From Ken Bikoff and rivals.com: Click on the link for pictures
The IU athletic department announced Wednesday that a new scoreboard would be going up in Memorial Stadium in mid-August, but the first order of business was the removal of the old scoreboard. Beyond just that, a few other changes have come to "The Rock."
Wednesday, July 21, 2010
Ray Fisher Inks Deal
From National Football Post:
The Indianapolis Colts have agreed to terms on a four-year, $1.83 million deal with seventh-round cornerback and kick returner Ray Fisher, according to a league source.
Fisher received a signing bonus slightly higher than $41,500 as well as the standard base salaries of $320,000, $405,000, $490,000 and $575,000 and a fourth-year escalator clause that can significantly boost the maximum value of the contract.
The former Indiana University standout visited the Colts prior to the draft.
Fisher is a converted wide receiver who ran the 40-yard dash unofficially in the low 4.3 range at his Pro Day workout.
The honorable-mention All-Big Ten conference selection also registered a 38-inch vertical leap and a 10-2 broad jump.
The 5-foot-8, 171-pounder is being evaluated as a returner and at cornerback.
Fisher played three seasons at wide receiver before making the transition to cornerback as a senior.
In 19 starts at wide receiver, the Cleveland native caught 118 passes for 1,070 yards and nine touchdowns.
He returned 18 kickoffs for 650 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 36.1 yards per return and 9.7 yards on 17 punt returns.
His kick return average led the nation and set a Big Ten single-season record.
In six starts on defense, Fisher registered 49 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
The Indianapolis Colts have agreed to terms on a four-year, $1.83 million deal with seventh-round cornerback and kick returner Ray Fisher, according to a league source.
Fisher received a signing bonus slightly higher than $41,500 as well as the standard base salaries of $320,000, $405,000, $490,000 and $575,000 and a fourth-year escalator clause that can significantly boost the maximum value of the contract.
The former Indiana University standout visited the Colts prior to the draft.
Fisher is a converted wide receiver who ran the 40-yard dash unofficially in the low 4.3 range at his Pro Day workout.
The honorable-mention All-Big Ten conference selection also registered a 38-inch vertical leap and a 10-2 broad jump.
The 5-foot-8, 171-pounder is being evaluated as a returner and at cornerback.
Fisher played three seasons at wide receiver before making the transition to cornerback as a senior.
In 19 starts at wide receiver, the Cleveland native caught 118 passes for 1,070 yards and nine touchdowns.
He returned 18 kickoffs for 650 yards and two touchdowns, averaging 36.1 yards per return and 9.7 yards on 17 punt returns.
His kick return average led the nation and set a Big Ten single-season record.
In six starts on defense, Fisher registered 49 tackles, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery.
Monday, July 19, 2010
IU Recruiting Article
A good article from Adam Rittenberg in regards to the recent surge in IU football recruiting:
Indiana coach Bill Lynch remembers eleventh-hour recruiting. Until recent years, he found himself right in the thick of it. For decades, Lynch anticipated his schedule in late January and early February to be consumed with finding high school players to fill the final few spots of a recruiting class. It was standard procedure during his tenure as Ball State's coach from 1995-2002. The down-to-the-wire scramble continued when Lynch arrived at Indiana in January 2005, and remained for several years as the program made another transition from Terry Hoeppener to Lynch. "Shoot, man, we were looking for guys the weekend before signing day," Lynch recalled. "We were scrambling to fill a class."
Bill Lynch has already collected 20 verbal commitments for the 2011 class.Of the 24 players Indiana signed in 2005, 14 committed in January or early February and another didn't sign until after National Signing Day. Things improved for the 2006 class, but Indiana still got seven commitments after Jan. 1, plus a junior college addition in June. Back then, the idea of wrapping up a recruiting class in July or August sounded laughable. Fast-forward to last week, as Lynch talked about where Indiana stood for its 2011 recruiting haul. "We're right at the end," he said. The calendar read July 15. Indiana has turned heads in Midwest recruiting circles by already collecting 20 verbal commitments for the 2011 class. The Hoosiers' total leads the Big Ten and ranks among the national leaders. Indiana has 17 more commits than Penn State and 14 more than archrival Purdue.
