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