With National Signing Day 2015 having come and gone, fans and pundits alike are in the process of analyzing where their teams stand in the college football recruiting hierarchy. For Indiana, the key has been to continue building a competitive program that can become a regular bowl representative for the Big Ten.
Wednesday’s list of signees, head coach Kevin Wilson’s fifth class in his tenure with the Hoosiers, is a move in this direction. All in all, 22 high school prospects sent in national letters of intent. IU was also able to bring in two transfers from UAB, wide receiver Marqui Hawkins and running back Jordan Howard. They will immediately be eligible and should be able to contribute right off the bat.
Over the past three years, including 2015, Wilson has demonstrated his ability to recruit talent to Bloomington, The Hoosiers were ranked 38th nationally by Rivals.com in both 2013 and 2014. Though rankings have a tendency to move even a few weeks after Signing Day, this year’s incoming class is currently listed at 48th in the nation and seventh in the Big Ten. Not bad for a school that has been to one bowl game over the past two decades.
Wilson is well aware of the fact that the pressure’s on to translate this success on the recruiting trail for Indiana into postseason appearances. “…again, it’s on paper a good class. This paper needs to transition into Ws,” Wilson remarked during his press conference Wednesday afternoon. With a highly favorable non-conference schedule out of the gate this coming season, it will be even more important for IU to finish bowl-eligible in 2015. Undoubtedly there will be a handful of guys from this lineup of incoming freshmen playing a part.
There’s a healthy mix of offense, defense, linemen and skill position players that will be making their way to Bloomington. Of particular emphasis was the need to recruit athleticism especially in the trenches. Offensive lineman Brandon Knight and defensive end Joe Belden, both in-state three-star prospects, are perfect examples.
Wilson expressed a great deal of excitement over Knight’s decision to come to IU. “Brandon is an extremely athletic tackle. Very — he was our top guy we went after that we thought we could get. Very fortunate to get him in state,” he said.
The Hoosier head man also believes Belden has the potential to have instant impact, possibly on either side of the ball. “Joe will probably start, he could play starting inside as an athletic kind of nose guy. We’ll see how his body transitions into nose, or even consider him as an offensive center.”
Hunter Littlejohn (Olentangy Liberty High School; Powell, OH), Simon Stepaniak (Ross High School; Hamilton, OH), and DeVondre Love (Affton High School; St. Louis, MO) round out the offensive line. Joining Belden on the defensive front are Jacob Robinson (Westfield High School; Westfield, IN) and Brandon Wilson (West Orange High School; Winter Garden, FL). Wilson was initially committed to Virginia before deciding to go with Indiana.
Wilson mentioned that 13 players in this class have some sort of skill position experience. Austin King is the lone quarterback amongst the group although a handful of others played the position at some point. King was among many players from the state of Georgia targeted by the IU staff. His commitment softened the sting of Tommy Stevens de-commitment to Penn State merely a few days after the Hoosiers lost 13-7 to none other than…Penn State.
All 21 pre-Signing Day commitments for the Hoosiers made it official Wednesday morning. However, the program got an added present when as yet uncommitted three-star wide receiver Camion Patrick gave IU his letter of intent. Patrick is a junior college transfer who played the last two seasons at East Mississippi Community College. The 6’2″, 210 pound native of Scooba, MS had 631 yards and 12 touchdowns and helped his team win the Junior College National Championship in 2014.
In addition to Patrick, IU received two other February commitments, both of whom have Maryland connections. Safety Jameel Cook was initially committed to the Terps but switched to Indiana on Sunday. A day later Devonte Williams, a three-star running back from Potomac, MD, gave his pledge to the Hoosier program after taking an official visit over the weekend.
As Wilson discussed on Wednesday, Williams was interested in IU early on. “He is a very, very dynamic player. Came to us early, actually wanted to commit last spring. I didn’t know if I wanted a running back. We continued to recruit him.” With Tevin Coleman departing for the NFL, the addition of Williams and Howard in addition to having established players such as D’Angelo Roberts and Devine Redding should benefit the running back corps moving forward.
College recruiting is the culmination of a process. Sometimes you realize the fruits of that process early on when a player gives his commitment before his senior year of high school (or earlier). Other times you have to wait until Signing Day itself. Then you have commits who flip to other schools and still others who flip in your favor. Much like many other schools, Indiana has experienced all these situations as their 2015 recruiting class has gradually come together.
Before you know it, the focus will be on spring football. For those of us enduring a snowier than normal winter in the Midwest and Northeast, it can’t come soon enough.
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