Since IU Quarterbacks Coach Kevin Johns watched Homestead (Fort Wayne) High School wide receiver Isaac Griffith run routes in early May, the IU coaching staff had liked Griffith. Entering this weekend's camp, the Hoosiers had yet to extend Griffith an offer.
Many football recruits greatly value forming a relationship with their position coaches. For Northwest Mississippi Community College defensive tackle Jerome McClain, he already has that with IU. New Defensive Ends Coach Jon Fabris coached the defensive line at Northwest Mississippi last season, including McClain.
When IU extended an offer to defensive end Malik Smith in early May, it wasn't as much of a celebration as it was a relief. "It was special, and it was more of a sigh of relief," Smith said.
When defensive tackle Abens Cajuste ended up playing at Victor Valley (Calif.) Community College out of high school, he knew a second-rate effort would not do. "It humbled me, gave me more passion for the game," Cajuste said.
The Big Ten Conference released its list of 2012 Medal of Honor recipients. Two student-athletes from each school were honored for having "attained the greatest proficiency in athletics and scholastic work." The two recipients from IU were men's basketball player Matt Roth and swimmer Margaux Farrell. Farrell, along with Penn State Miguel Pineda, earned the Wayne Duke Postgraduate Award.
For the fourth time in IU history, two Hoosier baseball players have been selected in the first 10 rounds of the MLB Draft in the same year. Junior 2B Micah Johnson was selected at pick 291 in the ninth round by the Chicago White Sox Tuesday afternoon, while senior RHP Chad Martin was selected only 23 picks later, in the 10th round at pick 314 by the crosstown rival Cubs. Johnson, a preseason All-American according to Baseball America, only played 24 games this season after having elbow surgery on March 9, earning a batting average of .225 with one home run and 10 RBIs.
Finally, IU Coach Kevin Wilson has a fuller team. The IU football team spent the spring with a light roster, without graduated seniors and without incoming freshmen. When a baker's dozen of rising freshmen moved into Ashton Quadrangle yesterday to begin their collegiate careers, he finally has a fuller team of 90 players.
The Big Ten released the conference schedule for the 2015 and 2016 seasons Monday. IU's schedules are as follows: 2015 At Wisconsin -- Oct.
After arriving at the Buffalo Bills' rookie camp a little less than a week ago, former IU linebacker Jeff Thomas learned Tuesday that the team will not have a spot on its roster for him this season. "They said that they like me a lot, but they don't have space on their team," Thomas said Wednesday.
With Olympic Trials only about a month away, past and present IU swimmers and divers are starting to kick their training into high gear to prepare for their attempt at qualifying. Over the weekend, they competed in international events taking place in the United States, including the Charlotte UltraSwim Grand Prix and the AT&T USA Diving Grand Prix. In their effort at Charlotte, the Hoosier contingent compiled eight top ten finishes, including a second place effort from former swimmer Ben Hesen in the 100-meter backstroke (54.19). Hesen also notched a fourth place finish in the 50m backstroke, racing a time of 26.05.
Last Saturday, former IU left tackle Andrew McDonald was invited to rookie camps for two NFL teams -- the Miami Dolphins and the Green Bay Packers. It turns out that he didn't even need to go to the second camp to get signed. McDonald's agent Josh Marks called him at 9:30 a.m.
IU is welcoming another member of the Hulls family into its program, only this time it's on the women's side. IU Coach Curt Miller announced Kaila Hulls, the younger sister of men's basketball guard Jordan, is transferring to IU and will begin taking classes this summer. "We are excited about Kaila's decision to return home and become a member of the Indiana Hoosier family," Miller said in a press release.
Indiana baseball players continue to clean up on weekly awards handed out by the Big Ten. In recognition of the Hoosiers' sweep of the University of Michigan to place themselves in a tie for second in the conference, junior center fielder Justin Cureton and freshman catcher Kyle Schwarber won Player of the Week and Freshman of the Week, respectively. Cureton batted .583 against Wolverines' pitching, raising his batting average by .22 points to .251.
As has been speculated for the past week or so, former Towson assistant coach Kenny Johnson has moved onto the same role with the Indiana basketball staff. Towson head coach Pat Skeery tweeted on Monday afternoon that his former assistant is heading to Bloomington. Johnson fills the void on the staff that opened up when Bennie Seltzer took the head coaching position at Samford University on April 4. Even though Johnson doesn't bring a ton of college coaching experience with him to Bloomington he does have a connection to a popular AAU program in the Washington D.C.
Over the course of Friday's two rounds, just about every notable omission from the first round was selected, but not neccesarily in the order I would have thought.
Granted, I don't think anyone could have seen the flurry of picks in the early first round of the draft last night coming, but nonetheless, my attempt at a mock draft in Thursday's IDS was far from perfect.
After a four-game slump that saw IU first baseman Sam Travis go 0-for-16 with eight strikeouts, Travis has found his groove again and has blasted two homers in the last four games. Travis's latest home run--his sixth of the season--was a two-run, two-out blast on a full count off of Miami (Ohio's) Brandon Adkins in the bottom of the ninth inning.
In this video, IU manager Tracy Smith talks about how two errors and mental mistakes led to the Hoosiers' 8-7 loss in the first game of a home-and-home series with Miami (Ohio).
There were a couple quotes that did not make my feature story on Hoosiers' freshman catcher Kyle Schwarber that I want to make available to readers of this blog ... Hoosiers' freshman catcher Kyle Schwarber also played linebacker at Middletown High School.
For the fifth time, a Hoosier earned the Big Ten's Freshman of the Week honor. Starting pitcher Kyle Hart is the fourth different freshman to earn the honor from the conference. On Saturday, Hart pitched a complete game shutout for the first time since senior Drew Leininger did it against Central Michigan two seasons ago. The freshman southpaw held the Georgia Southern University Eagles to five hits.
