After a potential record breaking comeback the Indiana Hoosiers fall short to Virginia on a last second field goal.
Yesterday the Hoosiers ran out for their first home game during the Kevin Wilson era. With a military fly over, fireworks and the Hoosiers sideline on the east side of the stadium in front of the student section the team looked excited to prove that they were better than the team that showed up last week against Ball St. On the first play from scrimmage Greg Heban, a redshirt sophomore cornerback, picked off the pass from the Cavaliers quarterback, Michael Rocco, giving Indiana a huge boost of confidence, but it would not last long. The Hoosiers could not get going on offense; they were out scored in the first half 20-3. And the defense played better than week before, but still could not get the big stops they needed.
The second half Indiana came out looking to make some changes, but after 16 seconds with the ball Edward Wright-Baker threw an interception. Virginia capitalized on the miss cue and scored on a 6 yard rush by Virginia’s Parks, but after that Indiana flipped a switch. The Hoosiers answered by marching 68 yards down the field on 10 plays and scoring on a 8 yard run by Matt Perez. This was a big turning point for the Hoosiers as the defense forced the Cavalier’s to go 3-and-out on Virginia’s next possession. After a fake field goal attempt by Indiana that failed the Hoosier’s gave the ball up on Virginia’s own 8 yard line. The Hoosier’s defense would force Virginia to punt again this time though the return man for the Cavalier’s muffed the punt and IU’s Kofi Hughes recovered the ball on Virginia’s 19 yard line. This Indiana possession would last into the 4th quarter and ending on another Matt Perez rushing touchdown, making the score 23-17. After the Cavalier’s looked to have regained composer on their next possession Virginia’s Jones rushed for a 10 yard loss resulting in a fumble which, IU’s, Lawrence Barnett returned 54 yards for the score. This gave Indiana a 24-23 lead with 12:01 to play in the game.
The defense finally showed up to play in the second half of the game. They were flying around the field to the ball and putting pressure on Virginia’s quarterback which ended up leading to another interception by Greg Heban on the following drive, giving him 2 picks on the night. The Hoosier’s would capitalize on the turnover and take the ball 78 yards the other way and score on a beautiful, 18 yard, pass and catch from EWB to Duwyce Wilson in the back of the endzone. This gave Indiana momentum and a 31-23 lead with 6:34 left in the game. Virginia would answer though with their own drive of 77 yards after a 3 yard rushing touchdown by Jones made it 31-31 with 1:36 to play. Edward Wright-Baker, in his second career start, would need to lead the Indiana offense down the field 82 yards for the win. It was not in the cards last night though, on 3 down and 5 yards to go, Virginia’s defensive end, Johnson, came flying around the corner and sacked-stripped EWB. The Virginia Cavaliers regained possession on Indiana’s 14 yard line. They rushed the ball three times and ran the clock down to :02 and then put the dagger in by knocking through the game winner as time expired. The final score being 34-31.
It was a heart breaking loss for the Hoosiers, but a lot can come from the close game. There is a hope in the defense. Last night in the second half we saw an Indiana defense we haven’t seen before. One that was pressuring the QB and getting stops. A defense who forced 4 turnovers and only allowed one real score in the 2nd half. On offense we saw a team that can score and a redshirt freshman running back, Matt Perez, that can run north and south, while plowing through tacklers. Though they had 3 turnovers it’s a young offense that is trying to find itself and will, in time.
The Hoosier’s will play host South Carolina State next Saturday as they will look for their 1st win of the 2011 season after starting 0-2 for the first time since 2003.
Defense wins football games, Hoosiers must improve
Virginia (1-0) at Indiana (0-1); 7 p.m. in Bloomington, IN at Memorial Stadium
Going into the opener last Saturday vs. Ball State, Hoosiers Head Coach Kevin Wilson faced a few unknowns. A new system on offense with a red-shirt sophomore quarterback making his first NCAA start and a defense that was pushed around the entire 2010 season. The Hoosiers did two of those three things pretty respectably this past Saturday, at least respectable enough to sneak out a win vs. their instate rival. The defense however did not pass the test and Indiana will now look to rebound from a disappointing 27-20 loss. It will be interesting to see if the Hoosiers are able to rebound since their next opponent will see them clash with an ACC school in the Virginia Cavaliers.
Virginia manhandled their week 1 opponent, William & Mary, to a tune of 40-3 in Charlottesville, VA. The Cavs dominated in all facets of the game and look to carry that momentum into Bloomington on Saturday.
