IUFB Offseason Updates

[JerryYeagley23]

http://www.espn.com/video/clip?id=27434833

Jovan Swann transferring from Stanford had been known from his Twitter announcement. I hadn’t really gotten too far into his potential impact yet. But came across this. Granted, it was from before last season, but being talked about as the top ranked defensive player in the country in any form tells me he’s got a serious upside for the Hoosiers in his one remaining year. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Various comments re:  2020 football season tickets.

 

https://iuhoosiers.com/news/2020/4/21/iu-athletics-announces-fan-friendly-changes-to-2020-football-season-ticket-renewals.aspx

 

Jon Blau -

IU has announced changes for 2020 football season ticket renewal, given uncertainty with COVID-19:

-Renewal deadline extended two weeks to May 15.

-If any portion of 2020 isn't played, ticket buyers are guaranteed a refund or credit

-You can renew now by putting 5% down.

 

Fred Glass - 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

TJD's little brother receives an IU Football offer.

Tayven jackson @Tayvenjacksonn2

Very grateful to receive an offer from Indiana University. Thank you @CoachAllenIU, @IUCoachSheridan and the rest of the staff

[WayneFleekHoosier]

TJD's little brother receives an IU Football offer.
Tayven jackson @Tayvenjacksonn2
Very grateful to receive an offer from Indiana University. Thank you @CoachAllenIU, @IUCoachSheridan and the rest of the staff

Pretty cool


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[Class of '66 Old Fart]

I don't actively look for news and notes on IU football but I don't totally ignore that news either.  This today from Taylor Lehman is worth posting.  Average recruit rankings by year for the past decade.

For those curious, Indiana's 2021 class has 6 commits at a 3.2 average star rating. This is the 2010 decade:

2020: 2.95

2019: 3.05

2018: 2.88

2017: 2.48

2016: 2.67

2015: 2.82

2014: 2.69

2013: 2.80

2012: 2.60

2011: 2.65

2010: 2.44

Small numbers but a massive change

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Former @IndianaFootball  player (1989-90) Ernie Thompson graduated from IU today. Congrats Ernie!

 

Ernie Thompson @ErnieThompson

This is a feeling that is at least equalled to, but in many instances, much better than being drafted by the LA Rams. If I can graduate at this stage in life, then anything, and I do mean anything is possible. Thank you, @IndianaUniv #Godisgreat

[mamasa]

This is just horrible and heartbreaking. Former Columbus East player and current IU player Cam Wilson’s parents. His younger sister is graduating from East this year

https://www.wthr.com/article/columbus-police-identify-woman-shot-and-killed-apartment-complex



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[Hovadipo]

13 hours ago, mamasa said:

This is just horrible and heartbreaking. Former Columbus East player and current IU player Cam Wilson’s parents. His younger sister is graduating from East this year

https://www.wthr.com/article/columbus-police-identify-woman-shot-and-killed-apartment-complex



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Pretty sure he lost either a sibling, adopted sibling, or someone close to him like that recently also. Terrible. 

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

If this is an inappropriate post, I'll apologize but under the circumstances it just feels right.  Young man loses both parents and the f***ing COVID-19 denies him the opportunity for a proper funeral service for his mother.

 

Cam Wilson @camwwilson25

If you would like to donate to my mother’s memorial fund, it would be greatly appreciated.

https://www.gofundme.com/f/cassondra-wilson039s-memorial-fund

[LamarCheeks]

After hearing about Cam Wilson's family, I couldn't help but remember when Pete Stoyanovich was our kicker and a star soccer player. His father killed his mother and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. 

I was an IU student at the time and just remember how sad and horrible of a situation that was. I worked at a bar downtown a couple years after that -- one of the waitresses was Pete's girlfriend. 

Here's an ironic twist: Pete was the starter in 1986. Because of that tragedy, he left the team for a weekend to be with his family. That Saturday, we lost by two points to Ohio State. A walk-on kicker -- named Jay Tuttle -- missed two FGs. His son? Jack -- our current backup QB. 

Really feel for Cam Wilson -- can't even begin to imagine what he's going through. 

[mamasa]

My oldest went to high school w Cam, my youngest goes to school w the younger sister (and 2 of my coworkers know the older brother). My oldest says that Cam is a great guy, and she’s very not into the “sport hero worship “, said he’s a very caring intelligent young man.


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[upperarlington]

13 hours ago, LamarCheeks said:

After hearing about Cam Wilson's family, I couldn't help but remember when Pete Stoyanovich was our kicker and a star soccer player. His father killed his mother and was later found not guilty by reason of insanity. 

