Former Hoosier selected to 3rd Pro Bowl

Per iuhoosiers.com:
Dec. 29, 2009

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Former Hoosier and current San Diego guard Kris Dielman was selected to his third Pro Bowl Tuesday evening. Dielman has started all 15 games for the NFL's second-highest scoring offense.

"It's always an honor," Dielman told Chargers.com. "I'm lucky to have a lot of great teammates around me that help me. Playing next to Marcus (McNeill) and Scott (Mruczkowski) and Nick (Hardwick), having Philip (Rivers), I know I benefit a lot from those guys. (Offensive line coach) Hal Hunter is another guy that's really helped me get to this point in my career."

Voted one the Greatest San Diego Chargers of all-time earlier in the season, Dielman and the Chargers are 12-3 on the season. They clinched the AFC West and the second seed in the AFC.

A two-time honorable mention All-Big Ten at IU from 1999-02, Dielman played both tight end and defensive tackle. He was named the team's most valuable player in 2002 after leading the Hoosiers with five sacks and 14 tackles for loss.

The Goshen, Ind., native finished his career with 62 tackles in 23 games with the defense. Dielman posted 26 catches for 361 yards and five touchdowns at tight end

2009 #5 Yatta Kiles DB

More recent highlights.

LENYATTA KILES 2008

For more information and highlights of Kiles visit http://recruiting.scout.com/2/932407.html or http://rivals.yahoo.com/indiana/football/recruiting/player-Lenyatta-Kiles-106135

JUCO Commit

It has been confirmed that JUCO CB Lenyatta Kiles from California has committed to the hoosiers. Most of the schools that were interested in him were from the WAC. He is listed at roughly 6'0 190 lbs and runs a 4.5 40 yard dash. He will most likely come in and compete for a starting job. I don't think that by him signing it has anything to do with the possibility of Andre Kates going elsewhere but you never know. It is good to see Coach Lynch and staff bringing in some JUCO's to address key positions that we could need help at next season.

Offensive Line Outlook

The offensive line was improved this year over last year and has some young talent as well. The offensive line will lose two starters to graduation, Rodger Saffold and Pete Saxon. The returning starters are Justin Pagan (LG), Will Matte (C), James Brewer (RT).

Justin Pagan- probably has the most potential out of all of our offensive lineman. He played as a true freshman and almost every single position on the line. He bulked up a lot in the off season and plays physical with a mean streak in him.

Will Matte- started as a red shirt freshman this past season. He is a bit undersized but will get bigger as time goes on. His biggest asset is his nasty streak. He should be a solid center for the hoosiers over the next 3 years.

James Brewer- last year was his first year as a starter. He is a huge player listed around 6'8 331 lbs. He needs to improve on his quickness a bit but will should be very much improved now that he has a year of playing time under his belt. He will be a senior next season.

Now we need to replace the left tackle position and the right guard position. One of the possible replacements at the left tackle is red shirt freshman Charlie Chapman. He is listed at 6'6 304 lbs. He bulked up a good deal during his red shirt year and he has pretty good feet. Another player who will be competing for it is Andrew McDonald. He has some experience and will be in the mix. One of the other possibilities is moving Justin Pagan over from guard to tackle. The last player to throw into the mix is red shirt freshman Colin Rodkey. He had offers from West Virginia and Pitt coming out of high school.

A young player in the mix for the right guard is red shirt freshman Pat McShane. He was one of the lineman who was most ready to play as a freshman. Along with him will be red shirt freshman Aaron Price competing for the job. He had a pretty good camp showing and will be a good player for the hoosiers. One of the veterans who will probably practice with the starting unit in the spring will be Alex Perry. He has some good experience but was banged up during the year. The last player to consider is Cody Faulkner. Like Alex, he was banged up most of the year as well. He was the probably the most heavily recruited out of high school. Walk on Mike Reiter has also seen some extended time on the line the last two years as well.

We should have some decent depth on the line next year. Red shirt freshman Mark Damisch saw some good playing time this year behind Justin Pagan. JUCO transfer Jordan Marquette will likely be Will Matte's back up at center.