Coming into the 2011 season, Indiana is just 5-11 against ACC schools in their history including 0-1 against the Cavs. The only meeting between the two schools came in 2009 when Indiana traveled to Charlottesville and was thumped 47-7.
One thing Indiana has going in its favor is the fact that the game will be played in Memorial Stadium in Bloomington where they have won nine consecutive home openers. Virginia also has struggled mightily on the road the last couple of seasons including going winless a year ago and they will carry a seven game road losing streak into Saturday’s tilt. Since 2008, Virginia is 3-12 on the road.
The Ball State game saw the beginning of the Edward Wright-Baker era at Indiana. Despite the 27-20 loss, EWB performed pretty well all things considering in his debut. He finished 20-of-32 for 272 yards and a touchdown, despite being battered much of the game by the Cardinals defense to the tune of four sacks and numerous hits. EWB will face a Cavs defense that only allowed their first opponent, William & Mary’s signal caller, to complete a paltry 11-of-34 passes.
Edward Wright-Baker was 20-for-32 for 272 yds and a TD vs. Ball State
The one touchdown pass that EWB tossed vs. Ball State was to receiver Damarlo Belcher who now with 168 receptions at Indiana is only three catches away from being the 2nd all-time leader in that category.
Although the passing attack was pretty decent, the same cannot be said about the rushing game. Ball State’s front seven dominated the point of attack holding the Indiana ground game to only 3.2 yards per carry. Matt Perez started the game and only gained 41 yards and added a touchdown. Perez will once again get the call as the starter vs. Virginia and the offense simply must generate more yards on the ground to take some of the pressure off of their young signal caller and to hide what was their biggest weakness vs. Ball State, their defense.
To make it as plain and simple as possible, the Hoosiers loss to Ball State falls squarely on the shoulders of their beleaguered defense. Had they been able to stop or at least bend and not break early in the game versus the Cardinal offense then it very easily could have been a 14-3 or 14-6 game rather than knotted at 14 following each team’s first two drives.
The Hoosier defense was a major problem last season as they routinely were gashed on the ground by opponents and Ball State shared the same advantage, racking up 210 yards on the ground at a 4.6 yards per carry clip.
Bottom line, if Indiana cannot improve their rushing defense, a victory over Virginia will be hard to come by. Ball State isn’t exactly the next mid-major powerhouse ala Boise State or TCU and if Indiana was manhandled upfront by them it’s a little worrisome what an ACC front will do. Although Virginia is not the same team on the road, look for the road woes to be snapped as StraitHoosiers see’s Indiana play better but come up short to fall to 0-2.
StraitHoosiers prediction: Virginia 27, Indiana 21
IU Men’s Basketball schedule announced
Here is what the IU media relations department had to say about the release of the 2011/2012 Men’s Basketball Schedule being released today:
INDIANA BASKETBALL IU MEN’S BASKETBALL 2011-12 SCHEDULE • 1
INDIANA HOOSIERS
ATHLETIC MEDIA RELATIONS • J.D. CAMPBELL • DIRECTOR/MBB CONTACT
INDIANA UNIVERSITY ANNOUNCES 2011-12 MEN’S BASKETBALL SCHEDULE
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – The Indiana University men’s basketball team will have 19 home games, host a regular season exempt tournament and close out the 2011-12 regular season at Assembly Hall against archrival Purdue as the University and the Big Ten Conference announced the Hoosiers 31-game regular season schedule.
Indiana will open the regular season on Friday, November 11 when it hosts Stony Brook. IU will play the first of four home games in the Hoo¬sier Invitational on Monday, November 13 against Chattanooga. Both Stony Brook (America East) and Chattanooga (SoCon) are predicted to win their respective conferences this year. The Hoosiers play Wednesday, November 16 at the new Ford Center in Evansville and will battle the Aces. The Hoosier Invitational resumes on Saturday, November 19 when Gardner Webb comes to Assembly Hall and rounds out with visits from Savannah State on Monday, November 21 and Butler on Sunday, November 27. The month concludes with IU going on the road for the second straight year as it visits North Carolina State for the Big Ten/ACC Challenge on Wednesday, November 30.
