As far as I know, nothing interesting or news worthy at all has happened at IU this week. So i'm sure you're all dying to read more various football practice observations, and i'm a man of the people - so here they are:
* Cornerback Adrian Burks, who IU coach Bill Lynch has praised on multiple occasions, was working opposite of presumed starting cornerback Christopher Phillips. On the depth chart it has Burks as a second string cornerback, but the depth chart also has Kellen Lewis and James Bailey as starters on offense, so it can't be taken too seriously.
The second starting cornerback position is definitely up for grabs, and Burks did look fairly good the few times I paid sole attention to him. The one one concern about Burks is, although he is listed at 6'0, there is no way he's even close to being that tall. I pegged him being about two inches shorter than me, and i'm 5'10. Little guys can still be good cornerbacks, as long as they avoid having to go up against the James Hardy types of the world.
* Mitchell Evans is looking better. Evans is a very interesting guy to watch, and the more I watch him at quarterback the more I like what I see. One of the IU media relations guys actually said after an Evans scrammble, "I really like watching Evans play QB." The quote summed up what most were thinking when watching him improv on a broken play. I'm not sure what position he'll be at the end of the year, but for right now he's entertaining at quarterback.
* There is no way the team they have out there right now will be the team they have out there in the fall. With all the injuries, suspensions, guys playing different sports and potential playmaking freshmen missing, the current Hoosier team practicing is likely to be completely different from the team that will play come fall. One could look at this two ways;
1) This will really hurt them in the long haul, as several key guys are missing conditioning and getting a jump on the no huddle offense.
Or
2) This will give the coaching staff a chance to find some guys who may have been buried on the depth chart that can help the Hoosiers in the fall.
I can't tell you which line of thinking is the right one, it may be a little of both. I will say this: The guy's playing first team right now are playing hard, and if anything should make things more difficult for the guys missing practice for various reasons.
* Bryan Payton and Brandon Walker-Roby in particular have looked good on offense. Payton looks stronger than he did last year, slimmer, but more muscular. Walker-Roby looks to be running crisp routes, and I observed him being really vocal with both IU wide receivers coach Billy Lynch, and his fellow receivers. They may not be the starters come fall, but for right now have been working hard with the first string.
