Running Big – IU in Search of Running Back Breakthrough

While coach Kevin Wilson has been known for producing prolific passing attacks, he hasn’t neglected the rushing attack during his years as an offensive coordinator (see Adrian Peterson for Exhibit A). A good running game is crucial at any time, but especially this year given IU’s quarterback inexperience.

The Hoosiers have a lot of running backs to choose from, although who the favorite is remains uncertain.

For the record, Wilson has junior college transfer Stephen Houston (a 1,000-yard rusher last year) and true freshman D’Angelo Roberts (he rushed for 6,002 yards and 75 touchdowns in high school) joining a banged-up bunch of veterans. Darius Willis, Antonio Banks and Xavier Whitaker all had season-ending injuries and missed spring practice. Matt Perez also is coming off a knee injury. Indications are they are healthy and ready to knock each other around.

Willis was recruited to be the dominant tailback the program needed, and has shown flashes of that when he's healthy. Given that he's an injury waiting to happen, the odds of him making it through a full season are unlikely. Still, he’s rushed for 885 yards and 10 touchdowns in his career.

Also in the hunt are Nick Turner and David Blackwell, who got the bulk of the spring work because everybody else was hurt. That doesn’t count fullback, where Wilson has moved D.J. Carr-Watson from linebacker to fullback. Redshirt freshman Leneil Himes will battle Carr-Watson for the fullback spot.

Still, there is potential with this group. Wilson plans to utilize that depth.

“Unlike quarterback, I think you do need more than one running back because they wear out and lose some gas,” Wilson said. “I don’t know that we have seven guys we can jog out there and be starers, but I think we’ll have two or three.”


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IU has 17 football commitments now that Ohio safety Sebastian Smith has picked the Cream ‘n Crimson.

Smith has been extremely versatile in high school. He’s played safety, linebacker and cornerback, plus has done a ton of special teams work. He’s not the biggest guy at 6-3 and 185 pounds, but he can bench press 315 pounds and can break 4.5 seconds in the 40-yard dash.

Indiana was the only school to offer a scholarship, but Wisconsin, Nebraska, Michigan State, Iowa, Kentucky and Minnesota were interested.


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Yes, IU's basketball program could have used Mitch McGary. The guy is big (6-10, 250 pounds), athletic and has made a huge ratings jump. He’s the No. 5 guy in the Class of 2012 according to Rivals.com.

For a lot of reasons, a union between McGary and Indiana apparently wasn’t a good fit, both from McGary’s standpoint and from IU’s. It happens. He had some academic issues while at Chesterton High School, but got those resolved at Brewster Academy. He had become more disciplined both in terms of his academics and his basketball. In other words, he had matured. After backing off for a while, Hoosier coaches did seem to show renewed interest during the July evaluation period.

If you believe ESPN and Scout.com, McGary’s maturity has produced a six-school final list. Kentucky is on it. So are North Carolina, Michigan (which seems to be on everybody’s list these days), Maryland, Duke and Florida. Those are some impressive heavyweights.

Anyway, the Hoosiers already have loaded up inside in the Class of 2012 with forward Hanner Perea and center Peter Jurkin. They have one more target in the class and he’s a big one –- Gary Harris of Hamilton Southeastern. Purdue and Michigan State appear to be IU’s biggest rivals for this guy. Figure he'll wait until late October to announce his decision.

IU Recruiting Rolls On; Yogi Thrives; Dickerson a Fan Favorite

Okay, landing the nation’s No. 1 rated pro-style quarterback hasn’t launched Indiana on a football recruiting frenzy for super studs.

Is that a problem?

Only if you’re obsessed with numbers.

Landing quarterback Gunner Kiel of Columbus put IU on the radar of a lot of standout players, but it hasn’t caused an upsurge in high-profile guys committing to IU.

The Hoosiers have four other commitments that are ranked in the top-75 nationally at their positions –- No. 75 receiver Kevin Davis, No. 44 offensive lineman Dan Feeney, No. 33 linebacker Nick Mangieri and No. 8 offensive lineman Wes Rogers.

That doesn’t mean that getting Kiel won’t boost IU’s recruiting. These things take time. Recruiting is first and foremost about relationships. Then comes playing time and winning potential and all the other things that go into it.

Still, coach Kevin Wilson is getting solid players. Ten commits from the Class of 2012 are considered at least 2-star (out of 5 stars) talent. Sure, IU beat out the likes of Alabama and Notre Dame to get Kiel, but that’s not ever going to be the norm. The Hoosiers must get good players and develop them into outstanding ones. If they do, they will win, get to bowl games and maybe, just maybe, sell out Memorial Stadium without the benefit of opposing fans showing up.

