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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

sports football

Wilson discusses injuries and social media in weekly conference

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By Taylor Lehman

Following IU’s worst loss of the season, 29-7, to Penn State on Saturday, IU Coach Kevin Wilson said it needed to be better on offense.

“We had seven three-and-outs, which was not a good deal,” Wilson said. “Five times we crossed the 50 yard line, and we scored one touchdown. That wasn’t a good deal. Too many missed assignments, lack of physical play. That tells me maybe we’re doing too much. We’ve got to get back and not necessarily simplify things but put our kids in better places to play well.”

Entering the game as the fourth-best redzone offense in the Big Ten, IU had the advantage in the final 20 yards of the field as Penn State was ranked second-to-last in the conference in redzone 
defense.

The Hoosiers found it difficult to capitalize on the mismatch, though, as they only reached the Nittany Lions’ redzone once, resulting in their only score of the day.

“Basically, the offense just zapped the energy from our football team, and our football team got stale with our inability to make offensive plays,” Wilson said.

Wilson said, at times, the defense put the offense in good position, with turnovers, the recovered onside kick and forced punts, but the offense didn’t take advantage of the good defensive play.

“We are dealing with some glitches, but everyone does,” Wilson said. “It’s nothing more than college ball. We’ve got to maximize some things we’re good at, get back to it, with our line of scrimmage play, tight end play and helping our skill guys continue to heal up, as well as young skill guys keep coming along.”

Injuries

Sophomore quarterback Zander Diamont started in place of senior Nate Sudfeld against Penn State on Saturday but was replaced by freshman Danny Cameron when the sophomore went down with an injury in the third quarter.

Though Wilson said Diamont will miss a week or two, he also said Sudfeld was cleared to play against Penn State but Wilson decided not to play him because the senior still struggled with 
mobility.

“Nate did more (Sunday) than he did any day last week,” Wilson said. “He did a few things last week. He was at practice. He didn’t take any live throws until Friday. He did half the work on Friday, he and Zander, to see if he’d be ready to go.”

Sophomore receiver Isaac Griffith suffered an ACL injury Saturday that will require surgery, Wilson said. He will miss the rest of the season, after already burning his redshirt in 2013.

Wilson also said junior running back Jordan Howard was running in practice Sunday and is working on his cuts and getting back into game shape.

Social Media

In the midst of Texas’ players feuding on Twitter last week, Wilson addressed how social media is handled on the team. He said the program tries to use social media as a positive message from its players.

“Whether it just be a comment like, ‘Man, practices are hard. The coaches are killing us,’ in that tone,” Wilson said about players’ posts online. “Versus like, ‘Man, a lot of energy at practice today, and we were getting after it. It was a lot of fun.’ Both are hard practices. But one time you sound like you’re complaining or don’t feel good about it.”

Wilson also said when players use slang online or use inappropriate language, he shows them their messages and asks how they will explain the meaning and context to his son.

Other than the content players are posting online, Wilson said the team worries about the effects of phones and other screens on the players’ sleep when they use them at night.

“We actually take our phones from our kids Friday night just so they go to sleep and just to get off of it,” Wilson said. “As a matter of fact, we’ve got these little goggle glasses we give them. They take the blue light effect away when you’re watching TV at night or on your phone. The blue light affects your melatonin, which gets you 90 minutes later into deep sleep.”

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