Program Mentality

One of the key stepping stones to turning a program around is to make the players believe that they can win. After long bowl season droughts for many programs, it is easy for players to get used to constantly losing. This is most likely what Indiana has had for numerous years but now they are on the verge of turning the program around. We have more skilled players in place and have brought together a group of players who want to be in Bloomington and believe that they can turn this program around. The bowl season did many great things for the football program but the last two years have then been disappointing seasons. Next season becomes a critical year as to whether the hoosier program continues to improve and get back on the rise, or whether they stumble and continue to fall back to what so many hoosier fans are used to. Although IU only got one more win this year as opposed to the year before, they made a vast amount of improvement. They stayed in almost every game (except OSU and Virginia) and easily could have won a handful more (Michigan, Northwestern, Iowa, Wisconsin etc.). This upcoming year will be a true test for the coaching staff and players who are knocking on the door of becoming a bowl eligible team again.

I was reading an interesting article the other day about the SMU program and how important it is to get your players to believe that they can win. (http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/spt/colleges/topstories/stories/122409dnspotaylor.3a8b02b.

html)

It had been 25 years since SMU played in a bowl game, the 4th largest drought in college football. The last 2 seasons they finished 1-11 and managed to turn things around this year finishing 7-5 and a Aloha bowl bid against Nevada.

This just shows that what can happen when a team buys into what the head coach is saying and believes that week in and week out they can win. Once that mentality takes over, players start to believe that each week they will find a way to win the gain instead of finding a way to lose. This is why I think next year is such a critical year for the hoosier program. The players of the 2007 team believed they could win and starting to turn the program around. We have taken a few steps back the last two seasons but made a lot of improvements this past season. However, another losing season next year could put the program right back where it has been for many years. A winning season and a bowl birth can get the program headed back into the right direction. With better players in place that have the right mentality we have more tools to get us back to a bowl game next season than we have in years past.

Plenty of Post Season Honors for Hoosiers

According to iuhoosiers.com, 10 hoosiers have been recognized for some variation of post season honors. Here is the list from the website.

Larry Black Jr. - CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-America honorable mention
Tandon Doss - Phil Steele All-Big Ten first team, CollegeFootballNews.com All-Big Ten
Ray Fisher- ESPN.com All-Big Ten, SI.com honorable mention All-America, Rivals.com All-Big Ten first team, Phil Steele All-Big Ten first team, CollegeFootballNews.com honorable mention All-America, CollegeFootballNews.com All-Big Ten
Nick Freeland - Rivals.com Big Ten All-Freshman team
Jammie Kirlew - Phil Steele All-Big Ten second team
Matt Mayberry - Phil Steele All-Big Ten third team
Will Matte - CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-America honorable mention
Rodger Saffold - Phil Steele All-Big Ten second team
Adam Replogle - CollegeFootballNews.com Freshman All-America third team
Darius Willis - ESPN.com All-Big Ten Freshman team, Rivals.com Big Ten All-Freshman team, Phil Steele All-Big Ten third team

Hoosier Commit in Sports Illustrated

Hoosier commit Matt Perez made it into the "faces in the crowd" section of the recent issue of Sports Illustrated. Here is the link to read more about it.

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/scorecard/faces/2009/12/21/

Recruiting Nuggets

Boy signing day can't come fast enough. I was reading an article on Andre Kates about him winning the award that goes to best JUCO player of the year and the article says that Kates is still committed to IU but is planning on still taking a few more official college visits to Miami (FL), Oklahoma State, and Minnesota. Hopefully he sticks with his commitment and becomes a hoosier but there still is a slight possibility that he may end up elsewhere. Taking these visits is something that worries me and should be a small concern. On the other hand, Jibreel Black has decided to take 4 more official visits. He is still committed to Cincinnati but he says a big part of his decision will be who is named the next head coach. I think rumor has it that the Central Michigan coach will be given the job. Black is expected to visit UC on Jan. 8 and Michigan State on Jan. 15 and could visit Louisville Jan. 22 and Indiana Jan. 29. As of right now IU is still in the running for him.

Kirlew and Saffold selected to play in the...