IU got its 16th oral commitment for the Class of 2012 when Carmel defensive end Shawn Heffern picked IU. Heffern, at least right now, is a no-star guy. That gives the Hoosiers nine commitments from the state of Indiana in this class alone.

Yes, Wilson wasn’t kidding when he said he’d target in-state players.

Purdue, Western Michigan, Toledo and Central Michigan also offered scholarships to the 6-6, 240-pound Heffern.

Monday was the first day of practice, and Wilson was hoping for more from his players, which is what you’d expect from a demanding coach trying to win now and not later. Tuesday is IU’s media day during which inquiring minds will try to determine who will win the starting quarterback job -– Dusty Kiel (Gunner’s older brother), Edward Wright-Baker or Tre Roberson.

That likely won’t be determined -– at least officially –- until the end of the month.


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Yogi Ferrell dominated with 15 points and 14 assists in the nationally televised adidas Nations tourney. That's EXACTLY what you'd hope for from a stud point guard and EXACTLY what IU needs in the future. Actually, the Hoosiers need it now.

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Indiana will take on North Carolina State in the Big Ten/ACC Challenge. The Hoosiers will travel to North Carolina State for the Nov. 30 basketball game. ESPN2 will televise it.

Highlighting the Big Ten/ACC Challenge will be Duke at Ohio State on Nov. 29 and Wisconsin at North Carolina on Nov. 30. The Tar Heels are very, very lucky they don’t have to play at the Kohl Center.

Six of these teams are ranked in ESPN.com’s early preseason top-25 basketball poll. They are No. 1 North Carolina, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 5 Duke, No. 11 Wisconsin, No. 21 Florida State and No. 23 Michigan.

The Big Ten has won the last two Challenges after the ACC won the first 10.


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In the big picture, it doesn’t mean much, but former IU baseball player Alex Dickerson has won the 2011 Premier Player of College baseball trophy. It goes to the winner of a national fan vote, and Dickerson was the man this year.

Dickerson led IU in hitting (.367), home runs (9), runs batted in (49), slugging percentage (.540) and on-base percentage. That was a follow-up to the 2010 season when he won the Big Ten triple crown for hitting, home runs and runs batted in.

Dickerson is now playing for the Pittsburgh Pirates’ single-A affiliate team. Right now the Pirates could really, really use a good hitter.

IU Basketball Recruits Get Spotlight Moment Tonight

If you want to check out IU basketball recruits Yogi Ferrell, Trey Lyles and Jeremy Hollowell, you’re in luck. These guys will be playing in nationally televised games tonight courtesy of CBS College Sports Network. Why? Because their teams reached the final games of the adidas Nations tourney.

The third-place game, which will feature Ferrell and Lyles on the USA 2012 Red squad, is set to start at 7 p.m. The title game will follow that contest and will showcase Hollowell, who is on the USA 2013 Red team.

In his last two games Ferrell totaled 22 points and 17 assists, which is what you’d like to see from your point guard.

Also, forward Hanner Perea, a Hoosier commitment from the Class of 2012, participated in the event. He had 16 points and six rebounds in the one game he played before a concussion sidelined him for the rest of the weekend.

Finally, Hamilton Southeastern standout Gary Harris was his usual consistent self in the Nike Global Challenge in Oregon. Harris averaged 12 points in three games. That average would have been better if he hadn’t sprained his ankle in the second half of Sunday night’s title game win over Canada.

Indiana and Purdue are among the teams targeting this Class of 2012 standout.

IU Football -- Win Close, Win Big; Green Passes On Hoosiers

Now that football practice is almost here, consider the mystery that is Indiana. Can it win in coach Kevin Wilson’s debut season? Will that elusive bowl trip become a reality? And who the heck will be the starting quarterback?

The quarterback answer figures to come down to Dusty Kiel and Edward Wright Baker. Heralded freshman Tre Roberson might make a move, but that likely wouldn’t come until midseason. Quarterback is too demanding a position for a true freshman to figure it out in just a few weeks of preseason camp.

As far as the other two questions, that can be boiled down to this -- What does IU have to do to get to the next level and become a winning program?

Wilson has an answer.

“We’ve got to win those close games,” he said. “Every week it’s nip and tuck. Winners do the little things. For instance, last year we won the turnover battle in two games. The No. 1 factor in winning is turnovers. So we should have been 2-10. Instead, we still won five games with the most critical thing going against us.

“We have to learn how to play smart football and not beat ourselves. That’s 80 percent attitude. The physical part for us isn’t that bad. We have some talent. We have to win some close games.”

That’s why Wilson has pushed confidence. He’s looking to change the mindset so when the Hoosiers absolutely have to make a play, they do. In about a month we’ll start finding out if they’ve bought into that.


