Countdown to 2019 IUFB Kickoff: 56 Days (Mike Katic)

Written by Amanda Pavelka

COUNTDOWN TO KICKOFF: #56 MIKE KATIC

Height: 6’4”
Weight:  312 pounds

Hometown: Gibsonia, Pennsylvania (Pine-Richland)

Year: Freshman
Position: OL

Exactly eight weeks remain until the long-awaited 2019 Indiana football season. The Hoosiers will make their season debut at Lucas Oil Stadium where they will take on the Ball State Cardinals on August 31st in a noon game.

Head Coach Tom Allen and staff have put a lot of time and hard work into the 2019 recruiting class, with special focus on rebuilding the offensive line. Mike Katic, out of Gibsonia, Pennsylvania, has proven himself to be one of the best gets of the the incoming class. The 6’4” freshman has already made some noise since his arrival to Bloomington for the spring semester.

“Mike’s a big strong guy that’s still trying to figure it out as well,” Tom Allen said in a Spring press conference, “But those two guys (Katic and Matthew Bedford), when you throw them into the line of scrimmage when you’re still in the spring of your senior year of high school, that’s a big jump for sure. Those guys have caught my eye. I appreciate the way they’ve worked every single day.” Having Katic in Bloomington a semester early has made all the difference in his development, and he’s already seeing big results working out with Indiana’s strength and conditioning coaches David Ballou and Dr. Matt Rhea.

“When I came in here for the first lift, I knew right away with the intensity of everything and how (strength) coach (David) Ballou and Dr. (Matt) Rhea and his staff worked us, I could see my future here and how I would develop as a player,” Katic said in a February interview. Since then, he’s packed on 22 pounds and has been working on versality.

“We had him at center,” Coach Allen explained in the pre-Spring game press conference, “but it’s kind of hard to snap and learn a new system, so we are going to get him seasoned at guard at first and then he has the chance to be a guy in our center rotation as well.”

Katic one of those guys that only time will tell if he will be seen in the OL mix his freshman year. So far, only good can be said about his job-well-done in spring and the potential he has.

HUTCH’S TRIVIA QUESTION

In honor of the late Terry Hutchens, we are including a daily IUFB trivia question from his book So You Think You Know Indiana University Football. Hutch is dearly missed and this is our way of keeping his memory with us this season. Please leave your answers in the comments section.

In the 2015 Pinstripe Bowl, this IU receiver caught six passes for 121 yards.

Yesterday’s Answer: Birmingham, AL

 (check back tomorrow for the answer)

The Hoosier Huddle Countdown continues each day so check back daily!

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