Countdown to IUFB Kickoff: 54 Days (Ja'Merez Bowen and Coy Cronk)

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

#54

The Hoosier Huddle Countdown to Kick-off is roaring towards the halfway point! The season opener against the Ohio State Buckeyes is now less than two months away! Today’s article focuses on a pair of linemen, one on each side of the ball. First up is defensive lineman Ja’Merez Bowen followed by returning starting left tackle Coy Cronk.

Ja’merez Bowen

-Height: 6’4”

-Weight: 310 pounds

-Hometown: Cleveland, Ohio (Shaker Heights High School)

-Position: Defensive Line

Ja’Merez Bowen has taken an interesting road to get to this point. He excelled at Shaker Heights High School in Cleveland, Ohio by playing on both the offensive and defensive lines. He was considered more of an offensive line prospect when he exited high school and headed to the University of Cincinnati. He redshirted the 2014 season and decided Cincinnati was not for him. The Hoosiers took him in as a transfer and he sat out the 2015 season due to NCAA transfer rules. Bowen was two years removed from high school and still hadn’t seen the field. His new team was short on defensive linemen and loaded on the offensive side of the ball so it made sense for the Hoosiers to move Bowen to defensive tackle. After two long years of waiting, he was finally able to compete in a game, appearing in six of them during the 2016 season and garnering a pair of tackles.

Bowen is now in his second full year of training as a defensive tackle in Mark Hagen’s four-man front and there is a vacant spot in the starting lineup thanks to the departure of Ralph Green. It seems highly-likely Nate Hoff will again man one of the tackle spots and there are a number of candidates that will battle for snaps in a rotation that is likely to be four or five tackles deep. Freshmen Jerome Johnson and Juan Harris are considered the two front-runners for playing time. The brutishly strong Bowen will battle with those two plus the versatile Jacob Robinson along with Derrian Meminger and Mike Barwick for a spot on the field. You can never have enough quality defensive linemen and the Hoosiers will need Bowen to give them some good snaps this season. How high up he is in the rotation will be determined throughout the offseason and in fall camp.

Coy Cronk

Height: 6’5”

Weight: 295 pounds

Hometown: Lafayette, IN (Lafayette Central Catholic)

Position: Left Tackle

The second person featured on today’s countdown is an offensive lineman that starred as a true freshman and has an extremely bright future at left tackle: Coy Cronk. Cronk was a linebacker and offensive lineman at powerhouse Lafayette Central Catholic High School. He won a state title as a freshman and then was an all-state selection as a sophomore, junior and senior. His LCC squad went 15-0 in 2015 and won a state title and he was the school’s first-ever two-time captain. Cronk was rated the number six recruit in the state of Indiana in the 2015 recruiting class and we knew he was a terrific get for IU. We did not know just how much of an impact he would have immediately.

Despite Brandon Knight having success as a freshman starting left tackle, the IU coaches were thoroughly impressed by Cronk’s immediate ability so they shifted Knight to right tackle and named Cronk the new starting left tackle. He started all 13 games as a true freshman in 2016, a school record for games started as a true freshman. IU’s offense wasn’t as electric as it usually is but it was still one of the better units in the conference and Cronk was not responsible for any of its faults. He was named a Freshman All-American by 247Sports, ESPN.com and BTN.com. Cronk is big, intelligent, driven and physical. He plays with the kind of nasty streak you love to have in your offensive linemen and he has the left tackle position locked down for at least the 2017 and 2018 seasons. IU has had some very good offensive linemen recently (Jason Spriggs and Dan Feeney immediately come to mind). Coy Cronk has the ability to join that duo in the NFL and perhaps even surpass them on a list of “Great IU Offensive Linemen”.

Please share any comments or thoughts in the comments section or in our message board. The countdown continues each and every day so make sure to check Hoosier Huddle daily as we roll towards the 2017 season!