IndyHutch

All I'm saying is I have never known it to be done that way. It could change I suppose.

I just don't see it working that way. You don't give someone a half vote of confidence. Other programs will use that against IU in recruiting.

Just so you know I'm meeting with someone today who is hopefully going to cover soccer for us. Practice starts next Tuesday.

Indiana football officially gets underway with camp this week in Bloomington. Newcomers report on Tuesday, veterans on Wednesday and the first official practice is on Thursday. I believe the local media will have their first opportunity to talk to players after Thursday’s practice. With that in mind, here are five key questions regarding Indiana football as the Hoosiers are just over a month away from the 2015 season opener Sept. 5 at home against Southern Illinois. 1. HOW WILL NATE SUDFELD BOUNCE BACK FROM HIS SHOULDER INJURY?: All indications point to Sudfeld being back and ready to go and since it was his non-throwing shoulder that should help matters as well. Still, every time Sudfeld gets driven to the turf in a similar fashion like he was in that Game 6 against Iowa last year, you have to figure IU fans will hold their collective breaths. If Sudfeld can return to the form of his sophomore year where he was a precision passer, completing around 60 percent of his throws for more than 2,500 yards and 21 touchdowns, the Indiana offense has the potential to score a lot of points again this year. A big key though will be his receivers and finding some go-to targets early. I thought last year he struggled a little bit out of the gate before the Iowa injury and some of that was that he didn’t have any receivers that would go up and get the ball like had been in the case in the past. He only had six TD passes in the first six games at the time he got hurt. Still, the No. 1 question is how effective will Sudfeld be coming off the injury. 2. JUST HOW GOOD IS JORDAN HOWARD?: To this point all we really know is that he put up crazy numbers a year ago as a sophomore at UAB. And he did. He rushed for 1,587 yards on 306 carries (an average of 5.2 yards per carry) and scored 13 touchdowns. He ranked seventh nationally with 132.3 rushing yards per game. He had eight 100-yard rushing games including the last four in a row. As a freshman, he started five games and ran for 881 yards. He has decent size at 6-1, 225, but fair or not, I think the thought that creeps into the back of your mind is, “Those stats are great but how good was the competition he was playing against and more specifically how will his game translate to the Big Ten?” I know those are the questions being asked by a lot of Indiana fans heading into the season and they go right to the heart of the initial question here: Just how good is Jordan Howard? He clearly has big shoes to fill but no one is expecting him to be the next Tevin Coleman. If he can be a guy that moves the chains, especially on those third-and-3 or third-and-2 situations that would be huge. If he turns out to be really good, someone like Sudfeld should only benefit from having a big time threat lining up behind him. It should allow both players to do a lot more because the offense will be less one dimensional. This is one of those things where only time will tell but it will surely be a point of emphasis as the season gets under way. 3. WILL THE DEFENSE BE IMPROVED IN BRIAN KNORR’S SECOND SEASON?: Let’s face it, with IU it’s always about the defense. If Indiana’s defense had been just a little bit better in several years in recent memory, Indiana’s dismal record in terms of going to bowl games would be very different. The thing I always point to when talking about this is think back to when Antwaan Randle El was roaming the sidelines at IU. He was arguably, at that time, one of the most exciting players in college football. He played multiple positions. He was primarily a quarterback (except for a one-game experiment at wide receiver against North Carolina State to open his senior year). But he also ran back