that hurt us quite a bit because that put a lot of pressure on Cobbs and some of the other guys like Taysir Mack never provided enough consistency on a game-to-game basis. Timian was solid in the slot and I loved the emergence of Philyor. Also would have loved to see what a healthy Ian Thomas could have given us all year...
But I think we were getting beat at the line of scrimmage more times than not and that pretty much affected everything else. Our QBs were pressured too much. Our already suspect RB unit didn't have much space to run. I would have loved to have seen a bit more creativity in the running game (kinda like what Purdue did) to mix things up. But I'm guessing our coaching staff wanted to play conservative to prevent turnovers. Not sure if that strategy paid off for us...
- Defense. For the second year in a row, this was the strength of our team and it wasn't really close. We were able to generate a pass-rush against a lot of teams. Our LB duo was probably as good of a combo as any in the Big Ten. Our secondary made more than enough plays to keep us in games. So how did we end up with a losing record? I'll tell you why...
The Maryland and Purdue games. Our defense let us down in these two. There was absolutely no reason why we allowed Maryland to have as much success on offense against us as they did with their 3rd-string QB. We allowed 10.7 yards per passing attempt. While they only amassed 345 yards total, it was still a lot more than our defense should have allowed. Even more shocking was the fact we allowed Purdue to run for 272 yards. They didn't have much of a running game, but we showed the poorest tackling display that we had all season. How disappointing.
Don't get me wrong. I loved our defensive efforts against teams like Virginia, Michigan and MSU. I loved how we got two shutouts this year.The defense certainly played up to their potential in those contests. But man... the Maryland and Purdue games were "swing" contests that would have a major impact on the season. While I certainly wouldn't blame the defense for our struggles this year, their lackluster performances in those two games really hurt us in the end.
So where do we stand on defense with all the graduating seniors? We'll have to replace a lot of production, for sure. But I'm honesty not as concerned as some might be. We'll hopefully get a healthy Marcellino Ball and A'Shon Riggins back. Crawford is back at safety. Guys like Barwick, Stallings and Robinson give us some experience on the line. An eligible Bryant Fitzgerald should help. My main concern is at LB... especially if Dameon Willis forgoes his final season. That is a legitimate hole to fill. But that being said, Allen is a defensive guy and has shown that he knows what he's doing on that side of the ball. I think we might take a small step back next year, but not a dramatic slide like some may be fearing. But that's just my opinion.
- Coaching. I'm not gonna dive too deep into this because I'm not a coach. But I felt there were a number of times this year when we went too conservative and settled for field-position wins instead of scoring points. I think the Purdue game was a perfect example of this. Purdue ran gadget plays, misdirections, trick plays, fake punts, etc. They did whatever they had to do to win the ball game. Now I know hindsight is always 20/20, but I'd like to see some more creativity next season on the offensive side of the ball. I defended DeBord mid-season, but in the end I felt his overall play-calling was WAY too vanilla. Also, we had a number of blunders and gaffes on special teams that really changed the momentum of several games this year... we've got to minimize those.
Never been a fan of the "DeBord coaches the offense" idea. Tom Allen is the head coach, so I would hope he takes more charge of the offense next year. Also, I understand the idea behind #breakthrough and #LEO but if you don't back it up with wins it sounds hokey and cliche' and hollow.
Recruiting seems to be going well for IU standards and should allow us to keep contending for bowls in the coming years. Hopefully this continues.
-Final Analysis. We had as much momentum going into the season as we have had in a long time, but we regressed. In the end, that's the size of it. We lost the Spittoon. We lost the Bucket. And we'll miss a bowl game. Did we have an awful year? No, not even close to awful from IU's historical perspective. But considering the hopes and expectations for this team, it was a let down. I felt the season as a whole was a microcosm as to our historical struggles. We never seem to be able to put everything together at once. Sigh.
Next season will be pivotal to the future perception of our program. Make it back to a bowl and I think we're about where we were at the start of the season. And I do believe that we will have a roster that is capable of being a bowl team. But miss out on a bowl for the second year in a row... we'll have dug another hole to dig out of from a perception standpoint.
But hey... at least we didn't verbally abuse/mistreat our players this year, amirite? ;)

So a 5 star that spurned 1 dirty program UNC, after being favored to go to another dirty program Arizona eventually going to a non basketball school without taking any other visits isn't suspicious?  
Ok

You watched 58 games in a week?

"I'm Bryce Drew ;). Would I lie to you?!?"
 

Now we all know why our mail was late being delivered on Friday and Saturday!   

