2021 Countdown to Kickoff: 70 Days (Luke Haggard)

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The 2021 Countdown to Kickoff is 30% over! That is wonderful and we are chugging along but there are still 70 days to go until the Indiana Hoosiers head to Iowa City and battle the Iowa Hawkeyes. Today’s countdown profile is a potentially crucial member of the roster, a second-year Hoosier and a mountain of a man, Luke Haggard.

Name: Luke Haggard

Hometown: Petaluma, California (Santa Rosa Junior College)

Position: Offensive Tackle

Year: Redshirt Junior

Height/Weight: 6’7”/291 pounds

One of the keys to any successful football team is a strong and cohesive offensive line. That unit needs to be good at both pass blocking and run blocking in order to have a high-powered offense. You can have all of the fast and talented skill-players you want but if you cannot block, you can’t have a great offense. One of the pieces IU could be relying on to have a rock-solid offensive line is Luke Haggard. At 6’7”, Haggard is a large offensive tackle with a frame perfectly built for protecting the outside. He hails from Petaluma, California and was a team captain in high school. After high school, he opted for two seasons of junior college football and he starred as a captain at Santa Rosa Junior College and chose Indiana as his next destination. While 6’7”, he was a bit lean and it was anticipated that he could redshirt and develop as depth along IU’s line. However, Matthew Bedford was injured and Caleb Jones struggled at times so Haggard earned his way into the lineup. He ended up appearing in six games at left tackle and started four contests.

Haggard has used the experience he gained in 2020 and is building towards a bigger role in 2021. “I think that Luke Haggard has really grown and developed. He has gained quite a bit of good weight and looks really good physically,” Tom Allen said after a spring practice in March.

That “good weight” that Tom Allen mentioned has increased Haggard from the 260 he played at in 2020 to the 291 he was at during the spring.

“He’s put on the weight,” teammate Caleb Jones said of Haggard. “He’s attacked the field and tried to make himself into a very good player.”

Caleb Jones, who has worked to get himself into great shape after a rough 2020, and Luke Haggard are both massive individuals and a fit Jones is a scary proposition for any opponent. Neither of them can play guard so it seems very possible that Matthew Bedford, who is not quite as long as Haggard, slides inside to be a very big guard while Haggard starts opposite Jones at tackle. Indiana could have an NFL-sized starting offensive line, the question to be answered is whether or not they can perform at a high-level and help the offense meet the expectations the Hoosiers have in 2021.

The countdown continues with a new profile each and every day so come back to hoosierhuddle.com daily!