Cameron says he is secure despite rumors

Ask critics of Cam Cameron and IU football about job security, and they'll tell you Cameron doesn't have much of it.\nAsk Cameron, and he'll tell you, well, quite a bit.\nThe words "Cam Cameron" and "firing" have exchanged paths quite a few times over the past couple seasons, but the coach himself is anything but worried about his status as head coach at IU.\n"I've talked to every recruit about it," Cameron said. "We're on the best recruits we've ever been on here at Indiana. And one of the reasons, I firmly believe, is because I tell them, 'Now have you heard they say that we're going to be fired?' Nobody outside of 100 miles has heard that.\n"You go outside 100 miles of Bloomington, the recruits haven't heard all that stuff. They think we're good. So I bring it up, just because I know eventually it's goning to be used against you. And I don't want someone to create a doubt and have a kid afraid to mention it to me. I'm not going to let speculation determine my future, I'll guarantee you. I'm going to address it."\nThe recruits apparently aren't alone in viewing IU as a quality program.\n"An ESPN announcer told me, 'Cam, it's amazing. I see you guys as a national program and a national school,'" Cameron said. "I say, 'Why do you say that?' He says 'Because everywhere I go, I hear good things about Indiana football and Indiana University. Until I get here. Then I come to Bloomington, and everybody talks negative. It's interesting, you're one of the few schools I see as a national school and not a local school.'\n"I go all over this country and recruit, and people feel good about us around the country. And where they feel the least good about us is right in our backyard. And it shouldn't be that way. It should not be that way. I'm not pointing a finger at anyone. I'm just saying that's the way it is."\nBut with a 17-36 career record heading into this weekend, Cameron hasn't won as many games as some local fans might like. His teams haven't fared well in the Big Ten, either, finishing no higher than seventh heading into this season.\nStill, local negativity doesn't faze Cameron. Neither does the possibility of getting fired.\n"I can just tell you -- that firing stuff people talk about -- all the guys I admire have been fired and have come back and have won," he said. "And usually when they came back and won, it was at a place that was committed to them. Completely.\n"Because we all know, it comes down to players, and it comes down to commitment. There's a lot of guys that can coach. That's my stance on all that conversation that's going on out there. The Cameron family and the Indiana football program, we can deal with it."\nTwo-sport star?\nSenior tailback Levron Williams will finish his collegiate football career Saturday when IU plays Kentucky.\nBut his athletic career at IU won't be over if things work out his way.\nWilliams has excelled this season at IU, ranking near the top of the nation in both rushing and all-purpose yards per game. Now he might want to test his worth as a basketball player.\n"I'm not sure," Williams said. "If (Coach) Mike Davis lets me walk on, then I'd try to do it. As of right now, I don't know, because I've got to get his approval. I haven't talked to him this year, but I talked to him last year."\nShould Williams get the OK from Davis, senior quarterback Antwaan Randle El said he thinks his backfield partner will succeed.\n"Levron's always wanted to play ball over there," said Randle El, who played basketball himself as a freshman. "He's better than anybody they got over there. Levron can play."\nBetter than anybody?\n"Yeah. They say they got a new guy over there that I haven't seen play, but ..."\nAim to the left\nIU's kicking woes continued against Purdue, with sophomore Adam Braucher missing both an extra point and a field goal. The Hoosiers have now made only 2-of-9 field goals and 31-of-38 extra points.\nFive of those field goals have been wide right. And not wide by much.\n"We have not kicked the ball any way, shape or form what's acceptable," Cameron said. "I keep telling (Braucher), aim to the left further. We've missed five field goals one foot to the right. Aim two feet to the left.\n"That sounds like an over-simplification, but ... Jack Nicklaus made a living aiming down the left-center of the fairway. He didn't aim down the middle because he knew his ball was going to go to the right a little bit. Aim to the left a little more. If we're going to miss one this week, let's miss it to the left"