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(09/23/11 4:31am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I’ll never forget the first time I saw Edward Wright-Baker.I was sitting in the student section with some friends at the beginning of the 2009 season. We arrived early to get the best seats and caught a good portion of the warm-ups.I noticed former wide receiver Tandon Doss and former quarterback Ben Chappell. I watched running back Darius Willis and former wide receiver Terrance Turner.But then, an athletic kid wearing No. 7 walked out and started to throw. He had a strong arm and looked a bit like his idol, Michael Vick.My friend saw the same thing. He turned to me and said, “Who is this guy? Why is he not our quarterback?”Wright-Baker wasn’t ready at the time. I later found out he was pretty inaccurate and even more inexperienced.But the raw talent I saw that day was undeniable. That talent is a major reason why he opened this season as IU’s starter and why the job is and should be his.There’s no reason it shouldn’t be. Wright-Baker’s ceiling is higher than that of both Dusty Kiel and Tre Roberson, and he’s shown a great deal of improvement since he arrived in Bloomington.In the spring, I thought the job belonged to Kiel. Everybody did. He was the safe choice, and Wright-Baker didn’t look like a starting QB. He appeared to be a little out of shape, and he continually missed on relatively easy throws.But Wright-Baker clearly did something during the summer. He’s quicker now than he was at any point last season, and he is much more accurate.“When he first got here, he was maybe watching a few too many Michael Vick highlights,” said Duwyce Wilson, who was part of the same recruiting class as Wright-Baker and has become one of his favorite targets. “He wanted to run it a little bit. But he adjusted, and now he’s throwing when he needs to and running when he needs to. He’s improving every day out in practice and in the film room.”IU Coach Kevin Wilson, for one, has not been entirely pleased with his QB. He still hasn’t officially named him the starter going forward. Please.Wright-Baker is still young, and he makes plenty of rookie mistakes. He misses a lot of open receivers because he gives up on his progressions too early and starts to run. Call it the Vick complex.Wright-Baker hasn’t been in the film room as much as Wilson would like. Wilson can’t force him to be in there, but it’s something most quarterbacks just do.“I got school and stuff still,” Wright-Baker said. “I do need to get in there more — more than what I have been. It was different between me and Ben because I have more classes than what Ben was taking last year. Ben had more time on his hands to come and watch film.”Wright-Baker has lost two fumbles in the last two weeks — both in key situations. He still doesn’t feel pass rushers very well at all.“It’s a wake-up call,” he said. “I have to hold the ball with two hands when I’m in the pocket and hold it tight. I’ve been getting out of the pocket and holding it with one hand, and I’ve been hurting myself.”And Wright-Baker hasn’t quite grown into the vocal leader the Hoosiers need him to be.“I’m not as vocal as I should be right now because I believe I gotta show what I can do on the field first before I can start yelling at people,” he said.He may have his faults, but Wright-Baker certainly has the right attitude. Combine that with his talent and desire to get better, and you’ve got your starting quarterback.Just don’t tell Wilson I called him that.PredictionJust call this a confidence game before the Big Ten season. North Texas has statistically the worst defense in the country and Wright-Baker is getting more and more comfortable in Kevin Wilson’s offense. The Hoosiers will score early and often to even their record before the schedule gets more difficult.IU 31, N. Texas 13
(09/21/11 4:07am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Junior running back Darius Willis will miss the remainder of the 2011 season, a source with knowledge of the situation told IDS football columnist Justin Albers Tuesday.The source said Willis, who has not played this season, has not healed from a knee injury he suffered last season.Willis has two year of eligibility remaining, but it is unclear when he will play football again.The former Franklin Central standout and Indiana Mr. Football runner-up also dealt with injuries during his freshman season, when he rushed for 607 yards and six touchdowns. Willis had three games with more than 100 yards rushing that year, including a 152-yard, two touchdown outburst at Michigan. He was named to the All-Big Ten Freshman team following the season.As a sophomore last season, Willis started twice more and played in the team’s first four games before his knee injury ended his season.
(09/19/11 4:30am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU beat South Carolina State 38-21 Saturday night.Ultimately, that’s the important thing.But, man, was that game hard to watch after the first quarter.The Hoosiers still made far too many mistakes to make me feel good about this win or this team. To be honest, I felt better after last week’s loss to Virginia.IU committed a school-record 20 penalties for 176 yards. That’s absolutely inexcusable, especially at home. The Hoosiers were playing a lot of youngsters on the offensive line, but IU Coach Kevin Wilson has talked time and again about not making the same mistake twice.And it’s not like the linemen had a reason to move early. Former Wisconsin defensive end J.J. Watt or former Purdue defensive end Ryan Kerrigan weren’t lined up on the other side. There were simply too many mental lapses a week after the Hoosiers blew a fourth-quarter lead. When the Hoosiers punted on third down late in the game — the refs somehow lost track after an intentional grounding call — it played perfectly to the sloppy theme. “There’s no reason to have that many penalties,” Wilson said. “It is what it is. We’ll look at it. We’ll talk about it. We cannot let it creep into our play as we play stronger teams, closer games. Those are drive-stopping plays.”Quarterback Edward Wright-Baker — who was very good for the most part — fumbled in the red zone after being chased down and hit from his back side. After he performed a similar move and effectively ended the game against Virginia, I thought he would have felt the blitz better.Those are the plays that make me wonder about Wright-Baker as the leader of this team. He has plenty of talent, but he can’t afford some of the mistakes he’s made in the first three weeks of the season.“I still think Ed is capable of so much more,” Wilson said. “The thing Ed is doing great is he’s not forcing the ball and throwing into traffic. Sometimes I think he’s either getting bluffed, or he’s afraid to let it go sometimes. Sometimes I think it’s there, and he needs to cut it and rip it. “I’m tired of sometimes just seeing guys scramble. That looks like our third-down package ... that’s not what we want to try and accomplish. He’s running with the ball all over the place. He cost us points. If you fumble, you come out of the game.” Defensively, the Hoosiers struggled again. They gave up a 69-yard screen pass for a touchdown, allowed a Football Championship Subdivision team to score 21 points and, quite frankly, looked disinterested at times. “We kind of let off the gas a little bit at the end, which we shouldn’t have done,” linebacker Jeff Thomas said. “We just got to limit those plays and take better care on the field.” Thomas is right — it did look like the Hoosiers let off the gas. After they went ahead 21-7 in the first quarter, they began to play down to their competition. And that’s concerning.I really wanted to see Wilson’s team come out and make a statement against an inferior opponent. I wanted to see him run up the score and give his players some confidence after a rough 0-2 start. To the Hoosiers’ credit, though, they made plays when they needed to. Every time South Carolina State cut the lead to 10, the IU offense immediately responded with a strong drive and a score of its own. Maybe that’s more encouraging than the mistakes are discouraging. I’m not sure.What I do know is, despite a mediocre performance, IU won Saturday. And for this team at this time, any win is a good one.— jmalbers@indiana.eduJustin Albers is a junior in journalism.