kickoffs and punts, and even punted the ball from time to time, mostly out of the shotgun. But the thing that Randle El didn’t do was play defense and because of that, it didn’t matter how many points ARE would put up because the defense gave up more. To me it’s a travesty that Randle El never played in a college football bowl game. And so for me, the biggest question with the 2015 IU football team is on the defensive side of the ball and how this group will be in defensive coordinator Brian Knorr’s second season at IU and second year running the 3-4. Statistically speaking, IU made big strides under Knorr in his first year. They allowed six less points per game, 55 less rushing yards per game and 94 less total yards per game. Sounds good, right? Yes, except when you look back at where that defense was coming from in the final year under Doug Mallory. IU’s defense allowed a staggering 527.9 yards of offense per game in 2013 and the Hoosiers still somehow won five games. So it’s nice to think about what guys like Sudfeld and Howard will potentially be able to do in the offense but unless the defense can stop somebody it will all once again be a moot point. Indiana's ability to win at least six games will likely fall on the defensive side of the ball more than anything else. 4. SPECIFICALLY ON DEFENSE, HOW WILL THE SECONDARY SHAPE UP?: For the most part all of the starters in the secondary from a year ago are gone either through graduation, transfers or dismissal in the case of Antonio Allen. Chase Dutra started one game at strong safety against Maryland but that is IU’s lone returning start. Dutra did play a lot toward the end of the year though just not in a starting role. Tim Bennett and Mark Murphy graduated, and Michael Hunter graduated early and then transferred to Oklahoma State in the spring. He had started 24 consecutive games at IU. Kevin Wilson said that Dutra will definitely be one of the leaders in the secondary but that beyond that IU will be playing a lot of young guys. The Hoosiers have four guys in the 2015 class that were signed in the secondary and there’s a chance that a few guys listed as athletes (Isaac James and Mike Majette) could end in the secondary, too. The reality is that IU is going to be young back there and that’s not always a good thing. It will definitely be an area to keep a close eye on. 5. WITH THE J-SHUN HARRIS INJURY, WHO WILL STEP UP AT THE WIDE RECEIVER POSITION?: The good news is there are a lot of solid prospects. The bad news is that for the most part that’s what they are: unproven prospects. First off, the veterans need to be good. Guys like Ricky Jones and Simmie Cobbs, or Andre Booker and Dominique Booth. From that group, IU needs a few guys to separate themselves. And beyond that, IU has a ton of good freshmen who may or may not be redshirted in their first seasons in Bloomington. Conventional wisdom has it that at least a few of those guys may need to be pressed into service. Players like Leon Thornton, Nick Westbrook or Camion Patrick. And then there’s Marqui Hawkins, the other transfer from UAB. Hawkins broke his wrist in the spring and was limited in what he could do. But Wilson said last week that he had a good summer and so there is some optimism that he’ll be able to contribute. Basically, it comes down to there being a lot of possibilities and prospects but now we’ll have to see which ones emerge as players. Those are five key questions for me heading into the 2015 season. I’m sure you have others and I’d invite you to throw them out in the comments section at the end of this article and give us more things to ask of Wilson and his staff in the first few weeks of camp. I always invite feedback. I look forward to it actually. As hopefully you've seen in some of my early posts, I also have a strong belief that if you take time to make a comment that I should take the time to give you a response if one is warranted. To me, that's a successful formula for making a community even stronger. I look forward to your comments today. @IndySportsHutch

