Young group works hard to improve

Competition is what drives athletes. Such is the case for junior Glenn Johnson and sophomore Courtney Roby. The two admit to competing during practice. The competitions may be the reason that the two wide receivers are quickly becoming one of the best receiving duos in the Big Ten.\n"Based on how each of us performs, we try to feed off of each other's performance," Johnson said. "If he is performing at a high level, then I upgrade my performance and vice versa. It's always positive, never negative."\nRoby is averaging 87.2 yards a game while Johnson has 81.2 yards. The two combined are creating a combo that is hard to ignore. It's this fact that doesn't allow opposing defenses to focus on just one receiver.\n"I think Glenn and I have a pretty strong one-two punch," Roby said. "If someone is keying in on me, then Glenn will step up. If someone is keying on Glenn, then I will have to step up. I like the combination."\nEarly in the season it was Johnson who was making the big plays. He had 10 catches for 184 yards and a touchdown against Utah. But against Kentucky, Johnson had only one catch.\nIn the first two games, Roby only had six catches for 100 yards. Roby had his break-out game against Kentucky. He had five catches for 101. Ever since then, Roby has led the team in receptions and yards. In the come-from-behind victory over Central Michigan, Roby had four catches for 153 yards. Johnson said it has more to do with play call than the other team's defensive plans.\n"We have plays that are for each one of us," Johnson said. "They are set plays for the defense that they are in. He caught the ball and made big plays out of it."\nWide receivers coach Brian McNeely said the offense creates many opportunities for people to get open, which has helped Roby put up the numbers he is putting up.\n"He is doing a good job," McNeely said. "He has been diligent on running his routes. He brings a lot of big plays to us. But there are some consistency issues that we have to work out."\nThose consistency issues plagued the team during the last game against Ohio State where there were several crucial dropped passes. Johnson said the week off helped the team get prepared for the second half of the season.\nRoby said he is excited about the future because the IU receiving corp is young. Johnson, junior, is the oldest of the group, while Roby is a sophomore. Add in freshman Tyke Spencer who has made big catches as of late and their future looks promising. \n"It's awesome with us being so young because we all have two or three more years," Roby said. "We have to keep improving. This is just the first step."\nRoby said the daily competitions amongst the receivers will help him improve. \n"When (Johnson) does something, then I want to try to better that," Roby said. "We want to outdo each other. That's how we'll improve"