(09/16/11 4:52am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers needed somebody to make a play.They led Virginia 24-23 in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t afford to give the Cavaliers the ball back.They needed to keep the pressure on.It was third down, and sophomore quarterback Edward Wright-Baker was under pressure. He had to find a receiver fast.Wide receiver Duwyce Wilson broke through the middle. He was well covered by Virginia’s defense. But with few options left, Wright-Baker threw it anyway.Wilson stopped in his tracks, reached back for the throw that was a little off, and made a catch as he went to the ground.Moments later, in a similar situation, Wright-Baker threw it up for Wilson in the end zone. Again, he was well covered, but Wilson left his feet and went up to get it for a late touchdown.It was a remarkable example of Wright-Baker trusting a young receiver. Wright-Baker knew if he gave Wilson a chance, he’d come through in a big way.“We would always talk and throw extra back in the summer,” Wilson said of his relationship with Wright-Baker. “We’re just good buddies. He trusts me and all the other receivers out there.”Few people were talking about Wilson before the season. I know I wasn’t.He played sparingly in the season opener against Ball State because of an injury, but he was key (five catches, 60 yards, one TD) in the Hoosiers’ attempted comeback against Virginia last Saturday.Wilson isn’t a player that gets a lot of attention. His reserved personality doesn’t demand it. But his play against the Cavaliers opened a lot of eyes — including mine. Maybe Wilson isn’t the third option after all. Maybe a guy that opened the season absent from the depth chart will thrive in his new role.“I’ve just seen him grow a lot as a player,” Belcher said. “He’s been out there making plays since he got here. It definitely paid off on Saturday. I’m really proud of him.”If the Hoosiers are going to compete with the Big Ten’s top teams this season, Wilson must continue to grow as a receiver. He can’t be inconsistent like young players tend to be. He can’t have seven catches one week and two the next.Chances are, Wilson is going to get more opportunities like the ones against Virginia if teams start trying to take Belcher away on the opposite side. Belcher said teams haven’t played him any differently than they did last year, but he knows it’s coming.Wilson has to be ready when it does.“I definitely feel like (I can put the team on my shoulders),” Wilson said. “So does everybody else on the team. If they double Damarlo, Kofi feels like he can put the team on his shoulders. I feel like that. Even the freshmen feel like that. If it comes down to that, we’ll definitely be ready.”Wilson still has plenty of room to improve. He makes spectacular catches on a regular basis, but he sometimes fails to make easier ones. His 6-foot-3-inch, 196-pound frame is a little slight to be a featured player in the Big Ten. And he’s sometimes struggled to stay healthy.But all of a sudden, Wilson looks like the next big thing for the IU offense. Maybe he’s even the next Damarlo Belcher.“Hey, he could be,” Belcher said, with Wilson listening in. “But he may want to be his own man and make his own footprints for himself, like I did. We’ll see.”PREDICTIONThe Hoosiers have been close in each of the first two weeks, but they are 0-2. This time around, they’ll finally win in a big way to earn Kevin Wilson his first victory as a head coach.Look for Dusty Kiel and/or Tre Roberson to get a look at QB if it’s a blowout in the second half.IU 34, South Carolina State 14
(09/16/11 4:23am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers needed somebody to make a play.They led Virginia 24-23 in the fourth quarter, but they couldn’t afford to give the Cavaliers the ball back.They needed to keep the pressure on.It was third down, and sophomore quarterback Edward Wright-Baker was under pressure. He had to find a receiver fast.Wide receiver Duwyce Wilson broke through the middle. He was well covered by Virginia’s defense. But with few options left, Wright-Baker threw it anyway.Wilson stopped in his tracks, reached back for the throw that was a little off, and made a catch as he went to the ground.Moments later, in a similar situation, Wright-Baker threw it up for Wilson in the end zone. Again, he was well covered, but Wilson left his feet and went up to get it for a late touchdown.It was a remarkable example of Wright-Baker trusting a young receiver. Wright-Baker knew if he gave Wilson a chance, he’d come through in a big way.“We would always talk and throw extra back in the summer,” Wilson said of his relationship with Wright-Baker. “We’re just good buddies. He trusts me and all the other receivers out there.”Few people were talking about Wilson before the season. I know I wasn’t.He played sparingly in the season opener against Ball State because of an injury, but he was key (five catches, 60 yards, one TD) in the Hoosiers’ attempted comeback against Virginia last Saturday.Wilson isn’t a player that gets a lot of attention. His reserved personality doesn’t demand it. But his play against the Cavaliers opened a lot of eyes — including mine. Maybe Wilson isn’t the third option after all. Maybe a guy that opened the season absent from the depth chart will thrive in his new role.“I’ve just seen him grow a lot as a player,” Belcher said. “He’s been out there making plays since he got here. It definitely paid off on Saturday. I’m really proud of him.”If the Hoosiers are going to compete with the Big Ten’s top teams this season, Wilson must continue to grow as a receiver. He can’t be inconsistent like young players tend to be. He can’t have seven catches one week and two the next.Chances are, Wilson is going to get more opportunities like the ones against Virginia if teams start trying to take Belcher away on the opposite side.Belcher said teams haven’t played him any differently than they did last year, but he knows it’s coming.Wilson has to be ready when it does.“I definitely feel like (I can put the team on my shoulders),” Wilson said. “So does everybody else on the team. If they double Damarlo, Kofi feels like he can put the team on his shoulders. I feel like that. Even the freshmen feel like that. If it comes down to that, we’ll definitely be ready.”Wilson still has plenty of room to improve. He makes spectacular catches on a regular basis, but he sometimes fails to make easier ones. His 6-foot-3-inch, 196-pound frame is a little slight to be a featured player in the Big Ten. And he’s sometimes struggled to stay healthy.But all of a sudden, Wilson looks like the next big thing for the IU offense. Maybe he’s even the next Damarlo Belcher.“Hey, he could be,” Belcher said, with Wilson listening in. “But he may want to be his own man and make his own footprints for himself, like I did. We’ll see.”PREDICTIONThe Hoosiers have been close in each of the first two weeks, but they are 0-2. This time around, they’ll finally win in a big way to earn Kevin Wilson his first victory as a head coach.Look for Dusty Kiel and/or Tre Roberson to get a look at QB if it’s a blowout in the second half.IU 34, South Carolina State 14
