Middleton returns to camp, Hagerup retains starting role

The IU football team played without its stud on the defensive line in Saturday’s 31-13 win against Western Kentucky and never missed a beat.

Now, they welcome a superstar back to the line against Murray State this weekend.
After serving a suspension in the opening game of the season for breaking team rules, junior defensive end Greg Middleton will play Saturday.

With him, he brings an impressive resume established last year.

“Obviously that adds another weapon,” senior defensive tackle Greg Brown said of Middleton. “Greg is a great player and when you have a great player like that supplemented with other great players, it’s pretty unstoppable.”

In 2007, Middleton made a name for himself as one of the dominant pass rushers in college football. He led the nation in sacks with 16, recovered two fumbles and returned one for a touchdown.

Middleton was named to five award watch lists before the season began.

The defensive line already looked strong before Middleton’s addition to the roster. Against the Hilltoppers, the IU front seven recorded three sacks and held Western Kentucky to only 63 rushing yards on 31 carries.

“We don’t think about the size of the (offensive) line, how good they are, their history or anything like that,” Brown said. “We just focus on what we need to do to get ready for Saturday. We know that if we execute, all of that will take care of itself.”

Hagerup remains starting punter

Punting is one part of football seemingly taken for granted, but on Saturday it was presented as a glaring weakness.

Freshman Chris Hagerup had a rough welcome in his first collegiate game, punting three times for an average of 34.7 yards. His second punt only traveled 12 yards, and he botched the snap on his third punt before getting it off.

Toward the end of the fourth quarter, IU coach Bill Lynch substituted senior backup safety Joe Kleinsmith to punt rather than stick with Hagerup. Though Kleinsmith’s punt traveled 50 yards, Lynch said the move was just to give him a shot at it and Hagerup will remain the starter.

“I think he came back the way you would want him to,” said co-special teams coordinator George Ricumstrict. “Obviously, he’s disappointed with his performance but he understands it’s his first game and things happen.”

Doss expected to play, Fisher questionable

Coming out of Saturday’s win relatively unscathed, the Hoosiers will likely return at least one of their two notable injured players back to action this weekend.

Freshman wide receiver Tandon Doss suited up in full pads during practice on Tuesday, and looked strong as he ran his routes. Doss injured his shoulder during practice in mid-August.

“When a guy comes back, you’ve got to have a couple of days of hitting to see if he’s ready to come back,” Lynch said. “Hopefully he’ll be ready to go Saturday.”

Also injured is top receiver junior Ray Fisher. Fisher hurt his shoulder running a route on Saturday. In Tuesday’s practice, Fisher was dressed in half of his pads and was not a part of full contact even though he ran routes while the team practiced its formations.

His return is a possibility but it is not set in stone, and Lynch said Fisher is day-to-day.