I was an IU student at the time and just remember how sad and horrible of a situation that was. I worked at a bar downtown a couple years after that -- one of the waitresses was Pete's girlfriend. 

Here's an ironic twist: Pete was the starter in 1986. Because of that tragedy, he left the team for a weekend to be with his family. That Saturday, we lost by two points to Ohio State. A walk-on kicker -- named Jay Tuttle -- missed two FGs. His son? Jack -- our current backup QB. 

Really feel for Cam Wilson -- can't even begin to imagine what he's going through. 

I remember that 1986 OSU game. It was my "second" senior year and I had two OSU buddies in town. They were not happy that we almost beat them. Pete was a hell of a kicker. That spring we won the title in New Orleans. What a road trip that was.

[mamasa]

Great article on Ernie Thompson's journey to get his degree!

 

EX-HOOSIER THOMPSON EARNS HIS DIPLOMA AT 50

May 17, 2020 Jon Blau Football 5 comments

In the shadow of Memorial Stadium, the old Hoosier fullback’s thumbs pecked at his iPhone keyboard. One character at a time, Ernie Thompson was finishing something he left undone for nearly three decades.

Back in 1991, Ernie was a 6-foot-1, 237-pound junior with pro football dreams. One year short of graduation, he left Indiana for the NFL draft. One year short, which nagged at him as he worked in Terre Haute’s schools as a dropout prevention specialist, going into students’ homes and stressing the importance of graduating.

He felt like a hypocrite.

“It’s one of those things, it would haunt me and it would not let me rest,” Ernie said. “I thought about it, and I felt it. Even as the words were coming out of my mouth, I felt it.”

Now seated in his 2012 Nissan Altima, with IU’s football stadium nearby, Ernie was making things right. He would spend upwards of three hours there, stringing together sentences on his phone, finishing his coursework for the spring semester. The 50-year-old moved back to Bloomington for a much-delayed senior year, taking the bus to class with fellow students. He never did get a laptop, though. When he needed the internet, he worked from the clubhouse at his apartment complex. Then a pandemic hit, and a Wi-Fi hotspot near the stadium became his go-to.

By whatever means, Ernie was going to finish. He wasn’t too proud to tap away at a little keyboard, running his car engine whenever he needed a blast of warm air. Once his professors learned about his new routine, they told him to write out his answers by hand, take a picture, and email it in.

All of that typing on a phone wasn’t necessary.

All that mattered to Ernie was finishing. He was going to finish it, however possible. For the kids in Terre Haute who could have labeled him a hypocrite. For his coach, Bill Mallory, who never stopped hassling him about leaving that diploma unclaimed. For his brother, Randy, who tried to stop him from walking away all those years ago.

***

Randy still remembers the conversation vividly. They were in the upstairs bedroom of their mother’s house in Terre Haute. They shared that room in the summer months, but there was a question of where Ernie was headed next.

Ernie had talked to people who had talked to people in the NFL. There was a chance, if he left school, he could get drafted. He was just a junior, fresh off a 323-yard season for the 1990 Hoosiers, but NFL teams were interested.

“I tried to provide that ‘Well, wait a minute, think about this. You got your whole life to get to the NFL,’” Randy said. “But I didn’t walk in his shoes, I don’t know what it was like day-to-day, being there. I didn’t know what that was like.”

For much of their life, the two brothers were literally hip-to-hip. A year older, Randy was held back in third grade, putting him alongside Ernie all through school. Their older brother, Anthony, remained a couple of steps ahead, blazing a trail for Terre Haute North’s Thompson brothers.

Randy recalls one 1985 contest versus Sullivan when the Patriots rushed for a program-record 488 yards and nine touchdowns. It was evenly distributed between the three brothers, first the senior Anthony, then the sophomores Ernie and Randy in the quarters that followed.

But that full house of talent complicated things. In fact, Randy transferred to Terre Haute South as a senior to ensure both brothers had their deserved bounty of carries.

Randy then went to Indiana State, washing out from the football team in a year and a half. At IU, Ernie spent his first two seasons in relative obscurity as Anthony scorched Big Ten defenses. In his junior year, Ernie continued to split runs with the likes of Vaughn Dunbar and Calvert Miller.

But the NFL still wanted Ernie. Staring him in the face was an opportunity to make a name for himself. Right then.

“I think he reached a point at that time where he felt like it was time to go and turn the page,” Randy said. “I begged and pleaded for him not to make that decision. But he did.”

Ernie did get drafted — in the 12th round by the Los Angeles Rams. He ran the ball twice for just nine yards as a rookie. The next year, he was out of the league. After one more season with the Chiefs in 1993, Ernie’s pro career ended.