(09/13/11 3:06pm)
MVP of the week - Matt Perez - Running Back, Redshirt Freshman
Unsung player of the week - Chase Hoobler - Outside Linebacker, Redshirt Freshman
(09/13/11 2:36am)
MVP of the week - Matt Perez - Running Back, Redshirt FreshmanUnsung player of the week - Chase Hoobler -Outside Linebacker, Redshirt Freshman
(09/12/11 4:03am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>It was better, but it wasn’t good enough.The Hoosiers took a different path to get there, but ultimately, the result was the same. They lost to Virginia in the most ridiculous of ways.Fell behind big. Looked to be headed for disaster. Kevin Wilson pulled out some hair. Came back. Took the lead. Lost the lead. Fumbled the ball. Lost the game.Virginia 34, IU 31.You’ve read this story before.“I do like the fact that our team battled back,” IU Coach Kevin Wilson said. “We’re going to be in close games a lot of times. We gotta learn to win close games.”It’s easy to be a pessimist today. It’s easy to wonder if IU will ever win a close game, if it will ever beat a good opponent. And it’s easy to write off the season.Call me crazy, but I’m not going to do that. I can’t help looking at this game as a positive. The final score notwithstanding, the Hoosiers looked like a different team Saturday night, at least in the second half.A year ago, in the same situation — IU trailing 23-3 early in the second half — the team would have folded. The Hoosiers weren’t mentally tough or physically conditioned enough to score 28 consecutive points against a team like Virginia.If nothing else, we saw the ‘Wilson Effect’ a week later than we thought we would.The Hoosiers grew stronger as the game went along, and Virginia got weaker. The Cavaliers looked exhausted late in the second half.It was as if the Hoosiers had changed roles. Last year, they gave up big leads. Saturday night, they erased a huge deficit.“I’ve got a lot of respect for our players,” Wilson said. “Everything they’ve invested since we’ve been here, the way they come back. We’re just asking them, right now, to maintain an unbelievable attitude and keep bringing it.”The Hoosiers looked tougher than I’ve ever seen them.Running back Matt Perez ran over people. Wide receiver Duwyce Wilson made huge catches down the stretch. The defense made big hits in key moments.This is what Wilson brings to IU — a tough-minded, never-give-up mentality.That mentality looked good in those white helmets.“We were upbeat,” sophomore quarterback Edward Wright-Baker said of the team’s attitude at halftime. “The defense was pumped up. The offense was pumped up. Coach got in there and got us ready to go.”I’m not trying to tell you this is as good as IU is going to be. There are still plenty of areas in which the Hoosiers need to improve.First, Wright-Baker needs to continue to grow as a quarterback. He was OK, but he overthrew several open receivers on deep balls, and he failed to feel UVA’s defensive end Cam Johnson coming on his weak side on IU’s final drive.Second, Wilson needs to find a comfort zone as the head guy. He’s been way too aggressive in the first two games. Saturday, it came on during a terrible fake field goal call. He seems to be trying so hard to establish his coaching philosophy that he’s making questionable decisions.Finally, the defense has to take the next step. It was much better, but when it needed a stop to win the game, it couldn’t get it. I don’t know if the Hoosiers stopped taking chances on the final drive, but Virginia methodically marched it down the field like Michigan did a year ago.For some reason, I’m confident all of those things will come — in time.Even though the result of this game looked familiar, the game itself looked much more promising.
(09/09/11 3:43am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Everybody loves offense.If chicks dig the long ball in baseball, they had to love sophomore Edward Wright-Baker’s 65-yard bomb to senior wide receiver Damarlo Belcher against Ball State last weekend.It was pitch and catch at its finest.We spend months talking about the best choice for a starting quarterback — rightly so, in some cases — but little to no time discussing a similar battle at safety.Many idolize players like Peyton Manning, Adrian Peterson and Andre Johnson, but fewer look up to guys like safety Ed Reed or defensive end Dwight Freeney.So when Kevin Wilson, who has been called an offensive mastermind by several former players, became IU’s new head coach, everybody wanted to know about his new schemes.Faster? How much faster? Is he going to spread them out and throw it 40 times a game? Will Wilson call the plays? Who’s the best quarterback for his system?These are all fair questions, but they really don’t matter for the Hoosiers this season. The fact is, IU has always had a pretty good offense. The Hoosiers lose because they rarely have a defense to match it.Last year against Michigan, the Hoosiers couldn’t be stopped, but they couldn’t stop Wolverine quarterback Denard Robinson — losing 42-35.In 2009 against Wisconsin, IU put together four really nice touchdown drives but never got closer than three points after the first quarter — losing 31-28.In 2008 against Central Michigan, they scored 34 points but gave up 37.It’s been happening in Bloomington for years — just ask former quarterback Antwaan Randle El, who always had to put up huge numbers to keep his team in the game.It doesn’t really matter what kind of system Wilson puts in, how fast he runs his offense or who he uses at quarterback. IU isn’t going to be able to score with the Big Ten’s best.The Hoosiers’ only chance to be successful this season is to improve drastically on the defensive side of the ball and stop somebody every now and then.I loved the Mike Ekeler hire, and I think he’ll eventually turn this into a pretty good defense. But if we’re judging from the performance against Ball State, well, it might be another long year.