Tom Crean's Hoosiers will host UK, Saturday, Dec. 10th in Bloomington
Indiana hosts Stetson on Sunday, December 4 and Kentucky on Saturday, December 10 before taking a break for final exams. The Hoosiers play Notre Dame at the Crossroads Classic at Conseco Fieldhouse on Saturday, December 17. Purdue and Butler play in the first game of the day. Indiana plays Howard on Monday, December 19 and Maryland-Baltimore County on Thursday, December 22 before heading out on Christmas break.
IU opens Big Ten play on Wednesday, December 28 at Michigan State and will host Ohio State for the second straight year on New Years Eve. Michigan will visit Assembly Hall on Thursday, January 5 and then IU goes to Penn State on Sunday, January 8. The Hoosiers are back home on Thursday, January 12 to face Minnesota before going on the road for two straight games against Ohio State on Sunday, January 15, and versus Nebraska on Wednesday, January 18. The Hoosiers host Penn State on Sunday, January 22, travel to Wisconsin on Thursday, January 26 and are at home again to face Iowa on Sunday, January 29.
The Hoosiers have back-to-back road games on Wednesday, February 1 at Michigan and on Saturday, February 4 at Purdue. IU then returns home for a Thursday, February 9 tilt against Illinois and a Wednesday, February 15 versus Northwestern. The Hoosiers visit Iowa on Sunday, February 19 and then return home for a non-conference game against North Carolina Central on Wednesday, February 22 before closing out their road schedule at Minnesota on either Saturday, February 25 or Sunday, February 26. Home games against Michigan State on Tuesday, February 28 and versus Purdue on Sunday, March 4 close out the regular season. The Big Ten Tournament will be held March 8-11 in Indianapolis.
Notes: The Hoosiers are finalizing the scheduling of one exhibition game at Assembly Hall against a non-Division I opponent. … IU will play one game against Nebraska (road), Wisconsin (road), Illinois (home) and Northwestern (home)… the Big Ten Network is scheduled to air 17 games, ESPN or ESPN2 will pick up six games, and IU will appear on CBS at Ohio State… BTN.com will show two games and ESPN3 will air the contest against Maryland-Baltimore County.
Quoting Tom Crean: “I think it is the most challenging home schedule we have had since I have been here. Our guys will dive right into the conference with a very tough first week of Big Ten play at Michigan State and at home with Ohio State. Overall, I think our fans will like the Big Ten schedule we play at Assembly Hall.”
And here is the full schedule
INDIANA MEN’S BASKETBALL
2011-12 SCHEDULE
DATE DAY OPPONENT SITE TIME TV
An Exhibition Game Date, Time and Opponent to be named later
November 11 Friday Stony Brook Bloomington, Ind. 7 p.m. BTN
November 13 Sunday Chattanooga+ Bloomington, Ind. 5 p.m. BTN
November 16 Wednesday at Evansville Evansville, Ind. TBA TBA
November 19 Saturday Gardner Webb+ Bloomington, Ind. 8 p.m. BTN
November 21 Monday Savannah State+ Bloomington, Ind. 6:30 p.m. BTN
November 27 Sunday Butler+ Bloomington, Ind. 7 p.m. BTN
BIG TEN/ACC CHALLENGE
November 30 Wednesday at N.C. State Raleigh, N.C. 7:15 p.m. ESPN2
December 4 Sunday Stetson Bloomington, Ind. 4:30 p.m. BTN.com
December 10 Saturday Kentucky Bloomington, Ind. 5:15 p.m. TBA
CROSSROADS CLASSIC (Conseco Fieldhouse)
December 17 Saturday vs. Notre Dame Indianapolis, Ind. 4:30 p.m. ESPN2
December 19 Monday Howard Bloomington, Ind. 6:30 p.m. BTN
December 22 Thursday UMBC Bloomington, Ind. 6 p.m. ESPN3
December 28 Wednesday at Michigan State* East Lansing, Mich. 7:30 p.m. BTN
December 31 Saturday Ohio State* Bloomington, Ind. 6 p.m. ESPN2
January 5 Thursday Michigan* Bloomington, Ind. 7/9 p.m. ESPN2
January 8 Sunday at Penn State* State College, Pa. Noon BTN
January 12 Thursday Minnesota* Bloomington, Ind. 8 p.m. BTN
January 15 Sunday at Ohio State* Columbus, Ohio 1:30/4:30 p.m. CBS
January 18 Wednesday at Nebraska* Lincoln, Neb. 7 p.m. BTN