85th East-West Shrine game (Saffold) and the Pro Football Hall of Fame Texas vs. the Nation Challenge (Kirlew). Saffold ended up being a 2009 second team All-Big Ten selection while Kirlew collected second team All-Big Ten accolades.

http://indiana.scout.com/2/929383.html

The JUCO Recruiting Trail

Most Indiana football fans know that we don't usually recruit many players from the Junior College ranks. Yet so far this year we have 2 JUCO commits and have a couple more coming to campus to visit. With some of the needs on next years squad I strongly believe that the staff needed to go out and get some JUCO's. Generally, the big ten teams don't recruit many Junior College players because the big ten has a tougher standard than most other conferences for those players academically. However, I am so glad that we have picked up two so far and am telling you that you shouldn't be surprised if we pick up 1-2 more. We currently have 23 commits and 25 available scholarships so we could potentially pick up some late commits.

Looking at the 2 JUCO's we have verballed so far it looks like they will be immediate impacts. Andre Kates (cousin of Clinton Portis) is likely to start from day 1 at corner and Jeff Thomas will probably start at one of the linebacking spots. Usually you don't bring in a player who only has a few years left of eligibility to play back up but I think the JUCO's we have landed can fill holes at some critical spots. Looking at our linebacking core, we lose Matt Mayberry, Will Patterson, and Justin Carrington. This leaves Tyler Replogle as the only remaining starter. I think our young linebackers all have bright futures for IU but it makes sense to bring in a guy like Jeff Thomas (the other JUCO commit) because he already has some experience and is more developed physically than some of the younger players. By filling in a spot at linebacker and corner it will lessen the pressing needs that we have going into the season. Going after the right type of JUCO is key, and I believe that Coach Lynch and staff have found two very good ones so far. The two biggest reasons why players choose to go to a Junior College is either because they weren't highly recruited out of high school or they couldn't make the grades to get cleared to play Division 1. If you read the link at the bottom of the page you will see in Andre Kate's situation however, those weren't the case.

This past week we had another JUCO linebacker visit IU by the name of DeAndre Boughton. He seemed to have had a very good time and will be making his college decision very shortly. The reason being that the JUCO's would like to enroll for the spring semester to give them more time to acclimate to the college and get a familiarity with the football team. Don't be surprised to see another commit or two in the coming weeks from the JUCO ranks.

I have found a great article written about Andre Kates. It is a goo read and will give you a better understanding of how hard this kid has worked and how much he deserves success. http://www.fiveborosports.com/ssp/news?news_id=3783

Jeff Thomas 44 Foothill College soph

Here are a few more highlights of him.

Jeff Thomas # 44 MLB highlight film 2008 foothill college

Here are some highlights of the hoosiers most recent commit Jeff Thomas.

Hoosiers Grab JUCO Linebacker

Jeff Thomas becomes the 23rd commitment for the hoosiers. He is listed at 6'1 240 lbs from Foothill C.C. in Los Altos California. He was named the Nor-Cal Conference Player of the Year. This season he recorded 104 tackles, 14.5 tackles for loss, 6 pass break ups, 2 sacks, 2 interceptions and 2 forced fumbles.

and the 2009 JUCO player of the year goes to...

2010 hoosier commit Andre Kates. Congratulations to him and I can't wait for him to be suiting up next fall for the hoosiers. He will be a very big difference maker at corner for us.
On a similar note, congratulations to Adam Replogle for being named on the 3rd team 2009 All-Freshman defensive team by collegefootballnews.com. Larry Black was also an honorable mention. We have a bright future for the defensive tackle position at IU.

New Uniforms

I will post up a copy of the road uniforms when they get announced. Here is what the home jersey's will look like next year. What do you guys think?

Lawrence Barnett 2007-08 Highlight Film

Here are some clips from his junior season. Remember that he broke his leg in the first game of his senior season so there are not a lot of clips to show from his senior year. The first two minutes or so are of kick off and punt returns. The rest should be of his corner play.

