Spring Practice Recap Day 2

The weather today pushed the second spring practice into the Mellencamp Pavillion. Here is a rundown of some of my observations.

Offense:

QB: Chappell looked very good during the whole practice. He showed off accurate passing with a strong arm as well. He did a good job of not staring down receivers which hurt him a bit last season. He did a good job of hitting the 2nd and 3rd options when the primary receiver wasn't open. His best play of the day came when he completed a long TD pass down the right sideline to Duwyce Wilson. I know people say Ed Wright-Baker will provide some good competition for the starting spot but after today it was clear Chappell is by far the best QB on the team.

Ed Wright-Baker- he looked very good in the drop back passing drills without a defense. He threw pretty accurate today but occasionally made a few mistakes. During 11 on 11 drills he overthrew some receivers on deep routes which led to interceptions. Regardless of the mistakes he is going to be a very good QB for the hoosiers in the future. He is an accurate passer showed some decent arm strength.

Dusty Kiel- like Ed, he also made a few mistakes which is expected. Dusty showed great arm strength and had good touch on many passes. When he throws and incomplete pass it is usually thrown a bit high. It looks like it has something to do with his release of the ball. He showed good poise in the pocket and I think Chappell, Wright-Baker, and Kiel will be the top 3 QB's going into the fall. Follett and Schell struggled a bit throughout the practice with their throws in my opinion.

RB: Darius was his usual self having a good practice. Nick Turner completely out ran the defense on a few occasions. It is a bit tough to judge everyone when they are only wearing shorts but Turner looks like he will definitely surprise a lot of people next season.

WR: Duwyce made some great catches on a variety of routes today. He is definitely making a statement to get a good chunk of playing time. Both Tyler Adetona and Jamonne Chester have made great strides this off season. They both look like they will be able to contribute next fall if their number is called. I give credit to wide receiver's coach Billy Lynch. He does a good job coaching up the players during the practices.

Defense:

Everyone is always wondering about Jerimy Finch. I tried to keep an extra eye on him during practice to help everyone get a better feel of where he is at. During special teams drills he shined every time. We all know he is a good special teams player. When he was in as safety, he showed some good coverage skills and you can tell he has made significant improvement from last year. He makes the occasional mistake but none that really stand out too much. He had a good interception on Ed Wright-Baker towards the end of 11 on 11's. I think if he keeps improving this spring and during the off season he could have a decent chance at cracking the starting lineup.

JUCO linebacker Jeff Thomas looked good during drills and closed out the practice with a diving interception off of a tipped Dusty Kiel pass. Redshirt freshman Lawrence Barnett played good in coverage and also had a nice interception.

Overall our defense has done a good job during practice of having the whole defense getting to the ball carrier. It looked like the coach's made it an emphasis to get the whole secondary running at the ball every play.

Here are some links to some player videos after the practice.

Ben Chappell: Link

Larry Black Jr: Link