Ryder Anderson's Team First Attitude Stands Out During Spring Practice

Ryder Ansderson (10) brings the attitude Tom Allen is looking for Image: Indiana University Athletics

Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)

The Indiana Hoosiers wrapped up their spring practice on April 10th and head coach Tom Allen and his staff awarded grad transfer defensive lineman Ryder Anderson high praise. Anderson comes to IU from Ole Miss, where the lineman was a pain in the rear end for the Hoosiers offense and gave his new team a first-handle glimpse of what they hope he can bring to Bloomington. Anderson was so impressive during spring practice that he shared the Most Outstanding Defensive Player Award with Micah McFadden. However,, it was not only Anderson’s play on the field that earned him the award, it was his team first attitude that impressed Allen the most.

“I've been impressed with is his attitude.” Allen said. “You know the mindset that he brought here. He's like, from the very first practice we had, he would jump in and be on the scout team, I mean like we'd say hey we need some guys step in here and give us a look and we were doing the defense was given looks for themselves, and I mean always jumped in there immediately, and never had to be added, he's just like I just showed us selflessness and maturity.”

Anderson has had a pretty productive career playing for Ole Miss and totally 99 tackles in 37 games including 14 starts. It would have been easy and maybe understandable for the senior to come in and rest on his accomplishments.

“He’s just bought into everything we've asked him to do. He practices super hard.” Allen said. “We haven't haven't given them yet but we're gonna give out awards here at our post spring luncheon, we're going to have next week. For all the players that practice all 15 practices, that's gonna be one group and then all the guys that had the most reps for their position group during our live periods, just to reward those guys for man just being tough, hard nosed gritty guys for all 15 days no breaks and never miss anything. So he, he's gonna be one of those guys. He was out there every practice busting his tail going hard as a guy that's not not a young guy, he is somebody who's older guys they think you get this this NFL veteran motor can think they can get it, you know, kind of not do all the stuff everybody else does and he didn't bring that with him at all.”

Anderson has bought into what Allen is selling and was brought in to help the Hoosiers finish off a season with a victory, something Anderson helped prevent last season.

“The big thing was not finishing out the season last year, after having a lot of success," Anderson said earlier this spring. "In the weight room, it's finish. In team runs, finish. That's going to be along the same lines as we head into spring ball. Let's finish, every single day, every single rep, and do all the little things right."

The Hoosiers need Anderson to produce the way he did in the Outback Bowl when he put up a sack and two tackles for loss. Anderson has played in the 4-2-5 scheme before and it is one of the reasons he chose to come to Bloomington.

"I like the 4-2-5 a lot," Anderson told the media. "This is the third or fourth defense that I am learning. I have played in the 4-2-5 before and it is a lot of fun. I feel like I fit well into it. Just getting into the playbook and learning how I need to do things here is my primary goal right now. It has been a blast so far."

It’ll be a blast for the Hoosiers when Anderson is putting the pressure on opposing offenses in the fall.