The Indiana Hoosiers were back on the practice field after their scrimmage this past Saturday. IU head coach Curt Cignetti said that Saturday’s scrimmage was not unlike every other first scrimmage of the fall that he has had.
“Too many penalties; like every first scrimmage we’ve ever had. Too many missed assignments. There was good, there was bad, there was ugly. The effort and competition was good.” Cignetti quickly explained.
The Hoosiers were short handed on defense as several key players either missed all or part of the scrimmage for various reasons.
“(The)defense was really short handed. (Rolijah) Hardy returned to practice today, but had a groan (injury) missed most of last week. Amare Ferrell had a personal matter. (His) mother passed away, was gone most of the week. He’s back today. (D’Angelo) Ponds went out of the scrimmage early, tweaked his ankle. He practiced today. He’s fine.” Cignetti said.
While there were no catastrophic injuries, it still forces players to play out of position.
On the offensive side of the ball, Cignetti knows they are still over two weeks away from being ready for an actual game. However, he was pleased with the performance.
“We had pretty good offensive success overall last week in practice, but still a lot of mistakes, and there’s a lot of areas that we’ve got to get better.” Cignetti said.
Last week I noted the energy was ramping up in practice on Friday. It was a good sign to Cignetti and he staff that the players sensed the scrimmage coming up.
“I think we’re progressing. And where I see the progress, aside from the scrimmage, as the week went on, I thought the competition picked up the speed and the tempo picked up, and the execution was starting to improve.” Cignetti explained.
Fall camp is a little past the half way mark and it is a time when people get fatigued. August didn’t earn the name “Dog Days” for nothing. Cignetti has that on his check list.
“I think one of the biggest things we got to do now is we can’t let mental fatigue precede physical fatigue.” Cignetti said. “When guys start to get a little gassed, you know, they, they can’t give in. 98% of this game is between your ears.”
The Hoosiers will be back on the field for practice number 10 tomorrow.
Other Notes
Cignetti gave an update on defensive back Louis Moore
- “I think the issue with Louis and a lot of other guys across the country right now is the Vanderbilt quarterback was still within his five year clock, whereas there’s a group of guys that are five and a half years I do support Louis, but it’s a legal matter, and that’s all I can say about it”