Okay...so here's the problem with us having any chance at all against Duke:
Duke is stacked!
They have two of the likely top five picks in the next draft; in fact, they have FIVE likely NBA early picks in their rotation. On the other hand, we have a under talented team, with a couple of reasonably well-ranked players. Our leaders are a physically strong but not that quick guard and a over-achieving senior forward who hasn't been on the floor all that much. Yes, we've got some size and strength, but it's largely young and raw, and hasn't had as much floor time as we'd like. Even our head coach is new to the program, and is going against the venerable Coach K. How the heck can we possibly compete with this #1 ranked team?!?
Oh...and by the way, if you're trying to identify who the people I've cited in the paragraph above are, the answers are:
Jay Williams and Mike Dunleavy. Also Carlos Boozer, Chris Duhon and Dahntay Jones. Tom Coverdale, Jared Odle, Jeff Newton. Mike Davis. "Duke is just a name on a jersey. They're not the Lakers. Shaq and Kobe Bryant are not going to walk out of the dressing room in Lexington. We've got fight, man. We're not like the teams they beat by 40 who lay down and die. We're not punks. Nobody's punking us. Yeah, they got more NBA lottery picks, but it's Duke, man. It's just a name. I only fear one person and that's God. And the only human person I fear is my mother."
A.J Freakin' Moye, 2002
 

started Wednesday-Sunday 5 days. 3 TV setup 3 games at a time. Games started at 11:00 am and went all day. 3-4 hrs of sleep. DVR games when I was at work. Watched all those games on Saturday when their wasn’t many games on.
I’m a college basketball junkie and luckily I have a loving wife that accepts my hobby of watching ball

 
 
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I'm not even worried about Romeo, honestly. If he doesn't come we will be fine. I think Jerome Hunter will be an impact player from day 1, and I think Damezi Anderson is really underrated. His 3 point shooting should get him minutes right away. 
Vandy has the 2 flashy 5 star recruits to get Romeo's attention, but I would still take our class over theirs. We will have a more talented roster for Romeo next year than Vandy will, imo. 

Yeah, if we lose him to Kansas then I won't be mad. It'll make sense, he can play for a national championship. If he goes to Vandy though... $u$piciou$. 

I'm not even worried about Romeo, honestly. If he doesn't come we will be fine. I think Jerome Hunter will be an impact player from day 1, and I think Damezi Anderson is really underrated. His 3 point shooting should get him minutes right away. 
Vandy has the 2 flashy 5 star recruits to get Romeo's attention, but I would still take our class over theirs. We will have a more talented roster for Romeo next year than Vandy will, imo. 

I'm not even worried about Romeo, honestly. If he doesn't come we will be fine. I think Jerome Hunter will be an impact player from day 1, and I think Damezi Anderson is really underrated. His 3 point shooting should get him minutes right away. 
Vandy has the 2 flashy 5 star recruits to get Romeo's attention, but I would still take our class over theirs. We will have a more talented roster for Romeo next year than Vandy will, imo. 

I believe the Vandy stuff.

Oh well, what can u really do. Romeo has been the #1 priority focus for Archie all along. Not much el$e you can do if thi$ doe$n't go for u$.




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As I have said the same thing. Also Vandy isn't a every year 5 star type school. After next season they will have a big fall off. Drew is gonna leave with them. He isn't dumb. Look at LSU with Ben Simmons who is my favorite player so no one take shots but they didn't have the returning pieces with his class to actually do something with it. They had more than just Simmons in that class as well.

I'm not even worried about Romeo, honestly. If he doesn't come we will be fine. I think Jerome Hunter will be an impact player from day 1, and I think Damezi Anderson is really underrated. His 3 point shooting should get him minutes right away. 
Vandy has the 2 flashy 5 star recruits to get Romeo's attention, but I would still take our class over theirs. We will have a more talented roster for Romeo next year than Vandy will, imo. 

I'm not even worried about Romeo, honestly. If he doesn't come we will be fine. I think Jerome Hunter will be an impact player from day 1, and I think Damezi Anderson is really underrated. His 3 point shooting should get him minutes right away. 
Vandy has the 2 flashy 5 star recruits to get Romeo's attention, but I would still take our class over theirs. We will have a more talented roster for Romeo next year than Vandy will, imo. 

I'm not even worried about Romeo, honestly. If he doesn't come we will be fine. I think Jerome Hunter will be an impact player from day 1, and I think Damezi Anderson is really underrated. His 3 point shooting should get him minutes right away. 
Vandy has the 2 flashy 5 star recruits to get Romeo's attention, but I would still take our class over theirs. We will have a more talented roster for Romeo next year than Vandy will, imo. 

Sorry to the guy on the rivals site and as I've said not gonna share info I hear but this is an exception. I heard this morning very worst it is IU and Vandy to the end. Romeo may not end up going to IU but very worse case he will keep them in it till the end being the home school. Everyone has said all 3 have a shot with KU losing a little ground with Grimes. KU plans to play 2 pgs next year though. Vandy does sound like the leader RIGHT NOW, but they just got 2 5 stars and the relationship he has with Darius was always gonna make people jump to Vandy. I won't predict where he goes anymore but IU still has a shot.