Although the class likely won't rank among the national leaders come February, Lynch and his staff have unquestionably upgraded their overall talent, landing decorated prospects like linebacker Zack Shaw, athlete Raymon Taylor, tight end Jake Reed and running back D'Angelo Roberts, who pledged last week. "We've been fortunate to kind of jump ahead," Lynch said, "but throughout the process, we felt like there were kids we had targeted who we felt like we could get. We felt like we could get a good number." Safe to say, 20 is a great number for Indiana. And this isn't new for the Hoosiers, who received 21 verbal commitments for the 2010 recruiting class before the 2009 season kicked off. Lynch attributes the surge to several factors: good early scouting by his assistants, getting a lot of prospects on campus with their families for unofficial visits and the school's recent facilities upgrades. But perhaps Indiana's strongest assets are continuity and stability, traits rarely associated with the program in the past 15 years. "We've been able to keep our staff together for the most part," said Lynch, who has lost only two assistants to the NFL in his three seasons as head coach. "We've also been able to maintain the consistency in our strength and conditioning staff, our academic staff, so we're all on the same page.
When kids come on campus and visit with us, they and their families are hearing the same message. "The last two, three years, we've built a foundation, and philosophically, we're on the same page about who we're looking for and where we're going to recruit." Early commitments are commonplace in today's recruiting. Texas has 22 commits for 2011, while Ohio State and Oklahoma both have 17 verbals. The difference is Indiana has gone 7-17 during the past two seasons and reached just one bowl game since 1993. Lynch has two years left on his contract but has been mentioned as a coach on the hot seat entering the fall. And yet the verbals keep rolling in. Lynch doesn't concern himself with negative recruiting against Indiana. And although the program has lost some early verbals -- Jibreel Black decommited last year, eventually signing with Michigan -- it's not an epidemic. "That's certainly part of it nowadays," Lynch said. "Nothing is binding until February, but the last couple years, we've done a pretty good job of being able to hold onto the guys we've gotten commitments from."
The NCAA is currently considering a proposal that would scale back the recruiting calendar, prohibiting teams from offering scholarships until July 1 between a prospect's junior and senior years of high school. Obviously, Lynch prefers the current setup, yet he wouldn't stand in the way of a change, as long as it applies to everyone. But until a change is made, Indiana's coaches will keep breaking down junior tape, scouting prospects, landing unofficial visits and staying ahead of the curve. "We're just further along," Lynch said. "We're where we want to be."
Indiana coach Bill Lynch remembers eleventh-hour recruiting. Until recent years, he found himself right in the thick of it. For decades, Lynch anticipated his schedule in late January and early February to be consumed with finding high school players to fill the final few spots of a recruiting class. It was standard procedure during his tenure as Ball State's coach from 1995-2002. The down-to-the-wire scramble continued when Lynch arrived at Indiana in January 2005, and remained for several years as the program made another transition from Terry Hoeppener to Lynch. "Shoot, man, we were looking for guys the weekend before signing day," Lynch recalled. "We were scrambling to fill a class."
Bill Lynch has already collected 20 verbal commitments for the 2011 class.Of the 24 players Indiana signed in 2005, 14 committed in January or early February and another didn't sign until after National Signing Day. Things improved for the 2006 class, but Indiana still got seven commitments after Jan. 1, plus a junior college addition in June. Back then, the idea of wrapping up a recruiting class in July or August sounded laughable. Fast-forward to last week, as Lynch talked about where Indiana stood for its 2011 recruiting haul. "We're right at the end," he said. The calendar read July 15. Indiana has turned heads in Midwest recruiting circles by already collecting 20 verbal commitments for the 2011 class. The Hoosiers' total leads the Big Ten and ranks among the national leaders. Indiana has 17 more commits than Penn State and 14 more than archrival Purdue.
Although the class likely won't rank among the national leaders come February, Lynch and his staff have unquestionably upgraded their overall talent, landing decorated prospects like linebacker Zack Shaw, athlete Raymon Taylor, tight end Jake Reed and running back D'Angelo Roberts, who pledged last week. "We've been fortunate to kind of jump ahead," Lynch said, "but throughout the process, we felt like there were kids we had targeted who we felt like we could get. We felt like we could get a good number." Safe to say, 20 is a great number for Indiana. And this isn't new for the Hoosiers, who received 21 verbal commitments for the 2010 recruiting class before the 2009 season kicked off. Lynch attributes the surge to several factors: good early scouting by his assistants, getting a lot of prospects on campus with their families for unofficial visits and the school's recent facilities upgrades. But perhaps Indiana's strongest assets are continuity and stability, traits rarely associated with the program in the past 15 years. "We've been able to keep our staff together for the most part," said Lynch, who has lost only two assistants to the NFL in his three seasons as head coach. "We've also been able to maintain the consistency in our strength and conditioning staff, our academic staff, so we're all on the same page.
