When I was younger, I used to go out to a football field and toss the ball around with my friends. Whenever I’d receive the ball, I’d spin, hurdle, juke imaginary defenders and dive for an invisible pylon, pretending I was a star wide receiver in the NFL who had just made a SportsCenter Top 10 play.
Junior wide receiver Charlie Becker probably felt the same exhilaration I once felt as a kid during the Hoosiers’ 55-0 win against Howard University inside Memorial Stadium on Saturday. I can only imagine redshirt senior quarterback Josh Hoover felt like a proud dad, watching Becker dominate the Bison’s secondary.
Becker had three catches for 81 yards. All three receptions were touchdowns. With a 41-0 lead at halftime, the Nashville, Tennessee, native didn’t receive any further action in the second half.
Indiana head coach Curt Cignetti said postgame that Becker is the “hardest worker on the team.”
“Nobody prepares more than him,” Cignetti said. “He goes hard every play; goes hard in practice. He does everything he can to be an explosive player ... he almost has as many touchdowns as receptions this year.”
In a loaded wide receiver room, Becker has been Hoover’s favorite target through the first two contests. He's tallied seven receptions for 145 yards and five touchdowns in that span — tied with Rutgers junior KJ Duff for the most touchdowns by a wide receiver in the country through two games.
Becker said he’s been building chemistry with Hoover ever since he committed to Indiana in the offseason.
“It goes back to as soon as Josh got here,” Becker said postgame. “Just going into the indoor facility, throwing early in the morning. And then, you know, just hanging out outside of football too. Just being friends.”
After struggling with the running game in the season opening contest against North Texas, the Hoosiers went back to the same gameplan. This time it worked — Indiana averaged 8.6 yards per carry between its two running backs and both eclipsed 100 rushing yards.
The run game effectiveness set up the ability to throw the ball deep.
Becker’s first touchdown came on third-and-1 from the Howard 34-yard line, where he beat the cornerback on a one-on-one route. Hoover’s pass was underthrown, but Becker, who possesses a 78.9% contested catch rate with zero career drops, caught the ball over the helpless defender.
On the Hoosiers’ next drive, Indiana ran the ball nine times for 82 yards. The 10th and final play of the drive was a six-yard touchdown pass from Hoover to Becker, who was wide open in the endzone, to make it 14-0.
It was as if the Howard secondary somehow forgot Indiana’s leading pass catcher was on the field.
Two drives later, Becker added his third touchdown. The wide receiver found himself open in the middle of the field on a slant. As soon as Becker caught the ball, he stiff-armed the defender before running 41-yards to the endzone untouched.
Not only was the timing perfect on the pass and catch. But the second effort to push away the ensuing tackler showed Becker wasn’t satisfied with just a 20-yard catch. He wanted to find the endzone.
Despite the stellar performance, Becker wants to continue to get open for his quarterback.
“There’s still a lot left out there that we can improve upon,” Becker said. “I can improve on my route running, technique, all that to get open and get more receptions and be a better wide receiver for Josh.”
Aside from Becker, other question marks are still unanswered in the passing game.
Hoover had trouble connecting with junior receiver Nick Marsh, who didn’t have a target until there was 1 minute, 53 seconds left in the second quarter. The timing between Marsh and Hoover was off — Hoover missed Marsh open a couple times and underthrew a would-be touchdown pass toward the end of the second quarter.
Marsh finished the day with two catches for 72 yards. He caught a 51-yard touchdown in the third quarter from seventh-year quarterback Grant Wilson, who took the place of Hoover at the start of the second half.
Yes, Hoover finished the day 6 for 11 with 146 yards and four touchdowns. Yes, Indiana dominated. But it is a concern that Marsh and Hoover haven’t been on the same page yet.
What’s already been answered is the comradery between Becker and Hoover. The duo is one of the best in the country and will continue to be hard to stop as the season progresses.
Becker made himself a household name throughout the country last season in Indiana’s College Football Playoff run. Through the opening two games this season, he’s fully blossomed into a star — and his connection, timing and chemistry with Hoover is already on point.
Follow reporters Conor Banks (@Conorbanks06 and conbanks@iu.edu) and Nathan Shriberg (@NShriberg and naashri@iu.edu) and columnist Elakai Anela (@elakai_anela and eanela@iu.edu) for updates throughout the Indiana football season
