Philip Dunnam is Taking Big Strides During Sophomore Year

Written by: Zachary Greene

The leader in the conference in interceptions is no other than sophomore Phillip Dunnam. On the season, Dunnam has hauled in three interceptions which sets him at the top of the conference. Head Coach Tom Allen talked about Dunnam being overlooked and the special player that he can be on Monday.

“He leads the Big Ten in interceptions and is doing a great job. He's, obviously, a young player. I definitely believed he was a talented player coming out of high school. Felt like we got kind of a little bit of a diamond in the rough kind of kid that wasn't maybe recruited at the level that I thought he should have been.” Allen explained. “And that was to our benefit because some people overlooked him. But he was a really talented receiver. That's kind of the common denominator between he and Louis Moore, both of those guys were receivers also in high school. And the ball skills that you have to be a receiver and understand the tracking of the football and playing the football and being able to make just, you know, good hands catches. You know, and he has good hands, but he also has great instincts, you know.”

Out of North Miami Beach, Florida, Dunnam tallied 42 catches for 710 yards and found the end zone 10 times his junior year of high school as a receiver. He was a four-star prospect according to 247 Profile and recruited by former Hoosiers coach Jason Jones.

Being overlooked is a common theme that many players in the program have but that does not mean much to them and Dunnam when your’re sitting atop the conference for interceptions.

On Monday, Tom Allen eluded to seeing something special in the young man. Without question he knew that he could be special.

“Thought he had a chance to be really talented without question. He was light coming out of high school. Knew we needed to get some weight on him. That was a knock on him being a little thin. But, at the same time, we knew once we get him here and a part of the whole training cycle and all the meals you're going to get and all the food you're going to get and all the nutritional supplements you get to be able to help you develop your weight.” Allen said. “So he needed to develop. And played him last year. Had big expectations for him. Thought he was going to be a really good player. And he's on schedule to me. He's got a lot of work to do. Still got to work a lot of things to get better. But he's making game-changing plays for us. When you get take-aways, it's how you win games. It's the reason we won the game on Saturday night.”

Last season, Dunnam appeared in all 12 games for the Hoosiers. He made a pair of tackles against Penn State and Ohio State but the production we are seeing from him this year sets himself apart from the other young defensive players. Standing at 6’1”, Dunnam has displayed tremendous growth and knowledge of the game. His devevlopement and versatility this season are bright spots for the Hoosiers defenese who are looking for young leaders in the secondary. 

With the Hoosiers early struggles this season it is easy to overlook Dunnam’s performance and production. But as Tom Allen alluded to Monday they wouldn’t have won the game against Akron if it wasn’t for the takeaways and big playmaking ability from Dunnam. As the Hoosiers head to College Park, it will be key for the Hooisers to force the Terps and quarterback Taulia Tagovailoa to throw the ball to create those key takeaways like we’ve seen from Dunnam.