Two weeks into the season, a few stars are emerging for Indiana.
Of course whether he’s good or bad, the quarterback will be analyzed, but veteran wideout D.J. Matthews is posting strong numbers early on despite being less than a year removed from major knee surgery.
On the defensive side, veteran Cam Jones and freshman Dasan McCullough are early standouts.
Here’s a summary of the outliers against Idaho and on the season as a whole.
WEEK TWO NOTES
D.J. Matthews graded as IU’s top receiver and top overall offensive player for the week. He hauled in all three passes thrown his way for 51 yards and a score. He had a diving catch and a one-handed snare to his credit as he continues to make plays that show he is more than just fast.
Among offensive linemen, Mike Katic graded as the top pass blocker, and Kahlil Benson the top run blocker.
Dasan McCullough graded as IU’s top pass rusher and top overall defensive player. He had two sacks and two hurries on his impressive stat line.
Linebackers Cam Jones and Aaron Casey graded as the top tacklers in week two. Jones added a QB hit and hurry, and Casey had a sack. Josh Sanguinetti and Noah Pierre were among the worst as each missed two tackles.
Cam Jones and Tiawan Mullen graded as the top two run defenders.
Brylan Lanier seems to have emerged as the No. 3 cornerback, and he had the best pass coverage grade on the team against Idaho. Among the starters, Devon Matthews and Noah Pierre were the top two.
FULL SEASON NOTES
As a team overall through two weeks, IU’s run defense is grading out as the best aspect of the team. But while the Hoosiers are No. 34 in that category, they are outside of the national top-50 in all of the other main PFF categories.
Quarterback Connor Bazelak is No. 35 nationally among quarterbacks with at least 66 drop backs so far.
Wideout D.J. Matthews is the No. 15 ranked receiver in the country among receivers with at least 15 targets. Andison Coby, who has no catches on six targets with two drops, is currently the IU receiver with the lowest grade.
When it comes to pass blocking, left tackle Luke Haggard is top-40 nationally among all line positions players with at least 74 snaps on passing plays, and 14th among tackles. He also grades as the team’s best run-blocker among offensive linemen. Although he has a much smaller data set, Kahlil Benson grades out as the best pass-blocker on the team. Parker Hanna, who is filling in for the injured Matt Bedford, currently has the worst pass blocking grade, while center Zach Carpenter currently has the worst run blocking grade.
Cam Jones is grading as the team’s overall best defensive player, best tackler, and best pass rusher. In pass coverage, husky Noah Pierre has the best grade so far. When it comes to the main rotation players, Myles Jackson and Noah Pierre have the worst tackling grades, and Jared Casey has the worst coverage grade and pass rush grades.
Dasan McCullough has generated more quarterback pressure than anyone on the team despite playing on just 70 of the 165 snaps.
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