2010 Outlook at Corner

Ray Fisher will be the only starting corner that we lose. I would have loved for him to stay healthy because I felt like he had so much promise at the position. I think if he would've had two years of playing corner back under his belt he would have been a phenomenal player. Enough of my ranting, it's time to look ahead to next season. The thing that excites me the most about the corner position is bringing in Andre Kates. I've seen plenty of highlights of him and his list of scholarship offers in incredible. In his interviews he talks a lot about how he wants to bring some swagger to Indiana and be able to build some tradition for the football program. He has said all the right things and has all the tools to be an incredible player. I think he will start from day 1 and if he plays to how capable I think he is, I see him playing in the NFL after his time at IU. (He will be playing in the JUCO All-American game tomorrow in Arizona)

The other spot I think will be an open competition ( like most positions this off season) between Donnell Jones, Richard Council, Adrian Burks, and Lawrence Barnett. Donnell Jones played well considering he had an injured elbow most of the year. He is undersized at 5'10 but he has good closing speed and can play physical. His coverage skills are pretty good as well. Richard Council is a bigger corner who has good experience under his belt. For the limited amount of playing time Burks got last year, I felt like he impressed me the most. He showed good coverage skills and all around good fundamental play. He was just sort of thrown into some tough games due to injuries and responded very well. Lawrence Barnett red shirted this year but I think he may have the most promise out of any of our young corners. He went a little under the radar in recruiting because he broke his leg in the first game of his senior season. He had received an offer from Michigan State a week or so before he committed to the hoosiers and i'm sure other big time schools would have offered him had he stayed healthy. He has great quickness and speed to go along with his physical build. He was one of the most big ten ready freshman coming into the year, but due to numbers it wouldn't have made sense for him to burn his red shirt. He will have to compete against many other corners but I think he will be in the mix for playing time if he has a good off season. Regardless of when he starts to get to see the field, I think he has an extremely bright future at IU and could help turn our corner back position into a team strength.

I have posted a 10 minute video clip of some of his junior year highlights. The first two minutes or so are his kick off and punt return highlights. The rest is of his play at corner. Check it out above.

UC coach Kelly goes to ND so what happens to Jibreel Black?

I know I'm a little late on some of these things. I just finished with my I-core project and still recovering from having my wisdom teeth removed. There has been a lot of speculation on what Jibreel Black will do. If you don't know, Jibreel Black originally committed to the hoosiers but changed his mind and committed to the Bearcats. I don't think Black will follow Kelly to ND. They have tough standards for academics and I don't know if Jibreel would qualify with his SAT score. ND also has signed some very good prospects for the defensive line. Depending on what new coach gets brought it that could play a big role in whether or not he stays with his commitment to the bearcats. However, this could open up a slight chance for Black to re-consider IU. I have heard many mixed rumors, from professional sources, that he still has a firm commitment to Cincinnati but others have said that IU may still have a chance with him. So only time will tell and I will try and keep you up to date about what his current situation is.

*** Here is some updated information on the situation. Black has spoken a little bit about the situation. "I'm still a Bearcat, I'm still solid. I still like the fact that I have an opportunity to play for a great university and play in front of my home town, in front of people I know."

On the other side of things here was his last facebook status update. "stepin back and lookin at things all over again... uh here we go...dam kelly. jus couldn't keep ur word."

2010 Safety Outlook

At first glance it looks very scary that the hoosiers will be losing 3 out of their 4 starters in the secondary. However, with some guys coming in and a position switch or two it won't be as bad as people originally thought. Let's first take a look at the safeties.

We lose both starters in Nick Polk and AustinThomas. We also lose some backups in Collin Taylor and Matt Kurz. So who are going to replace these guys? Well it will definitely be open to competition but lets look at a few names.

Chris Adkins- made the switch to safety from corner this past season. I really like this move. He started at corner as a red shirt freshman and had a tough time. I always felt like his skills would be better utilized as a safety. So look for him to most likely have one of the starting spots at safety next season.

Jerimy Finch- every since transferring from Florida he has yet to really see significant playing time. His role has been mostly on special teams. Nobody seems to know what is going on with him. There are always rumors about him having a poor relationship with the position coaches and that he can be a problem sometimes. He was the top rated safety coming out of high school but when he played at Florida they moved him to outside linebacker so, he has yet to really play the safety position at the college level. Although he has been a mystery while he's been at IU, he has a lot of potential if he can get his head on straight. He is a big physical player who can come up and make a big hit. He will have the opportunity to compete for the starting job as well.

Shane Covington- he is a guy that got moved to the defensive side of the ball when he came here. The only time I got to see him play the position was in the spring game. He flied to the ball pretty well and showed he can be physical as well. He was also recruited by Illinois and Kansas State coming out of high school so you know that there was good interest in him.

