Redshirts become rule, not exception

When the Hoosiers storm from their end zone weight room and spill onto the Memorial Stadium turf amid the introductory fireworks, cheers and any other loud noises and eye-catching visuals IU Athletics Director Fred Glass can dream up, it won’t be a startling experience for many of the players.

Instead, it’ll be just like any other day at the office for the majority of IU’s starters on offense and defense thanks to an aggressive approach by the coaching staff to redshirt players early in their IU careers.

Just four of the 22 projected offensive and defensive starters listed on the team depth chart for today’s season-opener with Towson will have previously not been a redshirt. They include junior wide receiver Damarlo Belcher, sophomore defensive tackle Adam Replogle, his brother and senior linebacker Tyler Replogle and senior safety Mitchell Evans.

Junior Jeff Thomas came to the Hoosiers after spending two years in junior college.

The rest of that starting squad, though, will have taken advantage of the NCAA rule that permits an athlete to not compete in games during a season, thereby saving a year of their four-year eligibility and allowing them to stay on campus for five years. In total — excluding true freshman — just eight players on the Hoosier roster avoided a redshirt.

Most players who redshirt do so in the freshman season, giving them another year to learn the offense and take advantage of the strength training program.

“You don’t want to rush anybody,” IU offensive coordinator Matt Canada said. “They learn the system, they learn what coach Lynch is all about. I say it all of the time, you’re going to be a better player at 22 or 23 than you are at 18.”

Nowhere is that more present than with the guy IU will have taking snaps Thursday.

Fifth-year senior quarterback Ben Chappell redshirted his freshman year on campus.

“As a true freshman, he had been here all spring, all summer,” Canada said. “He knew every route, every picture. Is he a better player today than he was then? Without question.”

The redshirting system certainly is widely used, but it has taken an extreme importance in IU coach Bill Lynch’s approach to elevating his program in the Big Ten.

Lynch sees it as a way to field a more competitive squad when attracting the nation’s top recruits hasn’t been IU’s forte.

“I think it’s starting to show itself,” Lynch said in August during the Big Ten media days. “As we get started, we have a lot of experience in our team, guys that have played a lot of football.”

The result has been just six  freshman taking the field during the last three years.

“As a result, we’ve been able to get them in the weight room, develop them and certainly get them ready to play at the Big Ten level,” Lynch said.

A concern for the Hoosiers this season might be the defense, based on the fact that seven players who started six or more games last year have graduated. When turnover like that happens it’s nice to have experienced players following in their footsteps, Lynch said.

“I think we feel as a staff that what we’ve done redshirting and developing kids is going to show, because we’ve got a lot of guys that are maybe no-name guys to our fans, to the media, but ones that we’ve seen practice,” Lynch said.

Cornerback Richard Council made starts in seven games a year ago, but returns this season as a fifth-year senior after taking advantage of the redshirt for medical reasons.

“I ended up tearing my ACL during my freshman year, so it definitely helped me rehab and get bigger and stronger,” Council said. “It helped me to play against the No. 1 receivers like James Hardy and to develop as a young guy.”

As IU’s numbers show, the redshirt certainly isn’t something that’s limited to particular positions on the field.

“We’ve had someone in about every spot, really,” Canada said. “We’ve moved it all around. I think every spot is a little bit unique, but we try to make it work with all of them if we can.”