CJ West and the Hoosiers Go Under Serious Preparations

Written By: Nick Gonzales (@nrgonzales_)

The Hoosiers have been shocking on both sides of the ball this season. Their offensive is explosive and seems as if no one can stop them, and their defense is domineering, especially as of late with 9 turnovers, 12 sacks, and 28 tackles for loss in their last three games. They rank fourth in the FBS in sacks (31) and fifth in tackles for loss (69). Plus, against Michigan State, the Hoosiers combined for 31 quarterback pressures, a blocked punt that resulted in a safety, and a punt deflection. Where can all their success be credited to? Well in Tuesday’s player media availability, defensive lineman, CJ West, attributes it to their intense preparation for games.

“I think that kind of goes with our preparation. Every day, we work as hard as possible, as hard as we can, like it’s a game. Sometimes the practices are harder than the game for us. So, I think that kind of shows how serious our preparation is, and what we do during the week to be able to perform on Saturday,” West responds when asked how they’re able to be so productive on the defensive line.

The Indiana coaching staff works really hard to best prepare the team for success when Saturday comes. They have been doing a phenomenal job so far at taking care of business and instilling the competitive and winning mindset into the Hoosiers. The defense has been taking out the trash as of late and West believes it’s because the coaches’ drive.

“They come with energy every single day. They come with it like it’s a game. So, if you have that game mentality when you’re going to practice, then you’d be good when it comes to the game time,” West states how beneficial it is working with Coach Haines and Coach Kuntz.

Coach Haines’ defense has been a juggernaut that has been nearly impossible to overcome. Before Saturday’s game against the Spartans, the Hoosiers never trailed and never allowed a point in the first quarter. So many wondered how Indiana would fare when faced with adversity. When they went down by ten against MSU, some fans were worried. However, they got their minds right, got back in the game and performed exceptionally in the final three quarters without letting MSU score another point.

“Honestly, we didn’t have any big reaction. We know things happen. It’s football. So, we just got our guys together, talked on the sideline like we do this all the time. We practice and prepare for it. Mistakes happen. So, let’s go out there and do what we do. We know our training, and that’s how we brought it back together,” West credits for how they got it together against the Spartans last Saturday.

The defense dominated for the remainder of the game allowing negative 36 rushing yards! The defense line swarmed the ball and created opportunities for the offense to put some numbers on the board. West said earlier in Tuesday’s interview that sometimes the practices are harder than the game, so how intense are they?

“It’s very very competitive, because we know that if we go as hard as we can for them, then we’ll make their looks so much harder. So, when it comes time for the game, then it makes it kind of easy for them. So, we prepare really hard, we compete really hard, everybody’s competing. So that’s just kind of how we go about things every day.” West replies when asked about the competitiveness of practices.

The Hoosiers take practice very seriously and with their talent, it fuels everyone to keep improving and play even harder which leads to their dominant performance. Week after week after week, it’s safe to say that the Hoosiers will overbear and wear out their opponents. With Michigan approaching, the Hoosiers are practicing the same way as they’ve been. This Saturday, they hope to give the sold-out crowd at Memorial Stadium an outstanding spectacle and shred the Wolverines in the process.