Marcelino McCrary-Ball worked for five years for moments like the ones Indiana football experienced last season. As a true freshman in 2016, the hybrid linebacker/safety was one of Indiana’s most productive defensive players on a team that went 6-7 with a loss in the Foster Farms Bowl, but was shook at season’s end by the forced resignation of coach Kevin Wilson. He saw the Hoosiers take a step backward the next two seasons, including 2017 when he suffered a season-ending injury, then was part of the breakthrough in 2019 when they won eight games before a narrow loss to Tennessee…
Author: Dustin Dopirak
The only thing disappointing about Indiana’s football season in 2020 was that not many people got to see it live. It took a major push for the Big Ten to even play football in 2020, and once the league decided to play with an extremely late start, it limited attendance to essentially family members only. That meant the crowds that got to see the Hoosiers go 6-2 with home wins over Penn State and Michigan numbered in the low hundreds. But with the Hoosiers returning 19 starters from that team including All-Americans Ty Fryfogle, Tiawan Mullen and Micah McFadden and…
With much of its roster back in 2021 and several key transfers, Indiana goes into preseason practice with most of its positions filled or with relatively obvious front-runners. The Hoosiers have seven starters back on offense, 10 on defense, and two key specialists returning for a total of 19 returning starters. They’re set at quarterback and tight end and return two of three starting wide receivers and three of five starting offensive linemen. They bring back both of their starting linebackers, starters at five of their six secondary positions and most of their defensive line rotation. They have clear choices…
Indiana quarterback Michael Penix Jr. was named to the Walter Camp Award watch list on Friday. The award goes to the nation’s best college football player. Penix threw for 1,645 yards and 14 touchdowns last season, and is returning from a late season ACL tear. The release from Indiana follows: BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana redshirt junior quarterback Michael Penix Jr. is one of 35 “players to watch” for the Walter Camp Football Foundation Player of the Year Award, the WCFF announced on Friday morning. Penix is also on watch lists for the Maxwell and Davey O’Brien Awards, and he was one of 10…
Tom Allen spent most of Big Ten Media Days talking about how proud he is of the players on his roster and the confidence he has going into what could be the first season since 1968 that Indiana will begin as a nationally ranked team. He itemized the Hoosiers strengths from the quarterback position to the long snapper, and was not shy about saying that he believes a Big Ten championship is a possible outcome in 2021. But he was also clear-eyed about where the Hoosiers need to get better to have a chance to get to play and win…
Purdue athletic director Mike Bobinski told Lafayette Journal and Courier reporter Mike Carmin that the Crossroads Classic will not continue beyond this year according to a report by Carmin. The annual event held in mid-December at Bankers Life Fieldhouse includes Indiana, Purdue, Butler and Notre Dame. Indiana and Purdue never play each other at the event because they are conference foes, but they flip opponents each year. Bobinski told Carmin that two teams chose to opt out and strongly implied that those two teams were Indiana and Notre Dame. An Indiana spokesman did not have an immediate response when contacted…
Gi’Bran Payne still has a tweet from Feb. 27 pinned at the top of his Twitter profile that includes a graphic including what at the time were his top five schools — Alabama, Florida, Notre Dame, Northwestern and Penn State. None of those five were the school to which he ended up committing on Monday. The four-star running back from LaSalle High School in Cincinnati chose Indiana not only over those schools but over reported offers from Boston College, Cincinnati, Georgia Tech, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisville, Michigan, Minnesota, Tennessee, and Wisconsin. Indiana moved that fast, from an afterthought to Payne’s obvious…
INDIANAPOLIS — The boldest statement Tom Allen made during his press conference at Big Ten Media Days was easy to miss. It came at the end of a opening statement in which he shouted out Indiana’s new president, thanked IU’s athletic director Scott Dolson and Big Ten commissioner Kevin Warren and praised multiple players in every position group on the team including the long snapper. But just before he took questions, he slipped in a declaration that seemed like an obvious thing for any coach in the Big Ten to believe, but was something Allen deliberately saved until he believed…
Indiana begins one of the most important seasons in the history of its football program on Sept. 4. The Hoosiers are coming off a 6-2 campaign and an Outback Bowl berth in 2020 and are expected to be a preseason Top 25 team. We are profiling each of the 12 teams Indiana will face this season as they try to build on that momentum Opponent: Purdue Date/Time/TV: Nov. 27, time and television TBA. Location: Ross-Ade Stadium, West Lafayette 2020 record/bowl result: 2-4 overall, 2-4 in the Big Ten. No bowl game. Returning Starters, Offense (9): QB Aidan O’Connell / Jack…
INDIANAPOLIS — Michael Penix Jr. will be ready. That’s what he’s willing to say right now. Over and over again Friday at Big Ten Football Media Days, the Indiana quarterback was asked about the state of his right knee almost eight months after he tore his ACL in a win over Maryland on Nov. 30. He answered that question by saying how he expects to feel a little over month from now when the Hoosiers play at Iowa in the season opener but wasn’t nearly as elaborate about how he feels right now. “Right now, I’m where I need to…