January 22 Sunday Penn State* Bloomington, Ind. Noon BTN
January 26 Thursday at Wisconsin* Madison, Wisc. 9 p.m. ESPN2
January 29 Sunday Iowa* Bloomington, Ind. 6 p.m. BTN
February 1 Wednesday at Michigan* Ann Arbor, Mich. 6:30 p.m. BTN
February 4 Saturday at Purdue* West Lafayette, Ind. 7 p.m. BTN
February 9 Thursday Illinois* Bloomington, Ind. 8 p.m. BTN
February 15 Wednesday Northwestern* Bloomington, Ind. 6:30 p.m. BTN
February 19 Sunday at Iowa* Iowa CIty, Iowa 1/4/6 p.m. CBS/BTN
February 22 Wednesday North Carolina Central Bloomington, Ind. 7 p.m. BTN.com
Feb. 25 or 26 Sat./Sun. at Minnesota* Minneapolis, Minn. 6/4/1 CBS/BTN/ESPN2
February 28 Tuesday Michigan State* Bloomington, Ind. 7 p.m. ESPN
March 4 Sunday Purdue* Bloomington, Ind. 6 p.m. BTN
BIG TEN TOURNAMENT (Conseco Fieldhouse)
March 8-11 Th/Fr/Sat/Sun Big Ten Tournament Indianapolis, Ind. TBA TBA
+ Hoosier Invitational
* Big Ten Conference opponent
All times listed are Eastern
Kicking Off the Season Right
Coming into the season the Indiana Hoosiers Men’s Soccer team was ranked 17th in the pre-season NSCAA national poll. This week the Hoosiers sit at #10 in the national rankings 3 games into the regular season. This was possible after tying then ranked #10 Notre Dame 0-0 in South Bend and then beating St. Louis and Dayton this past weekend’s Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic.
Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic
In Friday’s match IU faced the St. Louis Billikens in what ended up being a 3-1 win for the Hoosiers with Freshman Eriq Zavaleta starting things off with his first career goal as a Hoosier. Zavaleta slotted a ball past the keeper, in the 19th minute, for the goal with the assist from Chris Estridge. The second goal came in the 27th minute when Eriq Zavaleta made a defensive stop to gain possession 30 yards out from goal. Zavaleta pushed to the middle of the box where he laid the ball off for Alec Purdie to finish into the back of the net. The third goal was an own goal by St. Louis.
On Sunday the Hoosiers came to play against the Dayton Flyers scoring a Adidas/IU Credit Union Classic record 6 goals in a game. The scoring started early when senior Chris Estridge scored his first career goal as a Hoosier in the 12th minute, putting the shot to the lower right side past the Flyers keeper. The Hoosiers dominated the game as everyone seemed to pitch in. Jacob Bushue scored in the 28th minute off an assist from Harrison Petts and Tommy Meyer. Then in the 31th minute Blake Wise scored the first of his two goals on the day again assisted by Harrison Petts and Tommy Meyer. Coming out of the halftime break the Hoosiers picked up where they left off; in the 67thEriq Zavaleta scored, giving him two goals for the weekend. Nikita Kotlov scored the 5th goal just a minute and 21 seconds later. Finally Blake Wise scored the record 6th goal for IU in the 71st as he hit the back of the net off a beautiful back heel from Zavaleta.
Eriq Zavaleta was named Offensive MVP of the Classic alongside Tommy Meyer with the Defensive MVP award. Also Chris Estridge and Jacob Bushue join these two on the 2011 Adidas/IU Credit Union All-Tournament Team.
Breakout Player
Eriq Zavaleta, the 6-1 freshman, had a outstanding weekend for the Indiana Hoosiers, tallying 2 goals and 2 assists. These numbers earned him a Big Ten Offensive Player of the Week as well as a spot on the College Soccer News national team of the week. Zavaleta looks to be a force for the Hoosiers up top and with the departure of Will Bruin that’s exactly what they need. It might be early to make comparisons, but the way Zavaleta plays up to reminds me of, now Houston Dynamo forward, Bruin. Eriq is a big body that plays strong, though his foot skills are not extremely fancy they get the job done. We could see Eriq making up for that lost goal scoring very fast.
Freshman Eriq Zavaleta finds the back of the net for his 1st career goal as a Hoosier.
