Tuesday Had Indiana Working to Get More Players Ready to Contribute on Defense

Indiana was working on drills during practice Image: Rylie Kyhn

Written By Rylie Kyhn

The Hoosiers are using this spring to their full advantage and it has involved all aspects a spring season should, including developing, growing, and shifting players around. They are using these spring practices to get a look at the candidates working for starting spots next season, especially at positions in which they lost their starters.

One of those position groups is the heart of the defense.  Both starting linebackers from 2017 graduate, so it is a position that is pretty open and they will look for players to step up to fill the void. Tegray Scales and Chris Covington saw virtually all the snaps last season and they led the team defensively combining for 174 tackles and nine sacks.

Not only did the Hoosiers lose their starting linebackers and leaders on defense, they brought in a new coach to begin the spring and 2018 season as well. On January 8th, head coach Tom Allen announced the hiring of linebackers coach, Kane Wommack from The University of South Alabama where he served as the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach for the last two seasons. In just that short time he brought one of the top turnarounds in the country. South Alabama became the fifth-most improved scoring defense in the nation coming in one spot behind, who else but, the Indiana Hoosiers.

Combine Tom Allen’s defensive turnaround at Indiana with Wommack’s at University of South Alabama and it’s enough to make any Hoosier fan’s heart beat a little faster as they anticipate the development of a beastly Hoosier defense. With any coaching change there are bound to be adjustments as new philosophies are brought to the position but there haven’t been any major changes.

“The scheme is not too much different. We changed up a little bit of things, but nothing crazy,” stated McGinnis on the scheme and philosophy Wommack brought along with him. “He is teaching us the details right now. We are enjoying it. He’s taking the time, sprinting out, telling us every single part of the defense.”

During practice Tuesday, you could see the shifts and adjustments that they are making on defense between shuffling a lot of guys in and out and working different combinations to see how everyone works together with their different abilities. As defensive coordinator, coach Tom Allen brought in a 4-2-5 scheme as well as the “husky”, a hybrid safety/linebacker, position. It is a position he has discussed and seems to be excited about especially with a healthy Marcelino Ball.

Tuesday morning we got the chance to see him back in action. He looked stronger and more athletic than ever and you could hear his vocality as a leader directing the defense. His game knowledge and instincts are aspects he is bringing to the position and it looks as if he will have the opportunity to dominate and direct on the field. Ball took the majority of reps at the position while being backed up by Isaac James. 

Coach Allen has discussed this offseason about how he wants an expanded rotation rather than one player seeing all the snaps because of the toll it has taken in previous seasons. As we saw today in practice, having both Ball and James with the ability to play this husky position will give both the opportunity to see field time as they move guys in and out.

Throughout practice they had different groups of guys in and out in a sort of scrimmage play drill. At the linebacker position, we saw a lot of redshirt senior, Mike McGinnis and redshirt sophomore Reakwon Jones in a majority of the sets. McGinnis is a player the Hoosiers are looking to step up and play a bigger role as a leader on the field as well as at the linebacker position.

“I am just focusing on attention to details, trying to help other people out. I know it’s my senior year so it’s not just about me, it’s about the team. So I am helping everyone else out with the little details and just trying to bring out energy, each and every practice,” stated McGinnis.

McGinnis is a junior college transfer that they brought in and looked to produce but saw less snaps than anticipated due to the huge role Scales and Covington played. Although he took a bit of a back seat to them, he still played in eleven games ending the season with 7 tackles and one for a loss. As a senior now, they are looking to him to be a leader on defense and to help out the young developing linebacker group.

One of the biggest aspects this linebacker group lacks is experience and for that reason they are working to get everyone reps in these spring practices in order start working in the defense. McGinnis and Kiante Walton are the only seniors in the group, Jones is a junior and the rest are either freshman or sophomores.

On the youth and development of the linebacker group McGinnis stated, “Thomas Allen and Mo Burnam are young and they are learning quickly. They have athleticism and they’re smart. Fans should be excited to have the next four years with them. They’re bringing the heat, they’re learning fast and playing with intensity.”

As they transitioned on Tuesday and pushed different groups out there we got to see quite a few of the freshmen on the field including Mo Burnam, Bryant Fitzgerald, Thomas Allen, Juwan Burgess, Raheem Layne and James Head who are all young players. Also got the opportunity to see a few players with picks, freshman Raheem Layne and sophomore A’shon Riggins, both playmakers last season and continuing this into the spring.

We can only expect to see more adjustments coming as the Hoosiers wrap up spring practice and head into the scrimmage where we will get to see a spring of hard work put on show.