He found another career quickly, training local athletes at the Terre Haute YMCA. He then ended up in the school system. Even with hindsight, Ernie doesn’t regret his NFL decision. Everything happens for a reason, he believes.

But Randy was quite the foil. After taking a couple of years off from ISU, he returned to college and earned two bachelor’s degrees. He did it all while financially supporting a wife and son, working at the Coca-Cola bottling plant. In his mid-40s, he went back to school again and got a master’s.

Quite a deed for a man who didn’t have an abundance of resources as a boy, aside from an attentive church community and coaches. He didn’t have a library close by. He didn’t come from money. But he got his education.

As the years passed, Ernie couldn’t shake what he’d left undone. In 2014, IU announced as part of its Student-Athlete Bill of Rights the “Hoosiers for Life” program, which promised to pay the tuition of any former student-athlete who left in good standing and wanted to finish a degree.

Ernie put age 50 in his head as a cutoff. It was then, or never. He even saw Bill Mallory on the sideline of an ISU practice, there to visit his son, head coach Curt. Ernie told the old man he was going to finish.

“Make sure you do it,” Bill said, his hand on Ernie’s chest.

“Yes sir, I’m gonna do it,” Ernie replied.

In 2019, a year after Bill died, Ernie made his move. He filled out his paperwork with IU. He met with an academic advisor. He was on his way — until he took his first test in his Sociology of Mental Illness class.

Simply put, Ernie bombed.

“If anyone else looked at my test, they would have swore I fell asleep,” Ernie said.

Thirty years of test-taking rust made those 50 multiple-choice questions like a book of riddles.

“I felt like every question was a trick question,” Ernie said. “I had multiple answers I thought was right to every question.”

Ernie needed help. So he called the man who knew school better than anyone in his family.

For a third time, Randy and Ernie were having a conversation about what should have been. The second time was right before Ernie returned to IU, telling Randy he planned to commute. Randy told him that wouldn’t work.

Randy was right.

“Wait a minute, slow down,” Randy recalled of Talk No. 2. “If you are going to do this, you have to walk through the campus, smell the grass. Go buy you a crimson and cream backpack and put your books in that backpack.

“Don’t take any shortcuts.”

In Talk No. 3, Randy reiterated those points. This time, Ernie listened. He moved into a student-oriented apartment complex in Bloomington, The Village at Muller Park. He bought the backpack. He rode the bus to class every day with students who weren’t born when he played for the Chiefs.

That liberal studies degree became his sole mission, especially after unrelated circumstances led to Ernie losing his job with the school corporation early in the fall semester.

That degree became Randy’s focus, as well. Ernie’s older brother was calling every day, checking in.

“I felt he owed me that from when he was 20-something years old and he did not listen to my advice,” Randy said, laughing. “You’re going to listen to me this time. You’re going to stay locked in.”

***

After a meeting with her tutoring supervisor, IU senior Olivia Totten went to google her next student. She does that, regardless, just to know what he or she looks like the first time they meet. But also, it’s not every day a tutor is paired with a 50-year-old former NFL player.

Turns out, Ernie and Olivia’s birthdays are five days apart.

“We bonded over that,” Olivia said. “I learned where he played, too. But I don’t remember any of that part.”

In Ernie’s experience, he didn’t feel like some Adam Sandler or Rodney Dangerfield character in a back-to-school movie, sticking out like a sore thumb in a crowd of younglings. Most students and professors embraced him as one of their own.

Ernie liked riding the bus to class. A piano enthusiast, he frequented the student union and played Elton John and Billy Joel for his classmates. He became a part of the community at Muller Park, walking around the fitness center and engaging 20-somethings in conversation.

“I’d try to figure out where they were from, what’s their goal,” Ernie said. “It always ended with ‘Hey, I’m 49, turning 50. You don’t want to be still chasing your degree when you’re 50 like me.’”

Ernie was determined to finish his chase, and getting a tutor was one of Randy’s suggestions. Always delving into their athletic background to offer analogies, Randy told his younger brother, “Don’t be a Dennis Rodman.” If Ernie was “coachable,” professors would be more likely to help him.

In his tutoring sessions, Ernie was different from many of the athletes Olivia worked with. He was totally engaged, armed with his pen and notebook. He was so eager to get started, he had Olivia memorize his Canvas password and log him in. She was just a tad more tech-savvy.

“For that hour, Ernie was going to be listening intently, he was going to be taking notes. He was making the most of that hour,” Olivia said. “I was able to really do my job and not just sit there while a student reads, you know?”