Nick Zachery- He red shirted this past season for the hoosiers. In high school he seemed to do everything for his Sheridan high school team. I believe he won 3 state championships during his high school career. A red shirt season will allow him to get more comfortable with the defensive schemes and a chance to bulk up a bit. Coach Lynch has said good things about him and believes he has a bright future at the safety spot. He will be in competition with all the other guys for a starting spot.

Mitch Evans- Mitch will most likely move to safety this off season. He has played safety before and we seem to have a very deep core at receiver. He is athletic, versatile, and has done a variety of things for the hoosier program. Since we lose so many players in the secondary it would make sense for him to make the position switch to possibly start or provide depth.

Jarrell Drane- had a wrist injury that kept him out most of the year. Hasn't gotten much playing time so it's difficult to assess his skill set as of now. He does has good size and will continue to get better.

When looking at the long list of potential replacements at the safety position, I think Chris Adkins is the only one that has a spot locked up. Everybody else will have a chance to compete for the starting job and playing time in general. Hopefully everyone will make great strides this off season because of the competition that will be taking place. Although I don't see any true freshman starting at safety next year, I should note that our class is filled with a lot of safeties or athletes that could play safety. I can't wait to see the position battle start, it should be fun.

Hoosiers Hosting many Commits this Weekend

Many 2010 hoosier commits will be visiting Bloomington this week/weekend. So far it has been confirmed that the following players will be in town this weekend: linebacker Matt Zakrzewski, linebacker Ishmael Thomas, running back Xavier Whitaker, defensive tackle Pete Bachman, safety Drew Hardin, wide receiver Logan Young, wide receiver Tim O’Conner, offensive lineman Cody Evers, safety Shaquille Jefferson, defensive end Harrison Scott, offensive lineman Bill Ivan and running back Matt Perez. Here are some quotes from some of the players about how their trip has been.

Harrison Scott: "It went great," he said about the trip. "I got to see the facilities and the campus more in depth, and it was a real enlightening experience. The last time I was at Indiana most of the facilities were not completely finished yet and I was able to go through and see them completely done, and that was really cool."

"We got to sit down and talk a little bit about what they see me as," Scott said. "They said they are looking at me as a defensive end. They like the film that I've given them and I have a lot of upside to me. They just want me to keep progressing."

"It's a team that has tons of potential and they have all the talent they need to win games, and I feel like I can be a piece to help them get to a Big Ten championship."

Bill Ivan: "I thought it was a good chance for me to get to know the coaches down there and to meet with the academic advisors," he said. "And I was able to meet with a professor so it just gave me a better feel for the university overall. I hadn't really looked around the student union all that much, but I got a chance to do that and that was very impressive. And I also got to go into a couple of the dorms and I just got a good look at how the campus is laid out. I hadn't really seen that before and I was impressed with that."

"I had a long conversation with Coach (Bobby) Johnson about at the position I am playing," he said. "The way he put it was that he prides himself on having the best taught class on campus, and that's the offensive line. And a big thing is the mental side of the offensive line and that's going to be a big adjustment, but he doesn't see that being too big of an issue because there's a lot of older guys that won't have any problem taking me under their wing and teaching me how to watch film and get through that."

Hoosiers receive LB commit

Orrville (Ohio) linebacker Chase Hoobler committed to Indiana following this weekend’s official visit. He is a 3 star from scout.com and had offers from Louisville, Boston College, Central Michigan, Ball State, and Akron. He is listed at 6'2 220 lbs and he totaled 167 tackles, 22 tackles and six sacks, and on offense he caught 22 passes for 375 yards and five scores as a tight end. He originally verballed to Akron until their coach got fired. That made him re-open his commitment. Hit head coach had this to say about him when speaking about Indiana.
“From the get-go, they used phrases like All-Big Ten linebacker,” Davault said. “They felt right off the bat he could play at a very high level for them right away. Now can he step in next year? Who knows. That depends on who they’ve got, but he’ll certainly make an impact right away.”

