Wilson begins IU tenure against fellow new coach

IU Coach Kevin Wilson will be in good company as he coaches his first game for the school. He needs only to look across the field.

On the opposing sideline, Pete Lembo will be leading the Ball State Cardinals for the first time after five seasons leading Elon’s team.

Wilson is quick to point out the differences for each coach at their respective new schools.

“Coach Lembo’s been a head coach, had staff, had philosophy, had things in place,” Wilson said. “I’m sure the transition has probably been cleaner, probably better than ours as far as coaches knowing each other, working together, knowing how they want to structure practice.”

However, Wilson still recognizes that the methods used by Lembo and his staff have been modified since his arrival at Ball State, making it difficult to plan against his new squad for lack of frame of reference.

“Even though you know what their coaches have done, they did it at another school,” Wilson said. “Does that mean that the personnel fit? Every coach always tweaks to his personnel, so just because they ran plays last year at Ball State doesn’t mean the new staff runs it. Just because they did it at Elon doesn’t mean they do it there.”

Co-Offensive Coordinator Rod Smith recognized the difficulty of planning for Ball State but noted that they is in a similar situation when dealing with IU’s new staff.

“It’s hard,” Smith said. “It’s always the question of the unknown. Will they do what they did in the past or is there something new? I’m sure they’re going through the same thing. It’s never easy. With someone else, you have actual footage and you know exactly what they’re going to do and how they’re going to be for the most part.”

For the players, the situation essentially doubled the amount of film study necessary for the season opener.

“We just have to watch more film than we usually would,” senior guard Justin Pagan said. “We have to watch personnel and scheme.”

With the departure of two-year starter Ben Chappell, the starting quarterback job has been an open competition since spring practices.

Wilson acknowledged during fall camp that the competition, initially open among all five signal callers on the roster, had been narrowed to a final three of sophomores Dusty Kiel and Edward Wright-Baker and true freshman Tre Roberson. A depth chart was released Monday revealing the starters and top backups at every position except quarterback.

Wilson has said multiple quarterbacks could play in the opener, and he might not reveal the starter until game time. This will give him and his staff as much time as needed to choose a quarterback they are confident in.

“The issue with them all is just the consistency and do you totally trust them?” Wilson said. “The old saying is ‘The game’s called football, and we put the game in their hand.’”

Whomever the quarterback is, he will not be handing off to either of the Hoosiers’ top two returning rushers from last season. Junior running back Darius Willis and sophomore running back Nick Turner have each been ruled out from Saturday’s opener due to injuries.

Neither was listed among the top two at running back on Monday’s depth chart. Redshirt freshman Matt Perez is instead slated to start.

Injuries at running back are but one of the challenges Wilson faces in his first game as a college coach. The Hoosiers leader believes the team is ready, though, thanks to practices that are designed to be more difficult than games. Wilson just hopes it translates onto the field at game time.

“We‘re getting judged by the score, but it will hopefully be an easier environment,” Wilson said. “Do (the players) trust the process? Can they take the things that were emphasized in the practice situations? Can they take the things that were emphasized in the meeting rooms and apply that to the game?”