“I don’t know if there were a lot of bad plays,” Wilson said. “It was just a very average game.” He’s right — they didn’t give up any big plays. And that’s a good step. But they also didn’t create any turnovers, stop the run or get to the quarterback. Those are the areas in which they must improve Saturday if they want to beat Virginia in the home opener.I know the personnel are virtually the same as last year, but the defense has to be more opportunistic than it was under Bill Lynch. The Hoosiers have to take more chances with blitz packages, even if it means giving up the occasional big play they are trying to eliminate.If they continue to sit back in coverage like they did against Ball State, somebody is going to get open. That’s not fair to the secondary.“They showed some formations that we didn’t know, that we haven’t seen,” sophomore cornerback Greg Heban said of the Cardinals. “The line needs to get in there harder, which is going to make it easier on us in coverage. I know they’re going to work on that, and we’re going to work on what we need to work on.”They better work on it quickly. If the Hoosiers are going to “Win Today” and “Finish,” it’s going to start on defense.No matter how much we love big offensive numbers. PredictionI know everyone wants to look back at IU’s 47-7 loss to Virginia in 2009, but this game will be much different. The Hoosiers don’t have to travel. The game is earlier in the season, and they have a new coach that should be hungry for his first win. It’ll be much closer, but Virginia’s running game will be a little too much for IU’s defense in this one.Virginia 27, IU 21
(09/06/11 2:46am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>So, this is it. This is the beginning of the Kevin Wilson era we were promised would have so much promise. These are the new-look Hoosiers, a group of guys who repeatedly told us last spring and summer that this year would be different.And this was a game IU was never supposed to lose, a potentially great public relations event for IU that became an even better one for Ball State. The Hoosiers got to play a weak opponent in front of their Indianapolis alumni to get them fired up about a new coach and a new era.Instead, they fell flat on their faces. They lost their season opener for the first time in the last eight seasons.While the disappointing 27-20 defeat Saturday night at Lucas Oil Stadium doesn’t mean doom for the season, it does raise some serious issues for IU going forward. And even though these Hoosiers ran a faster, more aggressive offense, there are many reasons why this is the same old team.“It was kind of like an old classic game where the team that won the line of scrimmage won it,” Wilson said.That can’t happen. Wilson and his staff just spent the last eight months getting these guys in the best physical shape possible so they wouldn’t lose battles at the line. If the Hoosiers lose because the opponent has more talent than they do, fine. But you can’t lose to a Midwest Athletic Conference team because they beat you up at the line of scrimmage.The Cardinals did anything and everything they wanted against the IU defense. They ran through them, passed over them and punted only three times. The Hoosiers might have a new coaching staff, but they still have the same defensive personnel responsible for letting so many games get away last season.“There were a couple times in the third and fourth quarters where we got in some third-and-longs and their defense had a chance to tee off on us,” Wilson said. “I don’t think there were too many situations where (our defense) could pin our ears back and come. They got the manageable situations, and that’s all because of winning the line and having a good run game.”Offensively, IU was good enough to win. Sophomore quarterback Edward Wright-Baker, making his first career start, played like Ben Roethlisberger did as a rookie for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He made some plays, and he didn’t hurt the team. But he didn’t make many tremendous plays.Wright-Baker made some good third-down completions early in the game, and he connected with receiver Damarlo Belcher on a 65-yard touchdown. He also showed a lot of inexperience. He gave up on his progressions and took off running far too many times, but he should get a better feel for that as the weeks go by.“I think I did all right, but I think I can improve,” Wright-Baker said. “Everybody can improve. I need to get the ball to Damarlo more, work on my footwork ... I can improve on everything.”It seemed, at times, that Wilson didn’t want to put a ton of pressure on his young quarterback. When the Hoosiers did get into third-and-manageable situations, Wilson usually elected to run the ball with Matt Perez and Stephen Houston — who were terrific, by the way — instead of letting Wright-Baker make a play.But when it came to the biggest call of the game, a fourth-and-3 from the Ball tate 9 at the beginning of the fourth quarter, Wilson not only went for it — he put the ball in Wright-Baker’s hands. And the quarterback failed.“I (saw) the out open . . . I should have thrown the fade to Damarlo,” he said. “That’s over with.”Listen. I love Wilson’s aggressiveness. He went for a similar fourth down on the first drive of the game, and it resulted in a touchdown. But on that specific play, when you’re down only seven points with an entire quarter to play, you take the points and hope your defense can stop them, especially with an inexperienced quarterback.But of the many reasons the Hoosiers lost this game, that call was one of the smaller ones — far behind losing the line battle. After all of the talk about how this season was going to be different — and it sure felt that way looking down at IU’s new uniforms (the Indiana Sooners?) before the game — we were reminded many times that things haven’t changed all that much.