Once he overcame that first test, multiple-choice questions weren’t a problem. If anything, Ernie just had to gain confidence in his abilities as a writer.

As a trainer, and working in the school system, Ernie wasn’t writing essays. He needed to be reminded about introductory paragraphs, thesis statements, and the like. It would take Ernie about three hours to write essays on his phone in the spring semester, but that’s mostly because he was always doubting his choice of words.

He really just needed a bit of encouragement, because he had a story to tell. Ernie drew from his experiences, crafting essays about kids in the school system, about playing in the NFL, about being a black man in America.

“Ernie was really hard on himself and he really thought he was doing worse than he was doing,” Olivia said. “He was a great student. Not to bash on the athletes, but a lot of them didn’t want to work. They didn’t want to do their homework. But Ernie, every single time he was there, he was all-in. He was the most dedicated student I tutored.”

His attention to the task paid off. Ernie says he finished with a 3.25 grade point average. He pulled that off despite a horrible first test, then losing his job in Terre Haute, then moving classes online due to a pandemic.

Because of the pandemic, his final moments as a student were somewhat anticlimactic. Ernie turned in his last assignment from his Nissan, receiving a notice from IU with animated “blooms” to mark the occasion. It felt good, but there was nothing to do other than put his keys in the ignition and drive back to his apartment.

But Ernie made sure to come back to Memorial Stadium on graduation day, exactly when the ceremony would have begun. He jogged some laps around the venue, thinking about Bill Mallory and all of the coaches who brought him to IU, and all of the people who pushed him to finally graduate.

When he downloaded what would have been the program for his graduation ceremony, he took a screenshot of the page with his name on it, texting it to his mom and his brother Randy.

“I got chills. Is this real?” Ernie said. “That was the reaction when I saw it, too. This surreal feeling.”

His loose end was tied. Now he’s just like any recently graduated student, wondering where he’ll go next, and where he’ll find his next job.

But with one chapter closed, Ernie thought about a story that’s still unwritten. Of his mother’s seven children, four now have degrees.

Ernie texted his 46-year-old sister, saying “Tag, you’re it.”

“When you get your degree, tag your other sister in,” Ernie said. “That was kind of a fun moment, too. The goal is for every one of my mother’s children to get their degree.”

The fact that it took No. 4 a little longer than usual, it’s not a fact that bothers Ernie. Again, he doesn’t regret declaring for the NFL draft all those years ago.

He believes it was better this way, even if it meant writing paragraphs on his iPhone in the middle of a parking lot.

“Graduating at 50, this is an inspiration to a lot of people who still have those dreams inside of them and now realize, hey, maybe age is just a number,” he said.

“If Ernie can do it, I can do it.”

[LamarCheeks]

Guess this got cut from the Jordan documentary ... 
 

 

[mdn82]

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-football-head-coach-tom-allen-garnering-national-attention-for-speaking-out-about-george-floyd/

Like him or hate him as a coach you have to respect the man.


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[Stuhoo]

3 hours ago, mdn82 said:

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-football-head-coach-tom-allen-garnering-national-attention-for-speaking-out-about-george-floyd/

Like him or hate him as a coach you have to respect the man.


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If one of my sons was a football player (they’re not) I would be honored for them to play for Tom Allen.

 

[Lebowski]

16 hours ago, mdn82 said:

https://www.thedailyhoosier.com/iu-football-head-coach-tom-allen-garnering-national-attention-for-speaking-out-about-george-floyd/

Like him or hate him as a coach you have to respect the man.

Thanks for sharing.  

[Class of '66 Old Fart]

Hendershot has pleaded guilty to 1 misdemeanor charge in a plea agreement.

http://www.hoosiersportsreport.com/2020/06/hendershot-pleads-guilty-to-trespass-charge/

[mamasa]

Depth Looms Large for Indiana’s Defensive Line

By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
 
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Kevin Peoples knows what he has, the opportunity it brings and the Cream & Crimson success it could produce.
 
Indiana's new defensive line coach inherited talent and experience from an 8-5 TaxSlayer Gator bowl team. His job is clear -- develop it into a line capable of rocking the Big Ten's best.
 
Step one -- get the players back from pandemic-forced separation, which can only happen when medical professionals say it's safe to do so.
 
Step two – make the most of the opportunity. 
 
"We're pleased with where we're at," Peoples says, "and we are really looking forward to getting back to it."
 
