Jaylin Lucas Could Be Indiana Offense’s Missing Piece

Written by: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

Naturally, with just a few weeks left between us and the 2022 college football season, my anticipation is nearing its capacity and I am itching to watch football. To remedy the eagerness, I fired up the DVR recently and put on some old games.

I immediately noticed something.

Do not get me wrong, I realize there were plenty of issues with Indiana’s offense in the 2021 season. There is a reason Tom Allen was forced to fire a coach for the first time in his tenure, and there is a reason why the Hoosiers offense struggled to produce their meager 10 points a game in Big Ten play.

What the offense seemed to sorely miss the most last season, however, was a guy that could reliably and consistently create enough separation to put pressure on a defense. A 2019 Whop Philyor on the road at Nebraska 14-catch for 178 yards kind of performance never seemed possible with last season’s offense, especially after DJ Matthews went down with a torn ACL.

Matthews is back for another year, but he will not be the only one that fills this void for the Hoosiers this season. Enter true freshman Jaylin Lucas.

Lucas was a last-minute gem of a recruit for Tom Allen and his staff. New Orleans area high school coaches and media members were clamoring for SEC schools to give him a chance, pleading that he was one of the best kept secrets in the region. At just 5-foot-9, schools may have thought he did not have the size to play at their level or may have viewed him as just a gadget player. But after seeing him play, Allen and his staff thought he was the perfect fit.

“He’s a guy that we actually found when we were doing our camps off campus down in the South, and got to see him live, in person, and immediately I was like ‘Wow, this is the kind of guy we’ve been looking for,” said Allen.

At the time, Lucas was committed to Tulane. He stayed committed from July of 2021 all the way to December’s signing day. Ultimately, the relationship Allen had built with him was enough to pull him out of the south.

“It’s a far distance for him to come up here, without question, that was a thing we had to overcome in the process without a doubt,” said Allen. “You get to know him, get to know his family, and you see just high-character and high-quality. He does everything right.”

Since joining the team in January, just weeks after committing to Indiana, Lucas has turned heads. From the head coach down to his positional coach, he has wasted no time proving his worth.

“Just the twitch, the burst, the acceleration to go from zero to full speed as fast as anybody that I’ve been around coaching wise. And then just a guy that has the complete package of someone that has good ball skills, can catch, is a good running back, and speed,” Allen said. “He is our fastest player.”

“He’s incredibly explosive,” added offensive coordinator Walt Bell. “He’s a guy that can go win in a 5x5 box; the first guy isn’t going to get him on the ground. He’s had some really good, explosive plays in these first six days of fall camp.”

“He's got a lot of burst and is quick,” said running back coach Craig Johnson. “Really coming along well. He is good out of the break; he's got good hands and he understands the concepts.”

Now, it is just finding out how quickly Lucas can make an impact. He is still just 17 years old; the Indiana regular season will be one third of the way complete before he turns 18. Certainly, the young tailback still has more to learn, and he is slightly built for the grind of a Big Ten season. Despite this, Coach Allen and his staff expect to be using him as soon as possible.

“We’re going to do what we can, as he learns truly being a running back,” said Walt Bell. “He’s a guy as he learns we can sprinkle around and really take advantage of his skill sets because he’s a great route runner, a great catcher, he can be a true hybrid and do lots of things for us.”

“I don’t see this as a developmental year,” said Allen. “I want to be able to get him involved, allow him to be a variable for us. I see him as a guy that we expect to play as a freshman. Very special athlete, excited about him, and anxious to get him going in our offense.”

The Hoosiers kick off the season on September 2nd in Bloomington against conference foe Illinois.