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The Hoosier basketball world did not end with Garrett Green picking San Diego State over Indiana. The 6-11 Louisiana State transfer made the best decision for him by picking a school in his home state.

Yes, IU could have used another big man, but it has enough talent to have success. Green, after all, only averaged 6.3 points and 5.1 rebounds last season. Those are decent numbers, but not rock-the-Big-Ten-world ones. He would have been a solid one-year pickup, but not a program changer. The Hoosiers would have been good with him and can be good without him.

Now the biggest inside burden falls to heralded freshman Cody Zeller and senior Tom Pritchard. Juniors Derek Elston and Christian Watford also are in the mix, although neither is a true inside player.

No matter. If the Hoosiers get good point guard play, if they are efficient on offense, smart on defense and keep the fouling to a reasonable total, they will get the job done. Figure they will get it done. After three straight losing seasons, it’s way past time for a turnaround.

IU Football Seeks ‘No Limits;’ Green Saga Continues

Forget all the blather about Indiana’s football rebuilding project. You don’t rebuild when you’ve lost as much as the Hoosiers have since the Bill Mallory glory days. You win. That’s it. Get the talent in place, maximize it and win the bleeping games.

New coach Kevin Wilson has taken that win-now philosophy and buried it deep into the players’ psyche. Now, it would help if that philosophy also included a bunch of studs, and we’ll see if all this running and training developed some of that.

In the meantime, here is what senior receiver Damarlo Belcher had to say about this season’s prospects.

“Everything we do is talk about winning –- when we’re running, when we’re in the weight room. It’s about finishing and working hard. If we do that, we have high expectations. No limitations.”

Eventually limitations will surface. That’s true for every team, from preseason No. 1 Oklahoma (Wilson’s former employer) to Indiana State. The Hoosiers must learn to manage those limitations. That process will begin with preseason camp starting Monday. Freshmen and transfers are reporting today, with veterans coming in on Sunday.





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Okay, so the Garrett Green saga continues. Will this 6-11 guy from LSU move on to Indiana? Or will he pick San Diego State, Long Beach State or Wichita State?

And, really, is this THAT big a deal. It’s not like Green is the second coming of Shaq or Wilt. He’s basically a career reserve. Yes, it would be nice if Green became a Hoosier to take up some of the inside burden from heralded freshman Cody Zeller, but it’s not a deal breaker.

A bigger key is if Tom Pritchard can finally, FINALLY, fulfill the promise he showed as a freshman and in spurts ever since. If he can stop fouling and play to his strengths, if he could have a Landon Turner eureka moment and maximize his potential, the Hoosiers will be fine.

If not, well, IU still has enough talent and experience to have a winning record and make some kind of postseason tourney.

Having Green would just make that a little easier to do.


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It’s early August, which means football is the topic of choice unless you can’t get enough basketball news. In that case consider R.J. Curington, a 6-5 shooting guard from Virginia’s Oak Hill Academy. The Class of 2013 standout took an unofficial visit to IU on Friday, and it went well.

Does that mean Curington will soon commit to the Hoosiers? No. Does this mean coach Tom Crean WANTS Curington to commit to his program? Not necessarily. Curington is a good player, but he isn’t ranked in Rivals.com’s top 100 for the class. He’s not a big-time get in the way Zeller was.

It does mean that when we say Crean NEVER stops recruiting, we aren’t kidding.

IU Braces for Swift Two-Sport Athlete; Big Ten Goes To Nine-Game Conference Season

Who said the era of multi-sport college athletes is dead?

Nick Stoner is proving it’s very much alive. The freshman from Center Grove High School looks to be an instant impact football player this season. He also has signed to run track for the Hoosiers in the spring.

Stoner helped Center Grove win the state track championship by winning state titles in the 100 meters (10.54 seconds) and 200 meters (21.46). He also set personal bests of 48.46 seconds in the 400 meters and 46.6 seconds in a split in the 400 relay.

IU track coach Ron Helmer is glad Stoner can help the Hoosiers in both sports.

“Nick is a football recruit who really come into his own this year in track and field,” Helmer said in a university release. “He has great range and the ability to get much better. Our football staff is excited about his speed, and as we work together we hope to bring many more high-level football/track athletes to our campus who can help both programs become consistent winners.”


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The Big Ten flexed its early football muscle by landing five teams in the preseason USA Today Coaches’ Poll.

Wisconsin was the highest rated Big Ten team, coming in at No. 10. Nebraska was No. 11 followed by No. 16 Ohio State, No. 17 Michigan State and No. 25 Penn State. Iowa, Michigan and Northwestern also received votes.

As expected, no coach voted for Indiana.

The Associated Press poll comes out later this month. For the record, we vote on that poll, and made a not-so-good impression last year by ranking Boise State No. 1 for much of the season. This was treated by Ohio State and Alabama fans with the same enthusiasm as making broccoli mandatory for breakfast.