Hoosier Army
This season the IU athletic department has put together a new student section specifically for the soccer games. Its name, chosen by Coach Yeagley himself, the Hoosier Army is exactly what any home team wants and what any visiting team dreads. A section of 500 crazy college students 10 feet from the sideline yelling and screaming at you. The Hoosier Army is all that, with a tailgate with free food 90 minutes prior to kick off and free give-a-ways during the games students arrived in bunches for Friday’ s season opener against St. Louis. With a crowd of over 3,300 for Friday’s game it goes to show that IU Men’s soccer is becoming very popular on campus and with the Hoosier Army in place it can make for a hostile atmosphere up at Armstrong Stadium.
Upcoming games
Mike Berticelli Memorial Tournament (South Bend, IN)
9/9/11 IU vs. Bucknell 5:00pm
9/11/11 IU vs. Denver 11:30am
Big Ten announces ESPN and CBS televison schedule for Men’s Bball
The Big Ten has announced the men’s basketball television schedule for CBS Sports and the ESPN affiliates. It appears that Indiana will be on display seven times. Four of the times will have the Hoosiers on ESPN and they are guaranteed to be on CBS once this winter. The other two appearances are flex games where they could end up on either. Below is the breakdown.
- Saturday, December 31: Ohio State at Indiana, 6 p.m. on ESPN2
- Thursday, January 5: Michigan at Indiana, 9 p.m. on ESPN2
- Sunday, January 15: Indiana at Ohio State, 1:30 p.m or 4:30 p.m on CBS
- Thursday, January 26: Indiana at Wisconsin, 9 p.m. on ESPN or ESPN2
- Sunday, February 19: Indiana at Iowa, 1 p.m. (CBS Wildcard)
- Saturday, February 25 or Sunday, February 26: Indiana at Minnesota, 1 p.m. or 4 p.m. (CBS/ESPN wildcard)
- Tuesday, February 28: Michigan State at Indiana, 7 p.m. on ESPN
The rest of the Big Ten conference schedule will be released at some point today. There is also a rumor out there that the Indiana/Butler game will be played on November 27th at 7 p.m. in Assembly Hall and will be broadcasted on the Big Ten Network. That information is from Jeff Rabjohns of rivals.
New era of Indiana football kicks off tonight
The Kevin Wilson era of Indiana football begins tonight at 7:00 p.m. as the Hoosiers take on the Ball State Cardinals at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indy. Hoosier faithful hope Coach Wilson is the man who finally brings success to Indiana. While there may not be a plethora of shining moments in recent years, Austin Starr’s 49-yard game-winning field goal against Purdue in 2007 gave IU fans something to cheer about. Here’s to one of the great moments in Indiana football.
2011 Season Preview: Secondary
In 2010 Indiana’s defense struggled to say the least. Finishing 9th in the Big Ten in Pass Defense allowing 238.3 yards per game and a league worst 27 touchdowns. Also another stat that must be improved on this season is Indiana’s ability to take the ball away in the air. After only intercepting the ball 8 times and creating a total of 13 turnovers the Hoosiers are going to have to play faster and a lot more physical. With this being said 2011 is a new season; this year the Hoosiers come to play with a new coaching staff and a roster full of new faces as well as veterans returning to prove themselves.
New Coaches with a New Defense
IU’s new defensive secondary is lead by Doug Mallory, Co-Defensive Coordinator and Safeties coach, and Brandon Shelby, Cornerbacks coach. Both of these coaches have already shown that they came to make a difference and fast. Just by how well the defensive backs have been playing in the spring scrimmages and practice scrimmages you can see that it’s a whole new defense. The d-backs are much faster and playing more physical than last year, and look to be putting more effort in than ever before. When asked about tackling Coach Shelby says, “Tackling is just having heart and going in there and putting your head in there.” He said, “it can always improve.” The Hoosiers already look to be playing with more heart and with the leadership of these coaches it looks to be getting better.
Returning players/ Key player
The Cream & Crimson return 8 of their players from last year’s squad while adding 10 new faces to the team. 6 of the 9 safeties for the Hoosier’s are Freshman meaning that there is a lot of learning and teaching to be done, but with the other three safeties being senior’s that will be most likely be handled well with the new coaching staff. The key player that Coach Mallory will be looking to, to lead the secondary is Redshirt Senior Donnell Jones, the 5-10 209lb safety. 47 total tackles with 5 breakups and 5 passes defended, these numbers are sure to increase this season with him wanting to lead by example for his secondary. The one thing Hoosiers fans want to see out of Jones is interceptions, a stat that Indiana lacked in their 2010 campaign.