Indiana football gets underway this week and Btownbanners will be there every step of the way. Here are five key questions leading into the beginning of training camp which gets underway Thursday in Bloomington.Indiana football officially gets underway with camp this week in Bloomington. Newcomers report on Tuesday, veterans on Wednesday and the first official practice is on Thursday. I believe the local media will have their first opportunity to talk to players after Thursday’s practice. With that in mind, here are five key questions regarding Indiana football as the Hoosiers are just over a month away from the 2015 season opener Sept. 5 at home against Southern Illinois. 1. HOW WILL NATE SUDFELD BOUNCE BACK FROM HIS SHOULDER INJURY?: All indications point to Sudfeld being back and ready to go and since it was his non-throwing shoulder that should help matters as well. Still, every time Sudfeld gets driven to the turf in a similar fashion like he was in that Game 6 against Iowa last year, you have to figure IU fans will hold their collective breaths. If Sudfeld can return to the form of his sophomore year where he was a precision passer, completing around 60 percent of his throws for more than 2,500 yards and 21 touchdowns, the Indiana offense has the potential to score a lot of points again this year. A big key though will be his receivers and finding some go-to targets early. I thought last year he struggled a little bit out of the gate before the Iowa injury and some of that was that he didn’t have any receivers that would go up and get the ball like had been in the case in the past. He only had six TD passes in the first six games at the time he got hurt. Still, the No. 1 question is how effective will Sudfeld be coming off the injury. 2. JUST HOW GOOD IS JORDAN HOWARD?: To this point all we really know is that he put up crazy numbers a year ago as a sophomore at UAB. And he did. He rushed for 1,587 yards on 306 carries (an average of 5.2 yards per carry) and scored 13 touchdowns. He ranked seventh nationally with 132.3 rushing yards per game. He had eight 100-yard rushing games including the last four in a row. As a freshman, he started five games and ran for 881 yards. He has decent size at 6-1, 225, but fair or not, I think the thought that creeps into the back of your mind is, “Those stats are great but how good was the competition he was playing against and more specifically how will his game translate to the Big Ten?” I know those are the questions being asked by a lot of Indiana fans heading into the season and they go right to the heart of the initial question here: Just how good is Jordan Howard? He clearly has big shoes to fill but no one is expecting him to be the next Tevin Coleman. If he can be a guy that moves the chains, especially on those third-and-3 or third-and-2 situations that would be huge. If he turns out to be really good, someone like Sudfeld should only benefit from having a big time threat lining up behind him. It should allow both players to do a lot more because the offense will be less one dimensional. This is one of those things where only time will tell but it will surely be a point of emphasis as the season gets under way. 3. WILL THE DEFENSE BE IMPROVED IN BRIAN KNORR’S SECOND SEASON?: Let’s face it, with IU it’s always about the defense. If Indiana’s defense had been just a little bit better in several years in recent memory, Indiana’s dismal record in terms of going to bowl games would be very different. The thing I always point to when talking about this is think back to when Antwaan Randle El was roaming the sidelines at IU. He was arguably, at that time, one of the most exciting players in college football. He played multiple positions. He was primarily a quarterback (except for a one-game experiment at wide receiver against North Carolina State to open his senior year). But he also ran back kickoffs and punts, and even punted the ball from time to time, mostly out of the shotgun. But the thing that Randle El didn’t do was play defense and because of that, it didn’t matter how many points ARE would put up because the defense gave up more. To me it’s a travesty that Randle El never played in a college football bowl game. And so for me, the biggest question with the 2015 IU football team is on the defensive side of the ball and how this group will be in defensive coordinator Brian Knorr’s second season at IU and second year running the 3-4. Statistically speaking, IU made big strides under Knorr in his first year. They allowed six less points per game, 55 less rushing yards per game and 94 less total yards per game. Sounds good, right? Yes, except when you look back at where that defense was coming from in the final year under Doug Mallory. IU’s defense allowed a staggering 527.9 yards of offense per game in 2013 and the Hoosiers still somehow won five games. So it’s nice to think about what guys like Sudfeld and Howard will potentially be able to do in the offense but unless the defense can stop somebody it will all once again be a moot point. Indiana's ability to win at least six games will likely fall on the defensive side of the ball more than anything else. 4. SPECIFICALLY ON DEFENSE, HOW WILL THE SECONDARY SHAPE UP?: For the most part all of the starters in the secondary from a year ago are gone either through graduation, transfers or dismissal in the case of Antonio Allen. Chase Dutra started one game at strong safety against Maryland but that is IU’s lone returning start. Dutra did play a lot toward the end of the year though just not in a starting role. Tim Bennett and Mark Murphy graduated, and Michael Hunter graduated early and then transferred to Oklahoma State in the spring. He had started 24 consecutive games at IU. Kevin Wilson said that Dutra will definitely be one of the leaders in the secondary but that beyond that IU will be playing a lot of young guys. The Hoosiers have four guys in the 2015 class that were signed in the secondary and there’s a chance that a few guys listed as athletes (Isaac James and Mike Majette) could end in the secondary, too. The reality is that IU is going to be young back there and that’s not always a good thing. It will definitely be an area to keep a close eye on. 5. WITH THE J-SHUN HARRIS INJURY, WHO WILL STEP UP AT THE WIDE RECEIVER POSITION?: The good news is there are a lot of solid prospects. The bad news is that for the most part that’s what they are: unproven prospects. First off, the veterans need to be good. Guys like Ricky Jones and Simmie Cobbs, or Andre Booker and Dominique Booth. From that group, IU needs a few guys to separate themselves. And beyond that, IU has a ton of good freshmen who may or may not be redshirted in their first seasons in Bloomington. Conventional wisdom has it that at least a few of those guys may need to be pressed into service. Players like Leon Thornton, Nick Westbrook or Camion Patrick. And then there’s Marqui Hawkins, the other transfer from UAB. Hawkins broke his wrist in the spring and was limited in what he could do. But Wilson said last week that he had a good summer and so there is some optimism that he’ll be able to contribute. Basically, it comes down to there being a lot of possibilities and prospects but now we’ll have to see which ones emerge as players. Those are five key questions for me heading into the 2015 season. I’m sure you have others and I’d invite you to throw them out in the comments section at the end of this article and give us more things to ask of Wilson and his staff in the first few weeks of camp. I always invite feedback. I look forward to it actually. As hopefully you've seen in some of my early posts, I also have a strong belief that if you take time to make a comment that I should take the time to give you a response if one is warranted. To me, that's a successful formula for making a community even stronger. I look forward to your comments today. @IndySportsHutch [url=https://btownbanners.com/page/index.html/_/football/analysi/five-key-questions-for-iu-football-r160]Click here to view the article[/url]

