IU Football Redshirt Update: October 29, 2019

Written by Amanda Pavelka (@amandapavelka3)

The redshirt rule adopted in 2018 allows NCAA football players to play in up to four games in a season without using a year of eligibility. Twelve of 19 true freshman have seen field time for Indiana so far this season. Seven of the 12 have exhausted their four game allowance, burning their redshirts. Here are how many games each of Indiana’s true freshman have played. 

As of October 26th, D.K. Bonhomme, David Ellis, Sampson James, Tiawan Mullen, Sean Wracher, Matthew Bedford, and Sio Nofoagatoto’a have all burned their redshirts. Bedford has started in the absence of senior captain and left tackle Coy Cronk, who is also eligible to redshirt, being that his season-ending ankle injury occured in game four against Connecticut. 

So with four games remaining in the regular season, who will Allen redshirt this season? 

“Gary Cooper kind of comes to mind for me,” Allen said in Monday’s press conference, “He's a guy that had an early injury in fall camp, so would love to get him here and use his four games during the last part of the season. So he's one that kind of jumps out. I would say that for several of the guys too.”

Along with Cooper, Larry Tracy III, Beau Robbins and C.J. Person have only seen play time a single game each this season. Josh Sanguinetti played in two games early on at safety. 

“The ones that haven't played, at this stage of the game, it's kind of pretty clear who we just said, hey, these guys aren't playing. They've already played their four. But those who haven't used their four yet, you wouldn't want to burn anybody's redshirt with more than four if something happens we don't expect,” Allen said.

With the talented depth at wide receiver, Jordan Jakes has yet to step foot on the field. Same with offensive linemen Mike Katic and Tim Weaver. Beau Robbins and Jeramy Passmore join Antoine Whitner Jr. as defensive linemen in the 2019 signing class. 

“If guy has not played his four up to this point, we're going to strategically make sure we balance it out the rest of the year between these last few games and the bowl game to maximize their experience as freshmen. So that's kind of how we're going to approach that,” Allen said.

Cronk, Cooper, Tracy III, Robbins, Person, Sanguinetti, Jakes, Weaver, Katic, Williams, Brown, Passmore and Whitner Jr. are the possible candidates as of now to take advantage of the redshirt rule.

Keeping it Rolling: Hoosiers Snag Another Big Commit

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

New Indiana commit CJ Person

The summer sun continues to heat up the Midwest and no football games are being won or lost. However, the past few days have certainly felt like a "win" for the Indiana Hoosiers football program as they have secured another of their top targets on the defensive line. CJ Person, a 3-star defensive lineman from Montgomery, Alabama, committed to playing his collegiate football at Indiana University. Person chose IU after taking an official visit to Bloomington this past weekend. He had an official visit to Purdue scheduled but he saw enough on the Indiana campus to cancel his visit to West Lafayette and pledged to become a Hoosier.

“Well, it’s been a long road and it’s finally come to an end. I thank God everyday for blessing me with the ability to play football and be good at it. I would like to thank all the universities who believed in me. I would like to thank all of my family, friends, and coaches who have help mold me into the young man I am today. Especially my Grandmother and Coach J. Two of the most important people throughout this process. I’m in a position many people of situation don’t get a chance to do. I’m from a city where I’m expected to fail...I once again thank God for allowing me to be in this position. With all of that being said, I would like to announce that I’m shutting down my recruitment and committing to Indiana University!!! Thank you Coach Allen and the rest of the staff for allowing me to become apart of the Family. Now we have work to do.”

— C.J. Person's twitter announcement - @iam_cj

Person is listed at 6'2" and 295 pounds and he is the third defensive line commit for the 2019 class, joining 4-star Beau Robbins (Carmel, IN) and 3-star Jeramy Passmore (Miami, FL) and the eighth commit total for the class. This class has really started to take shape in the past few days. It began on Friday as Jeramy Passmore committed. Saturday saw offensive tackle Matthew Bedford join the class and then Sunday brought defensive back Larry Tracy and offensive lineman Michael Katic into the fold. Person is a physical interior lineman that plays with a nasty streak and he is expected to be a defensive tackle for the Hoosiers. Under the watchful eye of the strength and conditioning staff, he'll likely be more than 300 pounds and ready to try and wreak havoc in the middle of the oppositions line. The 2019 class was a very important one for the coaching staff to restock talent on both sides of the line of scrimmage and Indiana has done a tremendous job of landing a five linemen that were among their top targets.