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The Big Ten is going back to nine-game conference seasons, after a quarter century of eight-game schedules. The move, which will begin with the 2017 season, comes as a result of adding Nebraska, which gives the conference 12 teams.

That means Big Ten schools, starting in 2017, will only have three non-conference games.

Three teams from the new Legends and Leaders divisions will have five conference home games during odd-numbered years, whill the other three schools from each division will host five conference games during even-numbered years.

That means in 2017 Indiana will have five conference home games. It will have four in 2018.

The Big Ten last had a full nine-game conference schedule for the 1983 and ’84 seasons.

This is good news for the Hoosiers because it means another quality opponent will play in Memorial Stadium, which likely means a bigger crowd and more money. Athletic director Fred Glass already has boosted the non-conference schedule with games against Virginia, Navy, Missouri, South Florida and Wake Forest.

Glass hopes to target seven home games a season as often as he can, with the possibility of as many as eight if he can line up three home non-conference games the same season the Hoosiers have five home Big Ten contests.

IU’s Impact Football Recruiting; What’s Up with LSU Transfer; And More

As you might have expected, Kevin Wilson’s football recruiting has made a big impact on athletic director Fred Glass.

Neither Glass nor Wilson can comment on any players who haven’t signed with Indiana. Yes, this means they can’t talk about Gunner Kiel, the Class of 2012 stud quarterback who has committed to the program and stirred up talk that maybe –- maybe –- the Hoosiers might be poised to jump into consistent-winner mode.

Anyway, Wilson has 15 commitments for the Class of 2012 -- five ranked in the top 75 at their positions nationally -- and life is looking awfully good right now. Of course, that’s always the case this time of year before anybody has practiced or played a game.

“Kevin has been very well received in the state of Indiana,” Glass said. “The state is a much more of a target-rich environment for elite players. Credit Peyton Manning and the Colts or whatever.

“It’s increasingly important for us to be strong in recruiting players in the state. High school football in the state is very strong. We have a Mr. Football coming in (Indianapolis Lawrence Central’s Tre Roberson). More and more elite players are looking at Indiana, committing to Indiana. Kevin has done a great job of becoming ingrained in that.”

While in-state recruiting is important, Glass added, it’s not the only part of Wilson’s recruiting philosophy, which is similar to that of former coach Bill Lynch.

“The overall philosophy hasn’t changed,” Glass said. “We’re focusing on Indiana, having a Midwest footprint and using contacts among our assistant coaches to reach into Florida, Texas and Louisiana to pick up some national guys.”

Wilson also brings another key aspect – confidence. That’s an attribute that’s hard to sustain when you’ve lost as much as the Hoosiers have over the years.

“We’ve lost a lot of close games (in recent years),” Glass said, “and it’s likely confidence might have played in that. Kevin is a confident guy. His philosophy is win today and he hammers that point home. That’s why we hired him and got him here.”



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You’ve got to love all the basketball experience Indiana commits Yogi Ferrell, Hanner Perea and Trey Lyles are getting this summer. Yes, there is a burnout factor (do these guys EVER get time off to just be kids), but the chance to play in elite events against elite competition will help prepare them for the challenges they’ll face in college.

All three are set to play in something called the adidas Nations Global Experience, which starts Friday and ends Sunday in Los Angeles. It’s a big enough deal that the title game and third-place game will be televised on CBS Sports Network.

What is this event? It gathers some of the top players, 18 and under, from the U.S. and around the world. They will train and compete together, with mentoring provided by such pro players as Eric Gordon (the former IU standout), Josh Smith, Wesley Johnson, Arron Afflalo and Candace Parker.

Ferrell, the standout point guard from Indianapolis Park Tudor, is on the Class of 2012 USA Team. Perea, a forward, is on an international team. Lyles, also a forward, is on the 2013 USA Team.

Other top players include Las Vegas’ Shabazz Muhammad, Connecticut’s Andre Drummond, New York’s DaJuan Coleman and Texas’ Cameron Ridley.


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So now we’ve reached the home stretch with the Garrett Green chase. Will the 6-11 reserve LSU center choose the Hoosiers and provide a much-needed inside boost, or will he wind up at San Diego State, Long Beach State or Wichita State.

He’s now visit all his finalists and is set to make a final decision. Because he has graduated from LSU, he can transfer and be eligible immediately. He has one year left to play.

Green is from the Los Angeles area, which is which two California schools are among his finalists. He never put up huge numbers at LSU, and was really nothing more than a reserve, but a 6-11 veteran guy would go a long way to keeping some of the inside burden off of freshman Cody Zeller.

Stay tuned.