  That is funny but the worst part about that is that Doug is a tremendous guy. One of those people you really root for to do well. It was very sad, I thought, when that didn't work out. But that last year and those defensive numbers .... yikes!

  It's so hard to know what the right way to proceed is when you have a program that has continually struggled as much as IU has over the years. What's right? Do you stick with a guy extra long hoping upon hope that he will ultimately be successful? Or do you change coaches every four or five years? Nothing has worked very well for the last two decades. Myself, I thought they pulled the trigger too soon on Bill Mallory and even said so at the time. But since then, after the 1996 season, IU has had five head football coaches. Hep's situation was tragic but the others have kind of been five years max for a long time.

  As for your point, I agree with that as well. My thought on it last year was that you were basically trying to fit round pegs into square holes because you were taking kids that were recruited to play the 4-3 and now switching to the 3-4. While it's really not that different in a lot of ways, there are some definite nuances that set the two defenses apart. But I just think you now have kids coming in as freshmen who were recruited to play in that 3-4 system and over time I think that will be something that you definitely see a difference with.   Now, if some of the people here who want Wilson gone after a couple of years get their way, then perhaps a new DC comes in and goes back to the 4-3 and you have the personnel problems again. Who knows.

  I preach to my students at IU all the time about the overuse of cliches, but then I think you'll find my copy riddled with them, too.   Sometimes it's the nature of the beast (there's a cliche for you).

  I know what you mean about the Scout board. That was my biggest frustration in two years at Scout. There was no one there and yet management expected us to interact all the time. I found myself going to Big Ten opponents' boards and seeing if I could answer IU questions over there. Very sad actually. Being over here as truly been a breath of fresh air.

  Hard to say. I think they're all important. But I really do feel strongly that defense is more important than offense when it comes to IU football. What do you think?

I really wish I had been around IU basketball back in the early 60's to watch Jimmy Rayl. Talk about a guy who did some amazing things. His two 56-point nights, both in Big Ten play, for the Hoosiers with all long range shots pre 3-point line would have been something to behold.

  Precisely.

But the flip side is starting over again with a new coach. I know that has been way too often an IU thing but at some point coaches need to be given a longer chance.

There should be a lot of potential for playing time in the secondary

Today's confession: Sometimes I should really try to be a little less clever

  But if your aunt had a penis, and she was still considered your aunt, wouldn't that mean you would have two uncles married to each other?   The reality is that I use that line all the time in arguments but I'm just trying to have some fun here.

  Can't we leave your aunt out of this.

  I completely agree. Two years left on a deal is at the very least a red flag for being suspicious. Someone will be curious why he hasn't been extended.

  I know what you mean. There just always seems to be a weak link or two or ... the pass rush isn't good enough to allow them to play straight up. The defense as a whole is simply something that has to get better.

  I really believe unless this team was absolutely awful that you wait and see the results this year and then you give him an extension. Like a lot of other people, I had my concerns about Wilson that first year. It seemed like a lot of people were leaving because they didn't like his system. But sometimes you have to do the weeding out process and I think he has a room full of kids who like the things he's doing. I think he has a good staff and a staff that the recent signing classes feel good about. Now IU just needs to catch a break or two. They need to make the one big fourth quarter stop that allows them to close out a game. They need to avoid the injury bug to key players. They need to have some success and build off of it. But if they do have success, even if it's one year, I think you give Wilson an extension. Because it is hard to recruit with just two years left on your contract and the university sitting there in wait-and-see mode.

Most of what I'm hearing here is what I heard from my guy in the know at IU in an email this morning.   He said the posters arrived from the printer last week and IU is starting to distribute those around town now. He said people can also stop by athletics in the north end zone of Memorial Stadium and pick up posters or they can request posters on line at the site that I believe was posted below.   He also said that IU football pocket schedules should be coming out sometime this week and that similarly, distribution of those will start soon.

It is funny how different players are remembered. When I think of Patterson I always think go that game against Duke in New York (preseason NIT???) when he dropped 39 on the Blue Devils. I guess I've chosen to forget some of the other stuff Selective memory I suppose

  I would think if they added another banner that the logo wouldn't have to change too much. You could just add a space in there --- a space that looks like a banner.   My favorite number has always been 22

  That's kind of what I was alluding to initially. I think it would take a belly flop.