Fred Glass is a man of his word. He insists football coach Bill Lynch will get the final two years of his contract to produce a consistent winner. If Lynch does, a new contract will come. If not ... well ... no sense in being negative.
When you look at what IU has, the prospects are intriguing. It has one of the Big Ten’s best receiving corps with Damarlo Belcher, Tandon Doss, Terrance Turner and Dre Muhammad. It has a big-time tailback in Darius Willis, although he’s been prone to injury his first two seasons. It has a veteran quarterback in Ben Chappell (pictured), plus QB depth (and some dual-threat athleticism) with Edward Wright-Baker. The defensive tackles are solid with Nicolas Sliger, Jarrod Smith, Mick Mentzer and Larry Black.
There is some uncertainty on the offensive line, more at linebacker and the secondary. Young players will have to step up, and if they do, the Hoosiers have a chance at a special season. If they don’t … well … it’s not like we haven’t seen Cream ‘n Crimson struggles before.
Anyway, Lynch and his staff seem to have recruited well. They’ve redshirted most of their freshmen to better prepare them for Big Ten opportunity.
Come August, opportunity will arrive. After seasons of 3-9 and 4-8, it’s time for the Hoosiers to show their football patsy days are over.
“This is a real important season,” Glass said. “We feel we’ve been putting the right building blocks in place. Coach Lynch has done a great job. He’s taken the long view. He could be making decisions with a short-term payoff in nature. He’s taken a long-term approach which is important in redshirting.
“Last year we were 4-8 and I get that. You are what your record says you are, but we were really close to being 8-4, 9-3, and the talk of the conference. Those are reasons to be optimistic.
“I am optimistic, but at some point all those things we are doing the right things in, the building of the team leadership core, a good redshirting policy, being academically successful, having a good off-season, at some point that needs to translate into wins. I’m hopeful we’ll start seeing that in a positive way.”
Kudos to Mr. Glass for sticking with Coach Lynch....if they are recruiting well and the attendance is rising the wins will come. They have a good young staff and are going in the right direction so long as the coaches don't lose the team which I think they won't.
ReplyDeleteGet the m@#$%^&^%$$#g Big Ten Refs in line!
ReplyDeleteMay want to add Duwyce Wilson in there. He might be IU's 2nd best receiver this year. I have also heard Kiel is making a run at the #2 QB spot.
ReplyDeleteWere in the Big Ten. Big Ten wins is how you decide if this team is getting better.
ReplyDelete4-8 is 4-8. I agree with redshirting and taking the long-term approach, but IU has a long history of failure in football in spite of occasional seasons where many losses were close. If depth, good coaching and talent result in a decent defense, say top 30, IU will have success. I am hopeful.
ReplyDeleteAgree--the refs really hurt us last year...and stamina---need to finish the fourth quarter, bad calls or not.
ReplyDeleteI think the wr core will be spectacular. I think it would be a great decision to put Duwyce Wilson in this group also. They have good outside wr in belcher, doss, and wilson. turner and muhammad will be good at the slot. They have every type of wr in the core that you could possibly think of. They will turn some heads and for the next couple years with turner being the only senior.
ReplyDeleteI think the team will be better than previous years and they have personnel they haven't had in the past years. We also have a great qb in chap whether you believe it or not.He understands the game so much better than our past qb's and has good accuracy to get the ball to our wr. Darius Willis is going to be great as long as he can stay healthy. From my observations they now have a slot wr to compliment doss and belcher in muhammad that they were missing in the past and you can say ray was the guy in the past but as far as being a slot wr dre I think is better than fisher when it comes to making people miss and being a pure slot.On our defense we have a good d-line in black, mentzer, and sliger and they still are young. our d is going to be better than what people think.
ReplyDeletei think chap could do better if the o-line give him that extra second cuz there is nooo way that other teams db's could cover Doss Belcher and Muhammad at least two of them will be open every time.. the running game will be good if Willis and Burgess could be consistent and injury free. the defense will FAIL if they can't cover in the passing game. i believe they will be solid in the defensive running game. but all i can say is CHAP DOSS BELCHER AND MUHAMMAD ALL DAY LONG BABY!!!!
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