Coleman stars in backfield

Sophomore running back Tevin Coleman was a three-star recruit out of high school and the 37th best player at his position in the 2012 national recruiting class, according to Rivals.

But the majority of his yards last season were on special teams.

Coleman accumulated 566 yards on 24 kick returns, and he had the third-best average kickoff return in the Big Ten.

On offense, the Tinley Park, Ill., native rushed for 225 yards on 51 carries, and he was the third-leading rusher for IU in both categories.

While Coleman is still the starting kick returner for the Hoosiers, he has also claimed the starting spot at running back.

In his first career start at running back Thursday night against Indiana State, Coleman rushed for 169 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries.

IU running backs Coach Deland McCullough said that Coleman has improved “big-time” from his freshman to sophomore season. McCullough said that the sophomore was physically “always a good-looking player,” but he has managed to get even stronger, and he has a better understanding of the offense.

“Last year he’d be lost at times as far as ‘Ok, what am I doing?’ and it kind of slowed him from playing at the pace he wanted to play at,” McCullough said. “As far as on our running plays, he knows what his read is and what he needs to do, so things just slowed down for him with maturity.”

Coleman said that last year he “really didn’t know anything,” but now he knows all of the plays.

“That motivates me more to get out there and show what I can do,” he said. “I want to be a 1,000-yard back.”

Coleman is looking to become the 15th running back in IU history to surpass 1,000 yards in a season. Levron Williams was the last to accomplish the feat, in 2001.
McCullough said the Hoosiers’ current running back situation is better than it was in past years.

“A few years ago you had a guy, who if you want to use grades, you might have a guy who’s a B- and another guy who’s a D,” he said. “There was a big discrepancy. It was an obvious situation.”

McCullough said IU has some players who are in “that upper-B, lower-A level.”

“It’s almost like you have Tevin, who’s an A-, and Stephen, who’s a B, so I think the overall level of what we’ve got going on in there has been real positive,” he said.
McCullough said overall Coleman did very well in both the spring and fall camp in terms of being a ball carrier, blocker and receiver.

Coleman said he knew he worked harder and he wanted the starting job, which is why the coaches felt that he “should be the guy.”

IU has more options than just Coleman at running back, and McCullough said the competition in the backfield has been positive for the Hoosiers.

“You know I call these guys being ‘competitively supportive,’” Mccullough said. “They want to see each other do well, but at the same time, these guys want to elevate their game, and I think the ongoing competition between those guys (Coleman and Houston) as well as the other guys (D’Angelo Roberts and Laray Smith) has raised the overall level in the backfield.”

Coleman said that despite the competition, the running backs remain close. He said they hang out every day off the field.

“They’re my boys,” Coleman said.

McCullough said all of the running backs are tight.

“We got each other’s backs, we’ll be the first guy to say something if we need to straighten a situation out, and we’ve had to do that and keep each other in line,” he said. “There’s definitely healthy camaraderie in there, and it’s going to be a good thing to see how it plays out this season.”

McCullough said it remains to be determined how Coleman and Houston, who led the team with 749 rushing yards last season, will split in 2013. He said the Hoosiers need to get a feel for how the games go.

“Both of those guys will play, obviously, as well as some of the other guys helping them support role,” he said. “We don’t come in with a magic number of carries and who’s out there until guys start playing. At this point, Tevin has earned the right to be that first guy going out there, but Stephen knows that he’ll play as well.”

Coleman said with IU’s depth in the backfield, “this running game is going to be a lot more explosive.”

“(Offesnive Coordinator) Coach (Seth) Littrell said he’s gonna try to get us the ball a lot more, and he wants to get us the ball a lot more cause he’s seen in practice that we can tote that thing, so it’s going to be good,” he said.

Littrell said the Hoosiers have more depth at running back than they’ve had in a long time, and that all of the players are pushing each other.

“I think our guys are very capable of breaking tackles, making big runs, hitting home run shots, so I feel good about the position,” he said. “I think if they go out and play as a unit — they go out and play as a group, good things can happen.”

While IU led the Big Ten in passing offense last season and nearly 60 percent of its plays in 2012 were pass attempts, McCullough said IU’s running game could be pretty good. He said IU’s offensive line has developed, and the backfield is more mature.

“We’ve got our ups and downs,” he said, “but it’s been consistently pretty good level play back there that I think is going to transfer over positively on the field.”


 Follow reporter Andy Wittry on Twitter @AndyWittryIDS