I don’t think you know a great player until you see him or her with your own eyes.
One can read all about how great someone is in stories or check out how impressive their stat lines are, but it takes witnessing the absurdity of their performances to comprehend how good someone is.
Tevin Coleman has confirmed to me that he is great.
The Hoosiers are now six games in to the 2014 season, and there has yet to be a single game in which I have not audibly let out a “wow” or a “no way” as a result of a Tevin Coleman play.
Coleman has run 1,060 yards through the first six games of this season, and there are six more to go. These yards are not a result of an abundance of carries. They stem from his 8.8 yards-per-carry, as he has not carried the ball more than 24 times in a game this season.
It is not only the statistics, though. It is his ability to create plays that have no business being made.
Like at Bowling Green, when Coleman took a ball outside and up field and had a defender directly in front of him. Instead of running forward and taking a 9-yard gain, he merely turned completely left only to meet another defender.
With both defenders in perfect position to tackle, he first jukes left to make the second defender whiff and then takes one step back to make the other man overrun him.
Two steps forward and he is at full speed. Four seconds later he is 40 yards down field and in the end zone.
To capture his rare speed I will only tell you how surprised the Memorial Stadium press box was when Coleman was caught from behind on a 74-yard run against North Texas.
His long runs had become commonplace, but the sight of someone actually catching up to him was what stunned the IU media. The man who caught him was Jamal Marshall, who had the best 400-meter sprint in Texas in high school.
In IU’s upset win against No. 17 Missouri, it was Coleman who had the late 44-yard screen pass to bring the Hoosiers in scoring position to finish their biggest win some time.
What won me over officially was this past week as IU lost ?45-29 to Iowa.
When the Hoosiers went down 21-0 in the first quarter, it appeared they had been deflated and that there was little hope.
Coleman then took the second play of the next drive for a career-high 83-yard touchdown to lift his entire team. He was able to elevate his whole team with that one play.
Later, junior quarterback Nate Sudfeld left the game with a separated shoulder and did not return. IU trailed 28-14, and freshman Chris Covington came in to the game. The Hoosiers were without their quarterback.
I think everyone in Kinnick Stadium knew they were running it, but, on the first play, Coleman took a carry to the outside for a 45-yard touchdown, and it began to feel like this guy could actually carry a whole team.
Although his efforts were not enough to win the game, nobody in Bloomington was able to blame Coleman and his 219 rushing yards.
Last year he was able to break big plays, but now Coleman has become a model of consistency. IU can trust him to take the ball for reliable movement like your average back.
The difference is, Coleman will take the ball making sure he gets a basic gain but always has an angle for a bigger play in the back of his mind.
When he gets a lane and sees daylight, it only takes five yards of running for us to know he is gone.
I do not expect Coleman to be back at IU next year as he is ?elevating his NFL draft stock ?every single week.
Now that IU will be without Sudfeld for the rest of the season, even more offensive responsibility will be on the back of No. 6.
I do not know if he can carry it, but I will enjoy watching him try.
brodmill@indiana.edu