When kids come on campus and visit with us, they and their families are hearing the same message. "The last two, three years, we've built a foundation, and philosophically, we're on the same page about who we're looking for and where we're going to recruit." Early commitments are commonplace in today's recruiting. Texas has 22 commits for 2011, while Ohio State and Oklahoma both have 17 verbals. The difference is Indiana has gone 7-17 during the past two seasons and reached just one bowl game since 1993. Lynch has two years left on his contract but has been mentioned as a coach on the hot seat entering the fall. And yet the verbals keep rolling in. Lynch doesn't concern himself with negative recruiting against Indiana. And although the program has lost some early verbals -- Jibreel Black decommited last year, eventually signing with Michigan -- it's not an epidemic. "That's certainly part of it nowadays," Lynch said. "Nothing is binding until February, but the last couple years, we've done a pretty good job of being able to hold onto the guys we've gotten commitments from."
The NCAA is currently considering a proposal that would scale back the recruiting calendar, prohibiting teams from offering scholarships until July 1 between a prospect's junior and senior years of high school. Obviously, Lynch prefers the current setup, yet he wouldn't stand in the way of a change, as long as it applies to everyone. But until a change is made, Indiana's coaches will keep breaking down junior tape, scouting prospects, landing unofficial visits and staying ahead of the curve. "We're just further along," Lynch said. "We're where we want to be."
Big Ten Media Day
From Adam Rittenberg and the Big Ten Blog: Click here to read the rest
Big Ten media days are the unofficial start to the 2010 season, and they're rapidly approaching. The league today announced the 33 players who will be attending the media sessions, held Aug. 2-3 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago (new location this year). They will join all 11 Big Ten head coaches.
Representing Indiana will be:
Ben Chappell, QB, Sr.
Tyler Replogle, LB, Sr.
Terrance Turner, WR, Sr
Big Ten media days are the unofficial start to the 2010 season, and they're rapidly approaching. The league today announced the 33 players who will be attending the media sessions, held Aug. 2-3 at the Hyatt Regency McCormick Place in Chicago (new location this year). They will join all 11 Big Ten head coaches.
Representing Indiana will be:
Ben Chappell, QB, Sr.
Tyler Replogle, LB, Sr.
Terrance Turner, WR, Sr
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
Hoosiers get Commitment from Talented In-State RB
D'Angelo Roberts from Bloomington North High School has announced he will commit to the Hoosiers. He chose the hometown Hoosiers over an offer from Cincinnati among others and interest from Penn State, Purdue, and Ohio State. D'Angelo had a big 2009 year finishing with 2,600 yards and 32 touchdowns. This was a very important commit considering the Hoosier staff is trying to keep the top talent within the state from leaving to out of state programs.
Tuesday, July 6, 2010
Marcus Thigpen Update
I have posted a link below to a video that you may or may not have seen make it to Sportcenter. Thigpen returns a 93 yard kickoff for a touchdown followed by a 118 yard missed field goal.
Link
Link
Sunday, July 4, 2010
IU Ticket Sales Improving
From the IBJ Blog: Link
Indiana University had its best year in football ticket sales last year since 1992, and school officials think they’re in line for an even better year this year.But when it comes to football, there’s still no comparison between Indiana University and Purdue University.On the field, Purdue wins more games, and in the accounting columns the Boilers scores more cash.IU Athletic Director Fred Glass and his staff hope to change all that. And a quick look at the books would indicate IU is closing the gap.For the record, Glass and his staff said they don’t measure themselves against other programs, only their own standards. OK, whatever.But if Purdue is the gold standard so-to-speak, let’s take a look at what IU is chasing.