Linebacker outlook 2010

It will be very difficult to replace both Matt Mayberry and Will Patterson. Matt Mayberry was a tackling machine who had good leadership abilities and speed. Will was a solid 4 year starter for the hoosiers who played physical and was a good leader as well. Also leaving is back up linebacker Justin Carrington. That leaves Tyler Replogle as the only returning starter for next year. He will most likely move from outside linebacker to inside linebacker and be the senior leader. He has a high motor and one of the best work ethics on the team. The other two linebacker spots will be up for competition between many young players. Some of them include Chad Sherer, Damon Sims, Griffin Dahlstrom, Dimitrius Carr and former walk on Leon Beckum.

Here is what Coach Lynch said about the situation. "And then the other freshmen kids that we brought in that we redshirted I think all have great futures," Lynch said. "I think Damon Sims…I would say a lot of places would've played him this year, but we decided not to. He would've been a great special teams player. He would have been a great guy covering kickoffs and covering punts, but we redshirted him. I think Griffen Dahlstrom, who came in injured, he's gotten bigger and stronger. He fits what we're looking for in a 'Mike' linebacker. And Dimitrius Carr will get nothing but better because he was really a safety and this was his first year playing linebacker."

Both Damon Sims and Chad Sherer are both pretty physical players. They have gotten bigger and stronger since they have been at IU. Leon Beckum brings some experience to the position and will be in the mix. Dimitrius Carr has some pretty good speed considering he played safety in high school. If I had to guess I think most of them will all get playing time next season but I think Chad Sherer and Damon Sims could both find themselves in the starting lineup for the first game of the year along with Tyler Replogle. A lot could change throughout the spring and summer though. The linebacking core will be pretty young outside of Tyler Replogle next year but it could provide the needed experience that allows a few of them to really shine in two years or so. See the video below of an interview this summer of Damon Sims. (He is the second half of the interview)

Defensive Tackle outlook 2010

The defensive tackle position will most likely be the strongest part of our defense next year. Going into the year it was the biggest question mark because of how much inexperience we had. This year I think they definitely exceeded expectations and there play will only get better for the next couple of years. We return pretty much everybody at the position and should have 5th year senior Jarrod Smith healthy for next season. True freshman Adam Replogle, who won a starting job as a true freshman, was very good and will only get better with experience and an off-season of lifting and conditioning. I thought Larry Black Jr. was arguably the biggest surprise out of the young tackles. He is a bigger body that we haven't had the luxury of having for the past few years. Larry and Adam combined for 61 tackles, 12.5 TFL and 5.5 sacks. Like Adam and all the other defensive tackles, they will only get better with more experience and more time in the weight room.

The best part about this position for the upcoming years is the depth. Back up red shirt freshman Nick Sliger and Mick Mentzer are also very talented and you can almost interchangeably use the four young tackles. Being able to rotate defensive tackles without having a large drop off in skill will allow us to stay fresh throughout games and will prevent opposing offenses from running down our team late in the game. Not to mention Jarrod Smith coming back to provide depth and leadership experience. With another year under there belts the defensive tackle position will clearly be one of the strongest points of our defense for the future. The biggest thing that they will bring for the next couple of years is size and depth.

Agree? Disagree? Feel free to leave your thoughts.

Defensive End outlook 2010

This will be the first installment in the outlook for each position for next season. Obviously it will be very difficult to replace the production we have gotten from Jammie Kirlew and Greg Middleton. They were both very good players here at IU and good ambassadors for the program. However, I don't think our production will drop next year as much as some people think. Two things that people must keep in mind is that Darius Johnson and Fred Jones were injured most of the year. Darius made the switch this season from LB to DE and when he played I think he played pretty well. He is a bit undersized for a DE but he has a great motor and will only get better this off season. His quickness could pose a big problem for some slower tackles our there. Fred Jones was hurt all year and came back I believe for the Penn State game. He made some pretty good plays against Purdue and I think this could be a good off season for him. We also return Deonte Mack and Coach Lynch hinted that some of the tackles may shuffle around on the outside as well. We also have some young guys who have made some great strides this off season. Javon Cornley possesses some good quickness off of the line and he put on 15 pounds since he has been at IU. He could be a young player who gets an opportunity to show off his skills next year. I think the combination of a healthy Darius Johnson and Fred Jones along with the return of Deonte Mack and some younger players our defensive ends will surprise some people next year. I don't think it will be as bad as some people think. I also wish the best of the luck to both Kirlew and Middleton in the pursuit of the NFL.

Agree? Disagree? Share your thoughts.