Indiana Hoosiers depth chart: special teams.
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Aug 26, 2011 9:08 AM EDT
in Indiana Hoosiers Football
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Indiana's 2011 special teams lineup has substantial experience at placekicker but the Hoosiers have many question marks elsewhere.
PLACEKICKER
First, the good news. IU has two experienced kickers, but after battling his own injuries in 2009, Mitch Ewald took advantage of injuries to Nick Freeland and had a fine redshirt freshman season. Ewald made 16-19 field goals, including 3-5 from beyond 40 yards with a long of 49. Backing him up, of course, is Freeland. As the starter in 2009, Freeland was 14-25, and was 2-2 last year before he was sidelined with a hip injury. IU is fortunate to have an experienced backup, but Freeland's career long is 38 yards, and he is 0-5 in his career from 40 yards and beyond. Ewald's better performance from longer distance (although Ewald hasn't yet made a 50-yarder) makes a difference, but this is a position where IU has some depth, although hopefully won't have to use it.
PUNTER
After a decent career, punter Chris Hagerup, who graduated, decided to head out into the real world instead of using his final year of eligibility. (Do you know what I would give for another year of college, particularly on scholarship? But I digress). Adam Pines shared the punting job last year with Hagerup during games games 9, 10, and 11 (Iowa, Wisconsin, and Penn State) and then was the only punter used against Purdue. His average, on 12 punts, was slightly better than Hagerup's (40.2 compared to 39.4) and he put 3 of his 12 kicks inside the 20. This position isn't necessarily a strength, but we do return some experience.
LONG SNAPPER
Two newcomers, freshman Matt Dooley and junior college transfer Zackary Young, will battle for the long-snapper role. Dooley signed shortly after last year's spring game. Last year's loing snapper, Jeff Sanders, is gone to graduation and last year's backup, Josh Keyt, is no longer with the team.
RETURNS
This is a fairly astounding statistic: IU received only 9 returnable punts last season. Tandon Doss, who is now in the NFL, fielded 7 of them. The only other true return man to touch a punt last year was Nick Turner, who fielded one and lost a yard.
While Doss was the primary kickoff returner as well, IU returns a bit more experience there. Nick Turner fielded 12 kickoffs and had an average of 21.1 yards with a long of 38. Duwyce Wilson fielded 8 for a 22.5 average and a long of 46. Turner and Wilson are the only returning players who were listed on the KR or PR depth chart for last year's finale, so this position may be a bit of a mystery until the depth chart for the Ball State game is released early next week.
As I said above, the placekicking position has quality and depth, but it's not clear what IU will be getting from the other positions. Special teams is an area where teams with less than top shelf talent can find a way to gain an advantage.
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Only 9 returnable punts in 12 games?
In case anyone forgot how bad the defense was last year, that statistic should remind them.
I guess I should say 9 “returned” punts. I’m sure that some were fair catches that could have been returned but weren’t. Our opponents had 22 punt returns against us, so obviously there was a pretty big difference, but that’s still fewer than 2 punt returns a game, which surprises me, I guess.
The Crimson Quarry, SB Nation's Indiana Hoosiers blog
by John M (The Crimson Quarry) on Aug 26, 2011 11:18 AM EDT up reply actions
There is something to be said
For playing football a man’s way. Forget about fancy schemes, trickery and shenanigans. Pick a defensive alignment, look the opponent in the eye like a man, and get after it. “Here’s what we are going to do, now try to stop us.”
Problem last year was the selected defensive alignment was apparently a prevent defense every down. So, what we’ve learned is IU can only play football a man’s way if Danny Hope is coaching the other team.
by hoosierdaddynow on Aug 26, 2011 1:15 PM EDT up reply actions
One drawback to playing football a “man’s” way (as you put it) is that if IU does stack the line they’re going to be giving up a huge size/weight advantage against almost every team they play in the Big Ten. I’m not saying the scheme IU has used in recent years works either, it seems like the last few years the team didn’t even start playing defense until the other team’s offense crossed the 50, but at the same time the team has to work with what they have. I think a 3-3-5 scheme would work good for IU, especially with so many teams in the Big Ten married to the spread offense.
by Aaron Go Bragh on Aug 26, 2011 2:00 PM EDT up reply actions
You're right
And actually, I was kidding. Forgot the sarcasm font. I actually believe that in IU’s case, because of the size (and talent) disparity, they have two options:
1. Do some gimmicky things. Not necessarily pee wee football stuff, but blitz a lot, or run stunts on the defensive line. Something to mix it up. If we go head-to-head with most Big Ten teams, we’ll come out on the short end. Or,
2. Play against Danny Hope every weekend. Which is another way of saying: use the schematic advantage.
by hoosierdaddynow on Aug 26, 2011 2:57 PM EDT up reply actions
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