4 Things to Watch for vs. Eastern Kentucky

It's hard to believe that college football will be kicking off in 2 days. Here are four things in my opinion that you should be watching come Thursday. I just want to apologize in advance for the weird spacing, blogspot's formatting hasn't been too friendly.

1. Demarlo Belcher vs. EKU secondary- Belcher needs to get off to a fast start and prove he is a #1 big ten WR. He should have plenty of opportunities against EKU because both of the starting corners for the Colonels give up roughly 7 inches and 30lbs to Belcher. Starting corner Jeremy Caldwell is listed at 5-10 172lbs and Andre Evans is listed at 5'10 167lbs. Look for Belcher to have a big day.

2. Greg Middleton vs. Derek Hardman- All signs point to a re-emergence of Greg Middleton this upcoming season. He has re-focused this off-season and has had one of his best off-season's since enrolling at IU. You probably have never heard of Derek Hardman EKU's LT, but he roughly 6'6 and 300lbs. He is projected to be a middle round selection in next years NFL draft. This should be a good test for Middleton to get back on track.

3. Mark Damisch at LG- With Justin Pagan's status in doubt Mark Damisch will most likely fill his spot and start at LG. Damisch is a redshirt freshman from Buffalo Grove high school in IL. Hopefully he can gain some valuable experience that will help him down the road.

4. The "Pistol"- I'm curious to see how the "pistol" offense in action and the improvement of our running game. We will likely play 4 running backs throughout the game. I am very curious to see how Darius Willis plays and the other running backs as well. We will likely run a running back by committee until somebody emerges as the feature back.

(Photo courtesy of the IDS)

Top Performers from 2010 class

It was hard to decide the top 5 players from our 2010 class over the weekend because almost ever recruits team blew out their opposition and didn't need to play in the second half. I came up with my top 5 as best as I could. Here it is:

1. The top performer of the week goes to Matt Perez (Maine South, Illinois)- He rushed for 117 yards just on 12 carries. He also ran for 4 touchdowns on the day. Maine South beat Schaumburg 64-35. Maine South won the state title last year and is ranked #2 in the state.

2. Kofi Hughes (Cathedral, Indianapolis)- Kofi rushed for 105 yards, passed for 170 yards and accounted for 3 scores to beat #1 5A Warren Central. Cathedral is now 2-0 on the year.

3. Leneil Himes (Plymouth, Indiana)- Leneil started out the game with a 21 yard touchdown reception. He later recorded an 81 yard interception that he returned to the house. They beat Rochester 42-7 to improve to 2-0 on the year.

4. Logan Young (Delta, Indiana)- Logan caught 4 passes for 100 yards and 2 touchdowns. They beat New Palestine 23-0 to improve to 2-0 on the year.

5. Tim O'Conner (Elder, Ohio)- Elder beat East St. Louis 49-28. Tim had 6 catches for 78 yards and 2 scores. Elder is rated #3 in the country according to the USA Today High School Poll.

2 hoosiers suspended for opener

Sorry for being a little late on the post, I didn't have internet access all yesterday. Deonte Mack and Ian Reeves have been suspended for the first game due to "violation of team rules". Mack's suspension will be the biggest blow because he has a lot of experience. However, I believe we have enough young guys that will fill the void. Adam Replogle, Larry Black, Nick Sliger, and Mick Mentzer have all played very well this fall. Jarrod Smith will be for sure starting at one of the DT spots and they haven't announced who will start at the other spot. Regardless of who starts they should all see playing time. We should be able to handle Eastern Kentucky regardless. This happened last year as well with Greg Middleton and Kyle Kozak.

I will have the top 2010 recruits performances from the weekend posted up some time later today.

Get Ready for Some Football!

You know the season is so close when Coach Lynch holds his pre-game press conference. Generally these are done on Tuesday's of game weeks but because we will have opening kickoff on a Thursday it got moved up a few days.

The other day the hoosiers were practicing there pre-game festivities at the stadium. These things include how they will run out into the stadium, where they come out from etc... A writer from Rivals.com talked about how there were going to be tons of changes to the game-day atmosphere at Memorial Stadium next year. I have talked to the VP or Marketing (Patrick Kraft) a few times and we talked about how it would be a great idea to blow off tons of fireworks as the team enters the field accompanied by some great pump up music. Even though when the team was walking through the pre-game festivities and did not come out to fireworks yet, the writer from rivals said that the noise level was so loud he could hear it perfectly from inside his kitchen in Elletsville, Indiana (roughly 7.7 miles away). I can't wait to feel the electricity and excitement when the hoosiers run onto the field with fireworks blasting, music blaring and tons of other amenities. The atmosphere is going to be 100% different next year and if you go to a home game I guarantee you will be hooked on coming back to Memorial Stadium every Saturday.

On a different note, the coaching staff had to announce the 2-deep for each position. Even though they can still make a few chances before the first game they needed to get something down on paper. A few interesting notes:

The first string running back was Demetrius Mccray followed by Darius Willis as the back-up.

Deonte Mack was not listed as a starter at DT but instead will move around the line and play both DT and DE at times.

Adam Follet was listed as the #2 QB but Ed Wright-Baker has really made a push through the depth chart and could move up to Chappell's backup. This just brings into question whether or not you waste a redshirt year for a kid who probably won't play a whole lot.

