Hunter earns starting job after injury

He’s one of the more soft-spoken players on the team, a quieter guy by
nature.

“I’ve known him for three or four years now and he’s still pretty quiet,” senior safety Greg Heban said.

But when the whistle blows, sophomore cornerback Michael Hunter sheds his quiet and polite manners.

“He’s a little more reserved,” junior safety Mark Murphy said. “He gets a little more alive when he gets on the field.”

Hunter is the Hoosiers’ starting cornerback. He came back this season after suffering an injury that forced him to go abroad for a procedure.

After playing in all 12 games his freshman year, a sports hernia on his right groin sidelined him for a large part of his sophomore campaign. He was subsequently redshirted.

Hunter had to travel to Germany to repair his hernia. The procedure, created by Dr. Ulrike Muschaweck, is not available in the United States.

If he had opted for the procedure available in America, which uses a mesh system, it would have taken him seven to eight weeks to recover.

“And her procedure took two to four weeks,” Hunter said. “It’s a surgery that hasn’t made it to the U.S. yet; she basically created the surgery.”

He spent five days in Germany recovering. He made quick progress, jogging and running just three or four days after the procedure.

“Yes sir, I’m a lot stronger,” Hunter said in response to whether he’s different after the surgery. “I was in a lot of pain. I couldn’t pick my legs up in the past ... She (Muschaweck) definitely knows what she is doing.”

Hunter came into this year and has earned the starting cornerback role, alongside junior Tim Bennett.

Bennett is one of the nation’s best corners. He leads the country with 14 pass break ups and leads the Big Ten with 35 solo tackles.

“Tim’s a good cornerback,” Hunter said. “So teams are kind of throwing my way, so I just have to pick it up.”

With one of the country’s best on the other side of the field, defenses pick on Hunter and throw to him more often.

“I think the first couple games they picked on both the corners,” Heban said. “Then when Timmy started making all those plays, they started leaning toward Mike a little bit.”

Hunter said he needs to improve his breaks. Meaning if he is playing nine yards off a receiver and they are running a five-yard route, the explosion when he attempts the catch needs to be quicker.

“Tim does a great job of that,” Hunter said. “That’s why he leads the nation in pass break ups.”

He learns from Bennett, and vice versa.

“We watch film together every day,” Hunter said. “We try to teach each other things.”

Hunter was born and raised in Louisiana. The No. 81 cornerback in the nation, he was recruited by only one SEC school, Mississippi State.

Despite not being recruited by the majority of the powerhouse conference, he doesn’t carry a chip on his shoulder.

“Just got to keep working,” he said. “God put me in the best place for me, so maybe it was a blessing in disguise.”

He was surprised by the passion Big Ten fans had, and said it was just as much as the SEC.

Because he is far from his hometown of Monroe, he doesn’t get to go home a lot.
Instead he goes to the house of one of his best friends on the team, junior wide receiver Nick Stoner.

“He’s a real good dude,” Stoner said. “Every break, if he’s not with his girl, he’ll come back to my place and chill with my family.”

Stoner, a resident of Indianapolis, said he and Hunter used to be the same size. But Hunter’s work in the weight room has made him bigger than Stoner.

Players on the team admire his work ethic and how hard we worked after his injury. Because of his work off the field, Hunter is seeing dividends on the field.

“He’s been a lot more confident this year and has a lot more self-esteem,” Heban said. “It’s allowed him to make more plays.”

Follow reporter Evan Hoopfer on Twitter @EvanHoopfer.