This pesky thing called work has really slowed down these player profiles that really should be finished up on the eve of opening day but it doesn’t look to be that way. However, in the interest of time I am going to combine 3 posts into one here. This isn’t intended as a slight against the three walk-ons in the following preview, it just has to do with the fact that I’m under a time constraint to finish these up very soon and none of the following look to factor into game day results that often. So I apologize to Wayer, Smith and Howard. Blame capitalism for my rush.
Raphael Smith – Red Shirt Freshman
Riley High School – South Bend, Indiana
6’3" – 175 lbs.
Smith was a spring walk-on this past academic year to help provide an extra body in practices. As a senior at Riley High School he was a first team All-Conference selection and averaged 13.5 points, 5 rebounds and 3 assists a game. The sports communication major looks to be adding to the guard depth mostly in practice this season. He reportedly has good length for a guard and can provide some imposing defense for the game day guards to try and attack.
Taylor Wayer – Sophomore
Bishop Chatard – Indianapolis, Indiana
5’11" – 172 lbs.
Wayer hails from Indy as a walk-on that came aboard last October. As a senior he averaged 18 points and 3 assists a game and was named to the All-City team to go with his preseason All-State selection. Last season he saw action in nine games but only averaged a minute per game. He mostly was a mop up time player and practice body. His ability as a slasher will be used in practice to help improve the lateral and perimeter defense of the guards; something that has greatly been lacking from this Indiana Hoosiers team.
Jeff Howard – Sophomore
Westfield High School – Westfield, Indiana
6’8" – 238 lbs.
Averaging 17 points, 13 rebounds and 3 assists a game as a senior, Howard showed some promise out of high school. He led his team to an upset over heavy favorite Carmel High School in his senior Sectionals and finished high school with a 4.2 GPA. As a preferred walk-on last year Howard saw some time in games. Mostly due the lack of depth in the front court he was able to see 10 games on the floor. He finished the year with 2.3 minutes a game in those 10 appearances and 7 total rebounds. He’ll be a large practice body for the starting front court players and his mind will be the most valuable asset, as you have to imagine he can pick up and dummy an opposing team’s habits as a big man.