Coach Lynch said that this year's freshman class has a few people who can see the field. He said that without question Adam Replogle will see the field extremely early at DT. This kid was highly rated out of high school having offers from Boston College, Illinois, Iowa, NC State, Northwestern, Pitt, and West Virginia. The future is very bright at DT with him and our three redshirt freshman (Black, Mentzer, Sliger)

I hope you guys can all come out and support the hoosiers this year. The stadium looks incredible and the game day atmosphere is going to be 10x better. It will truely be a great experience. The administration has made a ton of changes for the game day experience but I'm wondering what you guys think would really help boost attendance up?

Freshman Opportunities

Now that fall camp is coming to a close many people wonder what freshman will be making an instant impact. I believe that there could be a 4-5 players who get to see playing time.

1. Adam Replogle- with many DT getting minor injuries in the fall Replogle has spent a good amount of time with the first unit as of late. He is a high motor guy and should have a bright future for the next 4 years at IU. There is some good depth with Mack, Smith, Mentzer, Black, and Sliger there. Each day it seems to be different with who is playing with the first unit so be prepared to see all of them getting play time in the fall.

2. Lawrence Barnett- With the move of Chris Adkins to the safety position watch out of Lawrence Barnett as he could crack the 2-deep when it becomes announced. Right now Ray Fisher seems to be a lock at one of the corner spots and either Donnell Jones or Richard Council will likely take the other spot. This leaves Barnett competing with Adrian Burks and a few other players as the backup for the other corner spot. Lynch said early on that Barnett could be one of the incoming freshman who is already physical enough to see the field early.

3. Duwyce Wilson- Duwyce has made some big plays during fall camp. The receiver position has a lot of depth but Wilson still might see some playing time during the year. As of right now it seems like the top 4 receivers will be Turner, Belcher, Doss and Evans but there is plenty of competition after that. Duwyce is a bigger receiver that could see the field because we tend to play more 3-4 wide receivers sets. This year in the pistol there will be more 2-3 receiver sets but watch out for #81 at WR this year.

4. Mitch Ewald- If he didn't suffer an oblique injury this fall I would have though he would have already been penciled in as the starting kicker. He was rated the #3 overall kicker coming out of high school but until he gets healthy expect to see Nick Freeland being responsible for the kicking duties.

5. Damon Sims- He likely will make an impact on special teams pretty early on but if a few linebackers get hurt he might need to step in right away. Luckily he came into camp around 220

lbs already and has probably put on a few since then.

6. Ed Wright-Baker- Chappell is clearly going to be the starting qb this fall but Ed has quickly moved up the depth chart and might be the #2 heading into the first game. This presents a unique situation in terms of red-shirting. Some people argue that the best player should play reagardless of age and some say that if he is only going to play a very limited role then we should save a redshirt.

Improving the Visibility of the Program

This off-season the new AD Fred Glass has made it a point of emphasis to get out in the public eye and promote the program. It started in the spring when Coach Lynch visited numerous fraternities and sororities to talk about ways they can get involved in IU football. The team regularly hosts the boys and girls club at Memorial Stadium and they took a visit to Riley's Hospital in Indianapolis. This summer Fred Glass, Coach Lynch and other IU coaches traveled around the state of Indiana to talk about their upcoming season's. Just yesterday the IU football player's themselves were out and about helping incoming freshman move into the dorms and will continue to help for the next couple of days. I felt like this was a great way to improve the visibility of the program on campus. All in all Coach Lynch and his staff have made approximately 75 public appearances this off-season that hopefully will pay dividends with attendance numbers this fall. Hopefully the staff has done a good job improving the connection from various parts of the state to the football program.

Starting this fall will be "The Bill Lynch show" It will feature behind the scenes look at Indiana football and contain interviews with players and coaches. I think this is a fantastic idea and I can't wait to watch.

Indiana to play Penn State at FedEx Field in 2010

Hot off the press it has been announced that IU will play Penn State at FedEx field next year in 2010. This was originally scheduled to be a home game at Memorial Stadium so Indiana will be reshuffling their schedule to make sure they still have 6 home games. Indiana will receive $3,000,000 for the game and will be responsible for selling 7,000 seats. This game will be most likely televised on ABC, Big Ten Network, or ESPN will which help bring more national exposure to the program. This opportunity will also help reach out recruiting on the east coast and allow alumni from the area go to a game. This game will give more exposure and visibility to the program which also helps improve recruiting. I remember watching an interview with Minnesota's head coach Tim Brewster, and he said that one of the first questions recruits ask him every year is who is on the schedule? Minnesota has scheduled a game against USC in 2010 which he said has excited many players and recruits. Hopefully playing a game at a state of the art facility in FedEx Field will benefit the hoosier program. I like the idea especially because they will re-shuffle the non-conference schedule to ensure we still have 6 home games. The only other idea I would've had would've been playing the game at Lucas Oil Stadium. It still allows you to play on a big-time stage and will allow more hoosier fans to make the trip. It would also ensured that it still felt like a home game with the amount of hoosier fans showing up. Regardless, I still think it is a step in the right direction to improve the schedule.
It was predicted that IU makes less than $1,000,000 per home game so from a financial stand point this game makes a lot of sense. We will take in about 3x as much money as we normally would for a home game. To read the article click here http://iuhoosiers.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/spec-rel/082609aaa.html