Defensive line veterans Jerome Johnson, Demarcus Elliott, Michael Ziemba, James Head Jr. and Alfred Bryant loom large in Hoosier plans for next season. Graduate transfer Jovan Swann, and young guys such as Sio Nofoagatoto'a, C.J. Person and Damarjhe Lewis are set to make major impact.
 
That's at least nine high-level guys for four positions.
 
"We're comfortable with our depth," Peoples says. "We've got good depth at every position. We like to play a lot of guys."
 
For years, comfort was reserved for other programs. But head coach Tom Allen and his staff have ratcheted up the recruiting. Credit relationship building, player development, passion and the overall approach that targets good players whose goals go beyond football.
 
You also can't overstate the importance of the upgrade in facilities, from the state-of-the-art weight room to the Excellence Academy's total-development agenda to the renovated locker room and more. Memorial Stadium isn't the Big Ten's biggest venue, but it rates among the best.
 
Add it all up and IU is well positioned to thrive in the brutally competitive Big Ten East.
 
The defensive line will have a big role. The more you can pressure the quarterback without blitzing, the better you can stop the run without consistently committing six or seven players to do it, the better your stuff-the-offense prospects are.
 
The Hoosiers have struggled to find and develop consistent defensive line excellence, but that appears poised to change.
 
What kind of production can Peoples' expect? Last season is an indication.
 
Johnson led all IU defensive linemen with 43 tackles and 7.5 tackles for loss. That included five sacks. He also had two quarterback hurries.
 
Elliott was next with 35 tackles and five tackles for loss. He forced a fumble.
 
Ziemba had 33 tackles, 6.5 for loss. He recovered two fumbles and had three quarterback hurries.
 
Bryant had 25 tackles, recovered a fumble and forced a fumble. Head had five quarterback hurries along with 20 tackles and one forced fumble. Nofoagatoto'a, as a true freshman, played in 10 games. Injuries limited Person to four games.
 
"Jerome Johnson is a talented player who can stop the run and provide a pass rush," Peoples says. "Demarcus Elliott and Sio Nofoagatoto'a are at the nose tackle position. They will have meaningful snaps.
 
"C.J. Person is a guy we're excited about who played a few games last season and should be back healthy.
 
"At the end positions, James Head and Michael Ziemba have had good success in the conference. We're looking for Alfred Bryant to step up and provide some pass rush and do things that will showcase his ability."
 
The 6-3, 291-pound Lewis made a big spring impression as an early enrollee. That wasn't surprising given he was a big-time prospect out of Georgia. Injuries limited him to just seven games as a high school senior, but he still was named Georgia 5-A defensive player of the year after totaling 37 tackles, 13 for loss, four sacks and two forced fumbles. ESPN rated him as the nation's No. 42 defensive end.
 
Lewis was a three-year basketball starter, and it would have been four years if he hadn't skipped his final semester to enroll at IU for the spring.
 
Because of the pandemic, he only got to work with Hoosier coaches for a couple of months.
 
"He's an outstanding person," Peoples says. "He has outstanding character. He's a dynamic player. He's got some (explosiveness). He's got some (fast-twitch muscle). He's going to be a guy we think can get in the mix next year.
 
"The four spring practices were huge for him. We wish we would have had 15, but who doesn't? He's a strong, explosive guy. We think he has the ability to be a dynamic player."
 
Add it all up and IU could rotate nine-or-more defensive linemen, huge to ensure maximum energy for the entire game, and to overcome injuries. That's especially true for the first half of the season, Peoples adds.
 
"The earlier in the season you are, the hotter the temperatures. You need to substitute more frequently. The later in the season, when it's a little cooler, defensive linemen can play a few more snaps.
 
"If you've got eight guys who can play four overall positions, or even 12 guys, that gives you an opportunity."
 
Like every IU coach, Peoples' top priority centers on player health and safety.
 
"We've got to make sure everyone comes back as fast and healthy as we possibly can. We need to make sure they return safely."
 
Once players are back, the focus will be on getting them Big Ten football ready.
 
"The biggest thing is getting these guys back in some type of football shape," Peoples says, "so running and whatever model we come back with.
 
"We've got to get back to doing some skill work. We've got to get back in the weight room. A lot of these guys have been on their own maybe doing body weightlifting.
 
"Just getting them back in the ordinary grind of where you'd be in a normal college football season.
 
"We've done a good job adapting to the circumstances at hand, but the biggest thing is getting these guys back in shape, back in the weight room and back working on the skill set."

[mamasa]

Long read but very worth it


http://www.therepublic.com/2020/06/07/a_time_to_heal__family_receives_overwhelming_support_from_east_iu_following_tragedy/#.XuEQpQekNac.facebook


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