2014 Recruiting Notebook: July 17, 2013

Written By Lloyd Ribner III (@Ribner3) 

We are inching closer to the halfway point between National
Signing Day 2013 and its namesake on the 2013 calendar.  It has been a little over five months now
since Kevin Wilson was able to bring in more four-star recruits in a single
class than his predecessors did in the 11 previous seasons combined.  However, the momentum that the staff had to
close out the 2013 class did not seem to carry over to 2014.  Indiana received their first commitment to
the 2014 class on June 2nd, 2013 from Michael Barwick.  Just over a
week early, to the day, from when the coaches heard from Isaac Griffith back in
2013.

While on its own merits the news was exciting, Barwick is
still arguably the highest rated recruit to join the class thus far, the fact
of the matter is that it once again signaled a late start for Hoosier
recruiting.  While other programs had
already signed handfuls of players, Indiana has just one.  But that’s when the dominoes started to fall
again.

In the five weeks after Barwick pledged to the Hoosiers, seven
other targets followed suit.  It was an
incredible month of June for the staff, a month in which they saw four 3-star
level players commit to play their college ball in Bloomington.  It didn’t stop there though.  As the beginning of July has been nearly as
fruitful, as Indiana has already picked up two more offers.  The 2014 class as it stands has eight
commits.

While you didn’t see any of the highly touted four-star
level players that were part of the 2013 class, remember that none of those
players committed to Indiana until the fall kicked off.  Those players are still out there and while
they might not be quite as highly regarded by the recruiting services as the
headliners of last year’s class, they are surely nothing to scoff at.  However, there is much work to be done if the
Hoosiers expect to compete amongst the big boys in the Big Ten.  As it currently stands Indiana is dead last
in the conference according to the 247 composite team rankings.

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On the offensive side of the ball the coaching staff is
clearly putting an emphasis on strengthening the line depth.  While this might seem a bit odd as the team
will not graduate a single lineman in the offseason.  However, if you look just a bit down the road,
after the 2014 season as many as six offensive linemen could need to be replaced
on the roster.  The Hoosiers already have
three linemen in the fold for 2014.  The
staff pulled Delroy Baker out of
Ocala, Florida.  The tackle spurned his
home state Florida Gators, instead choosing to play Big Ten football.  The staff once again used their relationship
with Iowa Western Community College, where they grabbed two players from this
year, to snag the 6’5” 325 pound mountain of a man that is DeAndre Herron.  While he is
a junior college transfer, one can’t help but be excited when that type of size
is brought in.  The final piece of the
line already in place is Wesley Martin,
a lightly recruited guard out of the fertile recruiting state of Ohio.

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The staff has turned their attention to the final two pieces
of the offensive line puzzle for 2014. 
The most important of which without question is Lukayus McNeil out of Decatur Central High School in
Indianapolis.  The 6’7” prospect has
offers from the likes of Iowa, Louisville, and Virginia Tech.  It is Michigan State however, who poses the
greatest threat to the Hoosiers in the tackle’s recruitment.  As of now McNeil should be considered a
Indiana lean and would be the cornerstone of the class.

Next on the list along the offensive line is Lone Star State
prospect Cole Anderson.  The 3-Star recruit is being recruited
heavily, checking in with 13 offers, although none of them coming from the
larger in-state programs.  Offensive line
coach Greg Frey is Anderson’s lead recruiter, who just needs to make sure the
lineman makes a visit to campus to give them a shot.

In regards to the skill positions on offense, the Hoosiers
have already secured a commitment from Alexander
Diamont, a California signal caller with a bit of a chip on his shoulder,
who is seemingly a tireless worker.  The
staff has already found Diamont a receiver to throw the ball to as well in J-Shun Harris.  Harris is the Hoosiers most recent
commitment, and while undersized, he has speed to burn. 

With those two already in the fold Kevin Johns shifted their focus to finding
more pass catchers to be a part of the 2014 class.  First on the list is Lawrence Central
receiver Kenny Jones.  Jones is a 3-star prospect that has offers
from three other BCS caliber programs. 
However the 6’2” wideout seemingly favors the in-state Hoosiers over the
others. 

While Jones would be considered a lean towards Indiana, the
second target most certainly is not.   It
is a widely head belief that Cleveland Heights receiver Dorian Baker is strongly leaning towards playing at Pittsburgh as
opposed to the eight other programs that have sent offers his way, including
the Hoosiers.  It will be a tough task,
but again if the staff is able to convince him that taking the time to come
visit campus is worth it, then they are in the game.

Flipping to the defensive side of the ball, the staff is
focused in on the back seven, and most especially the linebacker position.  The priorities changed after a fruitful defensive
line class in 2013 in addition to being able to bring Barwick into the fold.

Number one on the list with a bullet is Lawrence Central
product Brandon Lee.  The four-star linebacker visited Bloomington a month ago along side the aforementioned Kenny Jones, his high
school teammate.  With Jones having
Indiana as the leaders in his recruitment, having him tag along while Lee took in the campus was no accident.  However,
the Hoosiers are not without competition for Lee’s services.  In fact he has 18 different scholarship
offers from BCS level programs spanning the nation from Cal to Virginia Tech. 

Just behind Lee on the list of priorities for Indiana is Tegray Scales.  While he is not quite as highly regarded as
Lee, the Cincinnati product has offers from the likes of Louisville and
Wisconsin.  Scales plays for Colerain, a
very highly regarded program in the state of Ohio who consistently churns out
division one prospects.  He is currently
ranked the number 36 outside linebacker in the 2014 class by the 247 composite
as well as a top-25 player in the state of Ohio.

Last but certainly not least, we turn our
attention to the secondary.  The Hoosiers
will likely be graduating five players from the unit lead by safety Greg
Heban.  To replace that depth defensive coordinators Doug
Mallory and William Inge have set their sites on Micquell Cotton.  The
Illinois prospect is a bit undersized at just 5’9”, but is still rated as a
3-star prospect.  Cotton is currently
considered an Iowa State lean but look for Indiana and fellow Big Ten member
Michigan State to have something to say about it before all is said and done.