(09/02/11 4:15am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>At this time last year, I was clearly in a different state of mind.I guaranteed the Hoosiers would make a bowl game. I couldn’t see a situation in which they didn’t win at least six games.I’m not going to be as stupid this time around. Instead of making guarantees, I’m simply going to use this space to make predictions for the season. Sounds safer from my end. NON-CONFERENCEIU’s non-conference slate isn’t exactly the easy one it had in 2010 (Towson, Western Kentucky, Akron and Arkansas State), but there are still four winnable games on the non-Big Ten schedule. Ball State, South Carolina State and North Texas should be automatic wins, though Virginia is more of a wild card.Even though the Cavaliers struggled down the stretch last year by losing their final four games, they dominated the Hoosiers the last time the two teams met — to the tune of 47-7 in the middle of Virginia’s 3-9 season in 2009.For whatever reason, the Virginia game sticks out at me and screams, “This game is dangerous.”In a new system, IU’s young quarterback will likely struggle in his first game against a team from a BCS conference. The Hoosiers will drop this one and finish the non-conference schedule with a 3-1 record.BIG TENFortunately for the Hoosiers (or unfortunately, depending on how you look at it), their four toughest conference games are on the road. They have to travel to No. 11 Wisconsin and No. 18 Ohio State for the second consecutive year, along with trips to Iowa and No. 17 Michigan State.I give the Hoosiers a chance against Iowa and possibly Michigan State — if the Spartans are in a free fall, as they sometimes are later in a year with high expectations.It would be huge for the Hoosiers if they could get one of the four road games.You’d like to think the team, especially Damarlo Belcher, would get up for the Hawkeyes after last year’s fourth-quarter debacle, but playing them on the road is always a challenge. I’ll take the Hoosiers to beat the Spartans and go 1-3 in Big Ten road games.While the Hoosiers will likely struggle in those four games, the fact that their most challenging games are away from home means they get to host some of the more beatable teams in the conference.Penn State and Illinois look especially vulnerable at the beginning of the conference schedule, and even Northwestern and rival Purdue seem beatable at the end.I’m taking the Hoosiers to beat the Fighting Illini and the Boilermakers to finish a game better than last year at 6-6. Youth and inexperience will keep IU from beating Penn State in the Big Ten opener, and Northwestern quarterback Dan Persa will be too much for the Hoosier defense.Preseason awardsOFFENSIVE MVP: BelcherThere’s no reason Belcher shouldn’t be the best receiver in the conference this season. The 6-5 senior had 78 catches for 832 yards and four touchdowns last season, and he’s now the featured guy in Kevin Wilson’s offense.DEFENSIVE MVP: Greg HebanThe former baseball player has worked his tail off to become a starting cornerback. Heban’s work ethic, combined with his quickness and instincts, will help him shut down the conference’s most talented receivers. Heban Island?BALL STATE PREDICTION:Thank goodness for non-conference schedules. The Hoosiers are going to need these four games to work out the kinks as much as any team in the country.IU will look plenty sloppy in the season opener, but the Hoosiers will be good enough to beat a pretty average Ball State team. The biggest thing we’ll learn from this game is who the quarterback will be going forward.IU 23, Ball State 13— jmalbers@indiana.edu
(08/30/11 3:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>I have to admit, when Kevin Wilson first walked into the Henke Hall of Champions for his introductory press conference last December, I had my doubts.The guy’s resume spoke for itself, but it screamed “great assistant coach, average head coach.” He was quiet; he wasn’t a great speaker, and he seemed nervous.Fast forward to last month’s Big Ten Football Media Days in Chicago, and all of my doubts were erased. Wilson approached the microphone in front of likely the largest media contingent he has ever faced and lit up the room. He was confident and witty, and his public speaking skills had improved tenfold. Yes, talk is cheap, but Wilson has done everything right this offseason. So he yelled at a McNutt Quad resident assistant on one of his first days on campus — so what? That was Wilson’s way of saying, ‘I am the damn head football coach, and I will be taken care of first.’And the whole WNDE battle with idiot radio host Jack Trudeau — in which Wilson defended his program while shooting back at the former Illinois quarterback — was great for IU and very entertaining. It not only showed that Wilson will go to bat for his current players, but it got people talking about IU football — a fairly difficult thing to do unless they’re losing games 83-20.“I think he did the right thing,” sophomore wide receiver Kofi Hughes said. “I think any head coach would defend their program if somebody was coming at it.”Maybe not any head coach, but we get the idea. Wilson’s stance was a breath of fresh air for the Hoosiers because they didn’t expect it. Former coach Bill Lynch always stuck up for his players, but he rarely stuck up for the struggling program in the way Wilson has before he’s even coached a single game at Memorial Stadium.“I love him for it,” senior wide receiver Damarlo Belcher said. “It showed that he’s looking out for our best interests, and he’s not going to let anybody get down on us. He has our backs, so we’ve got his back.”These players love Wilson. As much as their bodies may have been shocked when Wilson started putting them through much more difficult workouts in the winter, they know his way wins.“He motivates you every day to go out there and have energy,” Hughes said. “As much as you wake up in the morning like, ‘Oh my gosh, I don’t think I can play today,’ once you get out there and he’s out there yelling, it just kind of gets your juices going.”I don’t know how quickly Wilson can turn this program around, because it has been down for so long, but if he can dominate games in the same way he can dominate radio fights, the Hoosiers will be playing in the Big Ten championship game in no time.After Trudeau and his co-host hung up on Wilson, Trudeau continued to bash the new head coach, saying he was in over his head and no recruits would ever want to play for him.This was despite the fact that a few weeks earlier, Wilson received a commitment from Gunner Kiel, the top quarterback in the 2012 class.Wilson’s going to have people talking about the Hoosiers this year. He might throw a player or two under the bus every once in a while or get in an argument with some talking head, but he is going to change the IU football program for the better.I just had my doubts at first. — jmalbers@indiana.edu
(08/26/11 4:05am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>Make no mistake about it: This is Damarlo Belcher’s team. It has to be.While it is true that few teams without a quarterback as their leader make it very far, these young Hoosiers have no other option. They have to turn to the most talented and productive player on the team — and that, without a doubt, is Belcher.Belcher has to be the face of the Hoosiers in the same way Larry Fitzgerald is the face of the Arizona Cardinals and Andre Johnson is the face of the Houston Texans. He has to become a vocal leader who can help a young quarterback — whoever that may be — to learn and grow in Kevin Wilson’s new offense. “Oh yeah, definitely I can do that,” Belcher said of leading from the wide receiver position. “We can get the job done with me as the leader but by bringing the young guys along at the same time.”Whether we like it or not, the starting quarterback — be it Edward Wright-Baker, Dusty Kiel or Tre Roberson — is going to struggle at times this season. None are great right now or they would have the job already.In trying times this season, when the starter can’t complete a pass, he’ll need a receiver to make a spectacular catch on a poor throw. He’ll need a teammate to pat him on the back and calm him down. He’ll need somebody to tell him, “Just throw it up and let me go get it.” If the Hoosiers want to win more than five games and go to a bowl game, the leader has to be Belcher.“I tell them to just throw it around me, and if it’s near me and it can touch my hands, I’m going to catch it,” Belcher said. “It’s my job to make the quarterback look good.”There are two problems with handing the keys of the team to Belcher:1. He’s never been a rah-rah guy. He let Terrance Turner and Tandon Doss control the leadership role.Can he become a vocal guy who lets others know when they do something wrong, or is he incapable of it?“He’s doing better,” sophomore wide receiver Kofi Hughes said. “He’s being more of a leader instead of just playing well.“It starts in the film room. After every play, Damarlo always has something to say about everybody’s route. On the field, it’s just little comments here and there — ‘Let’s go, let’s go’ — when we’re tired that keep the energy up.”2. He dropped perhaps the most important pass last season — a potential game-winning touchdown against Iowa — then skipped out on the media afterward. Can his teammates look up to a guy who came up so small in such a big moment?That is perhaps the biggest question entering this season. Hughes and Belcher’s other teammates have said the right things — that they’ve moved past it and they trust him — but is that how they really feel? In another pressure moment this season, will the quarterback trust Belcher to make a play?If he wants to be ‘The Guy’ for the Hoosiers, Belcher will have to prove early that he can perform not only on the first play of the first quarter but the last play of the fourth.“He has an understanding that he’s a senior, it’s his last year and he needs to step up and take control of our room,” Johns said. “He’s putting in extra time, and he’s working hard. He’s doing everything we’ve asked him to do.”
