1st Post

Today I just wanted to give everyone an overview of what I will be doing with this blog. Today I am going to discuss some of the off-season changes that have been made to better the program. Down the road I will be discussing position breakdowns, the 2009 recruiting class, the teams outlook, the new stadium, and anything you want to write about or anything regarding the program as a whole. So to the new changes this off season....

1. Ray Fisher being moved to CB- I like to move for a few reasons. First off, Ray has the mentality of a CB. He has that confident swagger much like that of Tracy Porter. He put on 15 lbs this off season to better himself. It also gives other young receivers a chance to shine (doss, belcher, adetona, love, wilson etc...) Being a receiver for some time has improved his hands and catching ability which was lacking in a few of our corners this year. My concern though is the transition period to get accustomed to the new position. He played the position in high school but it will probably take some time to adjust. He is also 5'9 which will hurt against bigger taller receivers. Overall he is a tough physical kid who I think will adapt well to the CB position.
2. Jarrod Smith move to DT- Jarrod Smith is a high-motor guy who's play is probably better suited to play on the defensive side. He had some good offers coming out of high school (West Virginia the biggest one). I think he will develop into a solid DT and hopefully will improve our rush defense which hasn't been that great recently.
3. Other small position changes- Shane Covington got moved to safety and a few others did as well. More of a depth move but after watching Shane at the spring game he seems to be a good fit. He had offers from Illinois and Kansas State in high school before committing to the hoosiers. With Polk and Thomas being seniors we need to develop our young safeties now.
4. Leadership Council- This off-season Coach Lynch decided to create a leadership council consisting of mostly upper class men. I thought this was a great idea because at times last year people talked about the lack of leadership on the time. With 18 seniors this year we will have a more experienced group and I feel like we have certain individuals who are already good leaders (Payton, Polk, Kirlew etc...).
5. Promotion of the program- With the addition of Fred Glass as our new A.D. he has made it a point of emphasis to promote the football program more than in years past. Bill Lynch has been all over campus this off-season speaking at many different fraternities/sororities and making a lot more public appearances throughout the state of Indiana. Just the other day he was Dan Dakich radio show at the motor speedway. I feel like the awareness of the football team is improving and hopefully with having 3 night games and a brand new stadium attendance will increase this year.
6. Dismissal of Kellen Lewis- Lewis had potential as a WR because he was so explosive. He looked good as he adapted to the new position all spring. Unfortunately he was dismissed from the team. He was our most explosive player and it will be hard to replace him but I applaude coach Lynch for doing the right thing.

My next few posts I think will be about our current positions strengths and weaknesses as well as analysis of all our 2009 recruiting class. Feel free to ask questions and make comments to the blog. You can e-mail me at clark49@indiana.edu, young_investor01@yahoo.com, or iufan24@gmail.com