Veteran Lineback Dameon Willis Jr. is Returning for his Fifth Season

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Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

Dameon Willis’ career at IU was complete. The redshirt junior had opted to go through Senior Day festivities during IU’s final home game and the Hoosiers season had concluded with a loss to the Purdue Boilermakers. Spring football came and went and Willis was not on the roster. However, with his final season of eligibility intact, Dameon Willis is back and ready to bolster a linebacker group that can definitely use a veteran presence. Indiana University head coach Tom Allen announced that Willis would be with the Hoosiers for his senior season at the annual Huber’s Winery event on Wednesday night.

The move is a surprising and very welcome one as IU only had two other scholarship linebackers with more than one year of experience on the roster (Reakwon Jones and Kiante Walton). Willis was a primary backup for the duo of Tegray Scales and Chris Covington during the 2017 season and he amassed 27 tackles in the ten games he played. At 6’1” and 230 pounds, his larger frame made him a good option against bigger teams and he started against both Michigan and Michigan State. The game against the Spartans was probably his best as he had seven tackles.

The senior from Ohio missed spring practice but he has plenty of time to get into “football shape” and work with the strength and conditioning program. It’s unclear where he fits on the depth chart as linebacker is one of the more wide open positions on the squad. Coming out of spring, it seemed that Mo Burnam, Reakwon Jones and Michael McGinnis had separated themselves a bit while Kiante Walton and Thomas Allen would be depth pieces. A lot could have changed between then and the season opener and the addition of Willis plus the imminent arrival of talented freshmen Cam Jones and James Miller will certainly shake things up. Willis returning gives the defense a valuable veteran presence that knows the Big Ten and what Tom Allen expects from his defense. His return is probably going to be more valuable than just that bare minimum though.

My personal guess is that he Reakwon Jones and Mo Burnam are the starting linebackers when IU takes the field in Florida to kick-off the season. I think Mike McGinnis and Dameon Willis will see plenty of time right behind them and if Cam Jones or James Miller impresses in fall camp, they’ll be worked into the rotation. The addition of Willis makes it less of a necessity to rely on those two freshmen early and they may even be redshirted if the upperclassmen plus Burnam are excelling and stay healthy. Adding Willis back to the roster at this point in the offseason is a major bonus. Heading into spring practice, linebacker was a major question mark. The consistent performances of a few returning Hoosiers helped fans feel better about it and the surprising return of the redshirt senior from Cleveland further solidifies the position.

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