(08/08/11 12:14am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU senior defensive back Andre Kates will not return to IU in the fall and is seeking a transfer, Kates told the Indiana Daily Student Thursday, Aug. 4.Kates, who was dismissed from the team last year for posting derogatory comments about former head coach Bill Lynch on Twitter, practiced with the team last spring and appeared to be on his way back.He seemed to be working hard, constantly saying, “This is going to be my redemption year.”But things soured of late, and Kates said he felt like it was time to move on.“With all that stuff with Lynch, I just felt like I had a bullseye on my back,” he said. “If I did one thing wrong, I was gone. I wasn’t about to go through that again.”Kates said he wasn’t welcomed back into the locker room the way he thought he would be, and his decision to move on is a “business decision.” He said he would like to transfer to a school in the Atlantic Coast Conference.Kates, a former junior college player of the year, was expected to help bolster Lynch’s secondary last season.But after he struggled early, Kates rarely saw the field. He took to Twitter to complain about Lynch, claiming an assistant coach wanted him to start, but Lynch wouldn’t allow him.Kates said he will return to Bloomington to collect his things Monday and then will start looking for a new school.
(08/04/11 10:27pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>IU senior defensive back Andre Kates won’t return to school and is seeking a transfer, he told the IDS Thursday.Kates, who was dismissed from the team last year for posting derogatory comments about former coach Bill Lynch on Twitter, practiced with the team last spring and appeared to be on his way back. He seemed to be working hard, constantly saying, “This is going to be my redemption year.”But things soured of late and Kates said he felt like it was time to move on.“With all that stuff with Lynch, I just felt like I had a bullseye on my back,” he said. “If I did one thing wrong, I was gone. I wasn’t about to go through that again.”Kates said he wasn’t welcomed back into the locker room the way he thought he would be, and his decision to move on is a “business decision.” He said he would like to transfer to a school in the Atlantic Coast Conference.Kates, a former junior college player of the year, was expected to help bolster Lynch’s secondary last season. But after he struggled early, Kates rarely saw the field. He took to Twitter to complain about Lynch, claiming an assistant coach wanted him to start but Lynch wouldn’t allow him to.Kates said he will return to Bloomington to collect his things on Monday and then will start looking for a new school.
(06/02/11 5:19pm)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There’s just something different about the IU football team.When I talk to the players and coaches now, I get the feeling they are no longer the soft little brother that has been toyed with by other Big Ten teams for years.They look stronger, they act stronger — heck, they talk stronger than they did just a few months ago.Coach Kevin Wilson has brought with him things that were previously missing from this program.He holds players accountable. He’s honest. He believes in practicing in pads. He doesn’t care about seniority.Two moments from the spring stand out. Wilson called two of his offensive linemen “slow and lazy.” And after the spring game, he said freshmen Ralston Evans and Cody Evers “haven’t been here long enough to learn how to play soft.”Ouch. But it’s true. This team didn’t practice in pads all of last season — soft.This team folded in the fourth quarter on more than one occasion — soft.This team gave up 83 points in a game — very soft.I wrote a column last year about the losing culture that had been established within this program. I said that until that culture had changed, the Hoosiers are not going to win games, like the Iowa game they could’ve won on the closing play.Wilson is changing that culture. He’s trying to make his guys believe it shouldn’t be out of the question for them to beat Ohio State. He’s trying to teach his guys that it’s okay to step on Iowa’s throat when they get a lead. He’s trying to show his guys that they can compete for more than just a lower-tier bowl game.Wilson said in a radio interview that he spent his first couple of months in Bloomington working on the team’s psychological weaknesses and not its physical ones, not to say it didn’t have any physical weaknesses.Wilson told the players that what they were doing wasn’t good enough. He told them that no one’s starting position is guaranteed going into next season.You started a defensive end? Don’t care. You caught multiple touchdown passes? Doesn’t matter.Work harder and prove yourself or sit on the bench and watch. “There’s nothing locked down,” Wilson said Saturday. “There’s a lot of water to come across the dam.” Keep in mind that this was Wilson’s first spring as a head coach. He’s still learning how to manage an entire team and not just an offense.But everything we’ve seen from him so far has been encouraging. He’s come in, given the team a dose of culture shock and seems to still have everybody on board.As I sat at the spring game and watched wide receiver Damarlo Belcher make a catch that was 10 times more difficult than the one he dropped against the Hawkeyes, I shook my head and thought, “What if?”Then I remembered things would be the same as they always had been. IU would have been in a random bowl game and the old coaching staff would have returned.In the end, I guess that drop wasn’t all that bad.