Take it easy Notre Dame fans, IU isn’t anywhere near ready to take on that gridiron behemoth. So let’s forget about the Golden Domers for the time being.Last year, Purdue had average football attendance of 49,800, ahead of IU’s 42,000.Remember in 2008, the Hoosiers averaged 31,782 fans per home game at Memorial Stadium. So not a bad uptick.Every sports marketer knows the key to building attendance is season ticket sales.
Single-game ticket sales are simply too labor intensive. So the summer is a key selling period for IU and Purdue.Last year, Purdue sold 34,523 season tickets, 8,930 of those to students. IU trails those numbers too, but Pat Kraft, IU senior assistant athletic director for marketing, has high hopes for this year.“The big goal is to average more than 42,000 per game and to get our student attendance up to 10,000 to 13,000 per game,” Kraft said.Kraft and his staff have a long way to go.IU did a back flip last September when it sold nearly 6,000 student season tickets. Kraft knows he’ll have to do better than that this year to make his goal. He has reason for optimism. Last year, IU sold about 10,200 student tickets per game, up almost 3,000 from 2008, and the most since 1992, when 11,389 student tickets per game were sold.Still, too many of those sales last year were due to deep discounts and single-game sales. IU sold a total of 17,301 season tickets last year, 5,993 to students.
Considering IU's fan base, it's difficult to understand why the Cream and Cimson would sell only half as many season football tickets as the Black and Gold. I guess winning, and tradition, matter.Kraft said ticket sales “are tracking far ahead” of where they were a year ago, and the school is preparing to launch a viral marketing campaign featuring a video including football coach Bill Lynch that IU officials hope can close the gap to its cross-state rival.“The key is we want a lot of students at our football games,” Kraft said. “The energy they bring is just unparalleled. We think it’s a big part of creating the atmosphere we want.”
Indiana University had its best year in football ticket sales last year since 1992, and school officials think they’re in line for an even better year this year.But when it comes to football, there’s still no comparison between Indiana University and Purdue University.On the field, Purdue wins more games, and in the accounting columns the Boilers scores more cash.IU Athletic Director Fred Glass and his staff hope to change all that. And a quick look at the books would indicate IU is closing the gap.For the record, Glass and his staff said they don’t measure themselves against other programs, only their own standards. OK, whatever.But if Purdue is the gold standard so-to-speak, let’s take a look at what IU is chasing.
Take it easy Notre Dame fans, IU isn’t anywhere near ready to take on that gridiron behemoth. So let’s forget about the Golden Domers for the time being.Last year, Purdue had average football attendance of 49,800, ahead of IU’s 42,000.Remember in 2008, the Hoosiers averaged 31,782 fans per home game at Memorial Stadium. So not a bad uptick.Every sports marketer knows the key to building attendance is season ticket sales.
Single-game ticket sales are simply too labor intensive. So the summer is a key selling period for IU and Purdue.Last year, Purdue sold 34,523 season tickets, 8,930 of those to students. IU trails those numbers too, but Pat Kraft, IU senior assistant athletic director for marketing, has high hopes for this year.“The big goal is to average more than 42,000 per game and to get our student attendance up to 10,000 to 13,000 per game,” Kraft said.Kraft and his staff have a long way to go.IU did a back flip last September when it sold nearly 6,000 student season tickets. Kraft knows he’ll have to do better than that this year to make his goal. He has reason for optimism. Last year, IU sold about 10,200 student tickets per game, up almost 3,000 from 2008, and the most since 1992, when 11,389 student tickets per game were sold.Still, too many of those sales last year were due to deep discounts and single-game sales. IU sold a total of 17,301 season tickets last year, 5,993 to students.
Considering IU's fan base, it's difficult to understand why the Cream and Cimson would sell only half as many season football tickets as the Black and Gold. I guess winning, and tradition, matter.Kraft said ticket sales “are tracking far ahead” of where they were a year ago, and the school is preparing to launch a viral marketing campaign featuring a video including football coach Bill Lynch that IU officials hope can close the gap to its cross-state rival.“The key is we want a lot of students at our football games,” Kraft said. “The energy they bring is just unparalleled. We think it’s a big part of creating the atmosphere we want.”
Saturday, July 3, 2010
Friday, July 2, 2010
Another Commit for the Hoosiers
"Flo" Hardin makes it another commit to the Hoosiers. He is brother of incoming Hoosier Drew Hardin. He chose IU over an offer from Kentucky. More info to come.
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