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.