(05/02/11 3:40am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____> James Brewer’s phone began to ring. This was the call he had been waiting for his entire life.It was the second round of the NFL Draft, and a number Brewer didn’t recognize popped up on his phone. This was it.“My heart was in my throat,” Brewer said. “And then she said, ‘Oh, it’s Grandma.’ I was like ‘Please don’t call me right now.’”Brewer thought for sure he’d go in the third round of the NFL Draft.That’s where all the experts had him going. When the third round began, Brewer waited anxiously. He looked down at his phone after each pick, sure he would be selected next.But the round came and went, and Brewer’s name wasn’t called.The former IU offensive lineman began to get nervous. He stayed up watching ESPN’s draft analysis again and again until 4 a.m.“I tried to go to sleep and couldn’t,” Brewer said. “I was thinking about all the guys who had been picked and who was still left. You’re almost running a mock draft in your head, thinking ‘Where could I go?’”Brewer woke up early Saturday to drive to his mom’s apartment in Indianapolis. Just 20 minutes before the draft was set to resume, Brewer got another phone call from a number he didn’t have saved in his phone.It was the Miami Dolphins.“I was thinking, ‘This is the call,’” Brewer said. But they didn’t want to draft him — they just wanted to make sure they had his information correct.Luckily for Brewer, he didn’t have to wait too much longer.With just two minutes remaining for the New York Giants to make their fourth-round selection with the 117th pick, Brewer’s phone rang again. This time, it was the real thing.“Their GM (Jerry Reese) called and asked what I was doing,” he said. “I was like, ‘Uh, I’m laying on the couch watching the draft.’ Then he said ‘This is so-and-so with the Giants, and we’re getting ready to draft you.’ “I was in shock. The conversation was so one-sided because I had so much was going on in my head and I couldn’t speak. It was like a weight had been lifted to see my name up there on the screen.”As soon as Brewer hung up with Reese, he got a call from his position coach. The problem was Brewer couldn’t hear a word he was saying. His phone was blowing up with congratulatory calls and text messages.“My phone just kept beeping and beeping and beeping,” Brewer said. “My voice mail was full in 20 minutes. By the time I got off the phone with the position coach, I had about 60 text messages and so many missed calls.”The call that meant the most came a few minutes after Brewer was done talking to the Giants. Former IU wide receiver Terrance Turner, who also entered the draft but wasn’t selected, wanted to tell Brewer how proud he was of him.“He was just so happy for me,” Brewer said. “It was like a brother calling me. It meant a lot.”In retrospect, Brewer said he’s happy he was selected when he was. He now gets to join an organization that has had a great deal of success, including a Super Bowl title in 2008.Brewer said he plans to continue to work out twice a day and wait for the lockout to end. He said his only challenge will be learning the playbook, not getting in shape.He is ready for his next challenge: protecting an NFL quarterback.“To block for Eli will be a big challenge for me,” Brewer said. “But I kind of happy I’m blocking for this Manning and not his older brother.”Doss to join Hardy in BaltimoreFormer IU wide receiver Tandon Doss was drafted in the fourth round (123rd overall) by the Baltimore Ravens. Doss will join another former IU wideout, James Hardy, who signed a contract with the Ravens earlier this year.Doss had been projected to go anywhere from the second to fourth round but probably slipped because of his 40-yard dash time (4.62 seconds) at his April 6 pro day.“When you deal with a range like that, sometimes you go on the high side and sometimes you go on the low side,” Doss’ agent Jared Fox said. “We were looking at a range between 75 and 125, and he went a 123. He just went on the low side of that, and that’s the kind of balance you get sometimes.“They don’t clock your 40 time every Sunday, but they do measure you on how you catch balls.”Ravens quarterback Joe Flacco was asked to come up with a list of six receivers that would be available in the middle rounds, and Doss was at the top of that list.“Where he ended up was the right place for him to be,” Fox said. “It’s a good organization that values him and needs him. Baltimore has a lot of good receivers, but they aren’t young guys. These guys aren’t going to play forever.”Brewer said he called to congratulate Doss after he was drafted but couldn’t talk to him because Doss’ friend had taken his phone.“It’s really cool that two IU guys are playing on the same team up there,” Brewer said. “I’m really happy for (Doss).”Fox said Doss will remain in Indianapolis to train for next season.Doss could not be reached for comment.
(04/28/11 2:20am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The day has finally come for four former football Hoosiers.With the NFL Draft beginning today, quarterback Ben Chappell, offensive lineman James Brewer and wide receivers Tandon Doss and Terrance Turner will wait to hear their names called.The draft consists of seven rounds during three days. It starts at 8 p.m. today at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City.Brewer and Doss are considered the best prospects among the former IU players. They were projected to be picked anywhere from the second to the fifth round.Chappell and Turner could be drafted late, but signing as undrafted free agents could be a more likely proposition.Doss, who left IU after his junior season, wasn’t able to work out at the NFL Combine in February due to surgery on his groin and abdominal muscles.When he completed his pro day April 6, he still wasn’t 100 percent, according to his agent. He ran the 40-yard dash in 4.56 seconds.ESPN’s Todd McShay has Doss going off the board in the second round.McShay said Doss has “the best hands in the draft” and may be “the most underrated wide receiver in the class.”Pro Football Weekly doesn’t see him going nearly as high. The publication projected Doss to be taken in the third or fourth round and noted he is “too easily bumped off routes” and is “not explosive in and out of cuts.”Brewer gained national media attention during the Senior Bowl.McShay is impressed by Brewer’s speed, a 5.27 second showing in the 40-yard dash, for his 6-foot-6-inch, 323-pound frame.However, McShay said it could take him a while to become a starter at the NFL level.Pro Football Weekly offered a similar analysis.“Clearly possesses developmental tools and could help as a swing backup tackle,” the publication wrote. “A two-year project who may hit gold if he can mature into a starting left tackle.”Turner, who played with Brewer for four years, expects his former teammate to be successful at the next level.“He’s a big, big, big guy,” Turner said. “And he’s very athletic for his size. He’s a smart young man, a high-character guy and a hard worker. He’s definitely going to bring a lot to the team he plays for.”Several scouts attended IU games last season to see Chappell, who threw for 3,295 yards and 24 touchdowns in 2010.Chappell has dropped between 20 to 25 pounds since the season ended.Pro Football Weekly named Chappell the 24th best quarterback in the draft and projected him to be signed as a priority-free agent.“He’s worked hard,” Turner said. “He’s become more agile. That shows commitment right there. He really wants it. Hopefully teams see how hard he worked, how big of an arm he has, how accurate he is and how smart he is.”Turner said he realizes that he may not have the size or quickness of some of the other receivers in the draft, but said his intangibles set him apart.The 6-foot-1-inch, 220-pound prospect was called a “tough, smart, consistent possession receiver with top-notch intangibles” by Pro Football Weekly. The publication said his average speed and injury history could keep him from being drafted.Turner, who has been home in Detroit for the last several weeks, said he has been trying to keep the draft off his mind. He said he doesn’t plan to watch any of the draft coverage on ESPN; he’ll just wait for a call to come.“I’ll have my phone on, but other than that I won’t really be paying attention,” Turner said. “Hopefully it will just happen the way it’s supposed to happen. I’ll be waiting, but I won’t be watching.”And if the call doesn’t come?“I know, drafted or not, I definitely have a shot,” he said. “As long as I get a shot, that’s all I can ask for.”
