Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson is likely well-aware that year five of his tenure is a crucial one from the standpoint of results on the field. Having yet to lead the Hoosiers to a bowl in his first four seasons in charge, 2015 can adequately be described as a make or break season.
During Thursday’s session at Big Ten Media Days, Wilson addressed a variety of issues heading into the season. Among the more prominent were the fallout from Antonio Allen’s arrest and subsequent dismissal, how UAB transfers Marqui Hawkins and Jordan Howard are fitting into the team, and the impending inexperience in the secondary following graduation and of course the issue with Allen.
Kevin Wilson Likes Hoosiers Depth, Experience on Line of Scrimmage
Perhaps the most intriguing was his belief that the strength of this team may lie at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the football.
“I like our line of scrimmage,” Wilson said. “I think we have depth. We have experience. I think we have very, very good young players.”
He has reason to be optimistic on the offensive side. The Hoosiers return a trio of highly experienced lineman that paved the way for IU’s potent rushing attack led by the now departed Tevin Coleman in 2014. The most highly touted of the three has to be right guard Dan Feeney. The redshirt junior has started all 24 games he’s played in as a Hoosier and has allowed only a single sack. Though he missed the 2013 season and was given a medical redshirt, he was named to the ESPN Big Ten All-Freshman team in 2012.
Another player to watch is left tackle Jason Spriggs. The towering 6’7″ 305 pound senior has started 34 of the 35 games he’s played in Bloomington. Him and Feeney will form the nucleus of a battle-hardened offensive front that will need to help inspire confidence in a rushing attack that loses a lot of production with Coleman now in the NFL. Factor in D’Angelo Roberts’ graduation and the Hoosiers are losing nearly 80 percent of their total rushing yards from 2014.
From the standpoint of a young guy looking to make an instant impact, look no further than Tim Gardner. The Indianapolis native was a four-star recruit out of high school, was part of a hugely impressive 2014 recruiting class and redshirted last year. He has great size at 6’5″, 310 pounds and should get plenty of reps this season.
Wilson was forthright about the importance of having a solid front despite the style of the IU offense.
“Even though we’re a spread, no-huddle attack, if you can’t block, you can’t do it,” he noted. “And if you can’t play up front in the Big Ten, you can’t play winning Big Ten football.”
The second half of that comment might apply more so to the defense, which has traditionally struggled under Wilson. The program made a few coaching changes on defense ahead of last season, including the hiring of Brian Knorr at defensive coordinator. Though you wouldn’t think so if you just looked at the raw numbers, the Hoosiers did show an across the board improvement on a year-over-year basis from 2013.
The following chart should give a pretty good indication of that, but it should also show just how unimaginably bad the defense was a year earlier.
Knorr is switching to a 3-4 scheme this season. In many ways, it makes up for graduation losses in the interior of the defense, namely Bobby Richardson who capped a great career at IU by leading the team in sacks (5.5) and tackles for loss (9.5) in 2014. Redshirt sophomore Nate Hoff looks like his successor at tackle, having himself come up with 3.5 sacks which was good enough for second best on the team.
The defensive end tandem of Darius Latham and Nick Mangieri will look to give an added threat as edge rushers. Getting more pressure on the quarterback has to be another point of emphasis considering the Hoosiers finished 84th nationally in sacks per game (1.92). The two should be looking to equal their combined career total of 8.5 sacks if this unit is to make strides, particularly in making it more difficult for opposing quarterbacks on passing situations.
Wilson was quick to point out that having a defensive front that can consistently get at the quarterback can take a great deal of pressure off the secondary. He also emphasized that the lack of turnover within the coaching staff on that side of the ball should be beneficial. The big issue heading into preseason camp and the season as a whole is being able to put together a good performance over the course of an entire game.
“When you’re good up front, you’re good at back,” Wilson said. “We’ve got all our coaches back, we have some skill issues we need to work through. But I’m very pleased with where our defense is and seeing if we can step up and start playing more consistent.”
Defensive consistency could be a key component as to whether this team ends a bowl drought that stretches to the 2007 season or is staying home once again. And that in turn could play a part in Wilson’s job security come the end of the regular season.
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