The Hoosiers look to Donnell Jones to lead the young secondary.
For this 2011 Hoosiers squad to make a run at bowl game their defense is going to have to step up in big ways. The secondary needs to play faster and more physical; as well as create more turnovers for the offense to capitalize on. Overall it looks to be a good year for Indiana football. WIN TODAY!
Class of 2015, welcome to the best four-ish years of your life
As the freshmen spend all day descending upon our great campus, this video reminds us all that time spent at Indiana University is indeed the best four-ish years of your life.
A Site for the Students: What would you like to see from us?
The goal of this website/blog is to offer a different perspective on the coverage of Indiana University Athletics. With that in mind, us here at Straithoosiers want to get the students involved as much as possible. That means, we want to know what you would like to see covered by us, what you would like to read about and how you would like to see it done.
Do you want to see Hoosier athletics covered in a serious more professional tone or would you prefer a more laid back approach such as when upcoming contests with Purdue are on the horizon perhaps weeks dedicated to completely bashing and making fun of the red-headed step child of a school to the north.
You can let us know what you want in a few ways. You can follow us on Twitter (@straithoosiers), you can leave suggestions in the comments section below this post (I promise it’s a piece of cake to do) or you can email them to me at straithoosiers@gmail.com. Also keep your eyes on the lookout for straithoosiers coozies coming to tailgating in a few weeks. Zach Litzelswope and Tony Adragna will be around passing them out.
Thanks for reading.
Danny
2011 Season Preview: Linebackers
How does a team replace its leading tackler from a season ago from a unit that struggled stopping their opponents? The answer may be with experience. Despite losing leading tackler Tyler Replogle, the Hoosier defense returns virtually everyone else from a year ago. Their second leading tackler, Jeff Thomas has shown an early willingness to be the vocal leader of not only the line-backing core but also the defense itself. Here is how the linebacker position should break down for the 2011 Indiana Hoosiers.
Leon Beckum looks to anchor the 2011 Hoosier defense. Photo courtesy of Indiana247 Sports.
Who is returning?
Besides Thomas, the Crimson and Cream return Leon Beckum who has played at all three linebacker positions during his time at IU. Beckum should be penciled in as the weak-side backer starter and will help Thomas provide some stability against the run. The Hoosier roster will feature a few players with some experience from a year ago, including Brandon McGhee, Chase Hoobler, Griffen Dahlstrom and Chad Sherer. Hoobler, a red-shirt freshman from Orville, Ohio, appears to have the early lead on the strong side backer position through the early goings of camp.
Who is gone?
The Hoosiers lost leading tackler Tyler Replogle who was the main cog in the defense in 2010. They also lost Damon Sims who left during the coaching turnover this past off-season; however his impact in 2010 was limited to only 10 tackles. Fifth year senior Jamie Lukaszewski was lost to graduation and he will be missed most due to the veteran presence he brought.
The New Kids on the Block
Freshman Zach Shaw (#33 in red) will try to make an impact as a true freshman.
Entering the 2011 season, the coaching staff has to be the most excited about incoming true freshman Zach Shaw who was the highest rated recruit in the 2011 Hoosier class. Shaw hails from Coshocton, Ohio and was rated a 4-star player by Rivals. The 6’3” 225 pound freshman should get a chance to contribute immediately.
Tyler Replogle’s younger brother, Matt Replogle will continue the Replogle tradition of playing football at Indiana as he becomes the third of the brothers to don the Crimson and Cream. Indianapolis Cathedral alumni Kyle Kennedy is third true freshman joining the Hoosiers and could be a candidate to be red-shirted this season.
Indiana also has several red-shirt freshmen who will have their first chance to contribute in games this fall. Besides Beckum, the Hoosiers have two other red-shirt freshmen who are expected to see some form of playing time whether it’s on defense or special teams. Ishmael Thomas, a 6’4” 215 pounder from Detroit and Matt Zakrzewski, a 6’2” 230 pounder from Traverse City, Michigan, will look to make their mark in 2011.
What to Expect
A new coaching regime at Indiana will undoubtedly ask for better execution when it comes to tackling in 2011. Stopping the run will have to be a point of emphasis in the powerful Big-Ten for Indiana to have a shot at returning to a bowl game.
Projected starters
Leon Beckum – Weak-side Backer
Jeff Thomas – Middle Backer
Chase Hoobler – Strong-side Backer