(04/19/11 12:41am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>There’s just something different about the IU football team.When I talk to the players and coaches now, I get the feeling they are no longer the soft little brother that has been toyed with by other Big Ten teams for years.They look stronger, they act stronger — heck, they talk stronger than they did just a few months ago.Coach Kevin Wilson has brought with him things that were previously missing with this program.He holds players accountable. He’s honest. He believes in practicing in pads. He doesn’t care about seniority.All of those things were on display throughout the spring, which comes to an end with one final practice today.Two moments from the spring stand out.Wilson called two of his offensive linemen “slow and lazy.” And after the spring game, he said freshmen Ralston Evans and Cody Evers “haven’t been here long enough to learn how to play soft.”Ouch. But it’s true. This team didn’t practice in pads all of last season — soft.This team folded in the fourth quarter on more than one occasion — soft.This team gave up 83 points in a game — very soft.I wrote a column last year about the losing culture that had been established within this program. I said that until that culture had changed, the Hoosiers are not going to win games like the Iowa, one they could’ve won on the closing play.Wilson is changing that culture. He’s trying to make his guys believe that it shouldn’t be out of the question for them to beat Ohio State. He’s trying to teach his guys that it’s okay to step on Iowa’s throat when they get a lead. He’s trying to show his guys that they can compete for more than just a lower-tier bowl game.Wilson said in a radio interview last week that he spent his first couple of months in Bloomington working on the team’s psychological weaknesses and not their physical ones. (That’s not to say they didn’t have physical weaknesses.)Wilson told the players that what they were doing wasn’t good enough. He told them that no one’s starting position is guaranteed going into next season.You started a defensive end? Don’t care. You caught multiple touchdown passes? Doesn’t matter.Work harder and prove yourself or sit on the bench and watch. “There’s nothing locked down,” Wilson said Saturday. “There’s a lot of water to come across the dam.” Keep in mind that this was Wilson’s first spring as a head coach. He’s still learning how to manage an entire team and not just an offense.But everything we’ve seen from him so far has been encouraging. He’s come in, given the team a dose of culture shock and seems to still have everybody on board.As I sat at the spring game Saturday and watched wide receiver Damarlo Belcher make a catch 10 times more difficult than the one he dropped against the Hawkeyes, I shook my head and thought, “What if?”Then I remembered things would be the same as they always had been. IU would have been in a random bowl game and the old coaching staff would have returned.In the end, I guess that drop wasn’t all that bad.— jmalbers@indiana.edu
(04/18/11 2:36am)
____simple_html_dom__voku__html_wrapper____>The Hoosiers defeated Indiana 27-24 in Saturday’s spring football game at Memorial Stadium. This year the team names were changed from Cream and Crimson to Indiana and Hoosiers.To better understand the culmination of spring practice, here are five things we learned from Saturday.Quarterback battleSophomores Dusty Kiel and Edward Wright-Baker each had their moments.Kiel, who ran the first-team offense, made some good throws and looked like a strong starting quarterback candidate at times. The Columbus East High School (Ind.) grad completed 14-of-27 passes for 196 yards with two touchdowns and two interceptions. Kiel threw behind a receiver in the second quarter, resulting in a Lawrence Barnett 25-yard interception return for touchdown.Wright-Baker looked more accurate and in better shape than he did during last season. He completed 8-of-10 passes for 82 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions.The Hoosiers ran more of a pro-style offense when Kiel was in the game by keeping him in the pocket. Wright-Baker rolled out most of the time and ran when he saw an opening.Junior Adam Follett was impressive on the game’s final drive. He led the Hoosiers down the field for a game-winning touchdown after wide receiver Damarlo Belcher fumbled. Follett found freshman tight end Leneil Himes out of the backfield for a 12-yard score with just 24 seconds left.Quarterbacks coach Rod Smith said after the game that he knows what direction he’s heading in but wouldn’t elaborate.SecondaryThe secondary looked good at times but also missed several tackles that led to extra yardage.Playing as both a nickel back and a corner, Greg Heban was probably the most impressive of the defensive backs.After wideout Kofi Hughes caught a touchdown pass on the opening drive, Heban held him down. He knocked down two consecutive Kiel passes intended for Hughes on the next drive.“Greg can play any position in the secondary,” co-defensive coordinator Doug Mallory said. “He’s very sound in what he does. He’s got the athletic ability to be a corner yet he’s physical and tough enough to play safety. He’s going to be on the field a lot for us (next) year.”The wide receivers got the best of the defensive backs, though, as they combined for three touchdown receptions, including an impressive grab by Belcher over the helmet of his defender.Wilson’s new offenseBoth teams ran an up-tempo, no-huddle offense for most of the afternoon. Smith said afterward the players still need to get a little faster, but he admitted it’s a “work in progress” at this point.The Hoosiers didn’t go with a five-wide look, but they did use four receivers at times.Freshmen Cody Evers and Ralston Evans each saw time on the offensive line, and coach Kevin Wilson said he liked what he saw.“I don’t think they’ve been here long enough to know how to play soft yet,” Wilson said. “They actually play hard. We’re just rewarding those guys for playing hard. “Ralston is a long way away from what we want, a long way away from what we need, but he’s doing really good.”Defensive energyIt’s hard to gauge defensive energy in a scrimmage — especially when the defense isn’t allowed to hit the quarterback — but the Hoosiers seemed better as a unit.The defensive line stopped several running plays short of the line of scrimmage and got the quarterback before he got rid of the ball on multiple occasions.The coaching staff elected just to let the defense play its base instead of complicating things with specific packages, so the defense will look a lot different in the fall.Nick TurnerTurner carried the ball seven times for 27 yards, all of which came in the first half with the first team.But freshman Matt Perez stole the show. After tearing his ACL in practice last season, Perez ran for 46 yards on 12 touches. “He’s just slow enough to make cuts,” Wilson said. “He’s naturally pretty solid.”