The Huddle is Hoosier Huddle’s home base for all of the latest Indiana Football News.
Written by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
The 2023 NFL regular season wrapped up on Sunday and there were several impactful former Hoosiers in the league this year. Let’s take a look at each Hoosier on an NFL roster in 2023.
Read MoreWritten by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Just hours after the 2022 NFL Draft ended on Saturday evening, four former Indiana football players signed undrafted free agent deals with teams around the league. The most recent success story from an undrafted free agent out of IU is Nick Westbrook-Ikhine who has played in 30 games with eight starts with the Tennessee Titans. In that time Westbrook-Ikhine has made 41 catches for 509 yards and four touchdowns. Here are where some familiar names will try and catch on and make an impact:
Read MoreWritten by Matt Smith
The Hoosiers came out of the Penn State game two weeks ago with many different injuries to their secondary and other positions all over the field. However, the Hoosiers are getting healthier after a much needed bye week.
Read MoreWritten by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Raheem Layne was Indiana’s Defensive Newcomer of the Year as a freshman in 2017 as he played in all 12 games including one start. He was pretty productive with 13 tackles. He followed that up with a solid sophomore campaign as he played in 12 more games with seven starts and his production increased. As a junior Layne saw his starting spot slip away as freshman Tiawan Mullen burst onto the season and Layne was relegated to a backup role after starting the first five games of the year. Then in 2020, Layne missed the season due to an injury he decided to have surgery on as he thought the season was cancelled. This would be a crushing blow to anyone’s college career, but credit Layne and the coaching staff for finding a spot to plug him in and succeed.
Read MoreWritten by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Like many of us in Big Ten Country Indiana defensive back Raheem Layne thought there would be no football season once it was cancelled in August. Layne was battling an injury that ended up needing surgery. A surgery he went ahead and got because there was no season to be played. He was wrong, but now he is back and ready to continue what his teammates established in 2020.
Read MoreWritten by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
After missing the entire 2020 season due to injury, Indiana defensive back Raheem Layne and tight end Kham Taylor have announced they will return in 2021. Layne had 13 starts in his IU career and played in 37 games for the Hoosiers since 2017. Taylor did not play this season after transferring from South Alabama.
Read MoreWritten by Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
The Indiana Hoosiers secondary returns young, experienced talent in 2020 and the expectations for the unit are sky high. The Hoosiers went through some growing pains in the secondary in 2019 as they ranked 10th in the Big Ten in yards per game allowed (213.7). So Indiana has still has work to do on a unit that returns Tiawan Mullen, Reese Taylor, Raheem Layne and Jaylin Williams among others. The Hoosiers need to find more defining plays in the secondary.
Read MoreWritten by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)
The primary job of the coaching staff in any sport is to put their players into the best position possible to succeed. Spring practice is underway and defensive coordinator Kane Wommack and Indiana’s coaching staff have carried out that foremost responsibility by switching the positions of a few players. Raheem Layne has been moved from cornerback to safety, Bryant Fitzgerald has moved from safety to Husky, Josh Sanguinetti has moved from safety to cornerback and Jamar Johnson has switched from Husky to safety.
Read MoreWritten by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)
Hoosier Huddle is breaking down each position group prior spring ball and today, we look at a deep position group with a star in the making leading the way: defensive back.
“Defensive back” is a catch-all term that applies to multiple positions on the field: cornerback, safety and in IU’s case, Husky. As a result, going into detail on every player would be information overload. We’ll go position by position and dive into detailed descriptions on where things stand heading into spring.
Read MoreWritten by Evan McShane (@veryreasonable)
While the efficiency numbers were not great, the Indiana defense boasted a respectable secondary in 2019. The Hoosiers thrived off of creating turnovers. Indiana tied for 33rd in the country with 13 team interceptions and they tied for fifth in the country in fumble recoveries with 13. With the departure of Hoosier safety Jonathan Crawford, Indiana has big shoes to fill. Luckily, there are a number of players capable of stepping up to the plate. IU's secondary will still be young next fall, but they will have the luxury of depth. Heading into spring, the IU defensive backs appears to be one of the most talented position groups on the roster. Indiana will return several starters from last year, and Tom Allen and his staff have recruited cornerbacks and safeties very well the past few years. While it is yet to be seen which individuals will produce most, the secondary will be among Indiana's strongest units in 2019.
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