Hoosiers Core Values From the Sixth Year Seniors to the Freshman Lead the Way

Written by: @zachegreene

The Hoosiers’ season has not gone as expected, but they have and will continue to keep their core values as a team. These include resiliency, being able to respond to adversity and fight. Something the sixth year seniors Bryant Fitzgerald and Cam Jones are installing in the young players.

“These young men have a resilience to them. They fight and they have grit. They have toughness and that hasn’t changed,” said Defensive Coordinator Chad Wilt on Monday. “It’s in their DNA”

Plays, calls, and fumbles have not gone their way, but they have not let it define them. While the Hoosiers were down 17 at the half last Saturday, they fought all the way back. They would not have been able to do it without these core values of a program.

These core values are something that Bryant Fitzgerald and other sixth years seniors hold and will teach the young players who will lead the program in the coming seasons.

“It’s certainly a process. There were some mistakes. We’ve actually practiced Fitz after Cam Jones got hurt. He’s done this a little bit and it was for emergency situations. He had gotten some practice reps. He understood it. I’ve talked to NFL scouts about it and I’ve told them to give him a chance. He’s really smart, competitive, and he will do everything right that you ask him.” Wilt said on Bryant Fitzgerald's willingness to move to the Linebacker position during last Saturday’s win.

“Mentally I think that he could play any position on our defense,” said Wilt.

Fitzgerald who often goes by “Fitz” is a sixth year senior who will be laying in all out on the line in the 124th Old Oaken Bucket game. This Saturday you can bet he’ll be ready.

“I don’t think it’s become a focus it's been oncoming. We challenged them to elevate their preparation so they could elevate their performance.” Said Wilt on making sure the players ultra-prepare for Saturday’s match-up.

I thought it was very interesting to note that Wilt said the Hoosiers made no adjustments schematically during half-time of the Hoosier's upset win.

“When we went into halftime, we didn’t make any schematic adjustments.”

Whatever Tom Allen said to the Hoosiers worked but let’s not take away from the individual players and their core values of resiliency, fight, and toughness.

This week I expected a dog fight from the Hoosiers and Boilermakers. It could come down to the last play and one game-changing fumble that hopefully will finally bounce the Hoosier's way. Expect the die heart fans of both programs to be there supporting their respective programs.