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Thursday, March 28
The Indiana Daily Student

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Injuries continue to deplete team's linebacking corps

Justin Smith has carried much of the defensive load for IU this season.\nThe senior linebacker has 63 tackles through six games, 22 more than any other player. He leads the team in tackles for loss and has single-handedly stopped opposing offenses at times.\nHis job just got a lot tougher.\nIU lost three linebackers in the past week; all three are out for the season.\nSophomores Brandonn Baker and Robert Brown and freshman Yamar Washington all discovered the past two weeks their seasons are over. Washington broke his lower leg; Brown has a shoulder injury that will likely require reconstructive surgery and Baker's career is over because of a congenital condition in his spine.\nThe injuries leave IU coach Cam Cameron with a handful of true freshmen to evaluate.

Evaluation time\nA bye week gives football teams plenty of time to prepare for the next opponent.\nIt also provides a chance to evaluate a team, as Cameron pointed out this week.\n"The one plus about a bye week is it gives everyone an opportunity to look in the mirror, starting with me and the coaching staff," he said. "Then that filters right to the players and the players holding themselves accountable.\nWhile Cameron pushed players to answer the challenge of better leadership, the coaches also asked for criticism of themselves.\nLast Friday, players filled out questionnaires asking what Cameron could do to help them play better and what the assistant coaches could do to accomplish that same task. The players also filled out a form asking what teammates they see as offensive and defensive leaders.\nSmith said the questionnaires were helpful. He had a little fun with them, too.\n"(Cameron) made a point where he said, 'Tell me what you think our team can do better, and don't put down that you want black socks,'" Smith said. "So I put down there, 'I want black socks.' I put a smiley face behind it; he probably didn't know who it was.\nNot all hope lost\nCameron said at his press conference last week that the Hoosiers still had attainable goals. One of them, making a bowl game, can only happen if IU wins all of its remaining five games.\nAccomplishing that feat will mean beating defending Big Ten champion Northwestern, No. 20 Purdue, Michigan State and Penn State on the road.\nStill, some players say it's possible.\n"That's just the way I look at life -- never give up," said senior receiver Henry Frazier, who recently earned back his starting spot. "Even with the season, we're 1-5, but that doesn't mean we're out of it. I've been all the way down to scout team and now I'm back up to starting.\n"We're down to 1-5 and we could go back up to getting to a bowl game. We're not out of it. We're never out of it"

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