We are four days away from Indiana’s season opener, and Carter Smith could not be more excited. When speaking to the media on Tuesday night, the offensive tackle said, “I’m excited man; [there’s] nothing like going out there to crack someone in different colors. I’m really excited.”
For Smith, a redshirt junior who has been with the team through both the 4-8 2022 season and the 3-9 2023 season, this year’s season opener feels like a celebration of the culture shift. “I’m so happy, man. I’ve never been more excited about [a] season. Last year, [we had] a lot of high hopes, and we really delivered. I hope we can do the same thing again this year.” Smith said on Tuesday.
In order to ensure that last season was not a fluke, leaders such as Smith need to ensure that the standard remained the same and that the new faces along the line meshed together well.
When asked about how the new additions were meshing on the line, Smith said, “I think they’re meshing [together] really well, and I think that’s one of those things that came off of last year too. When the James Madison [guys] came in, they were a team that really won, and then coming to old IU, we were a team that really wanted to win, and I think that a lot of the guys who experienced that at other programs came in here and mesh well with the culture.”
Smith continued by addressing how the standard has remained the same, saying, “I would say that everything’s pretty much stayed the same. We’re all in the same mindset. It’s our first game; we need to go out there with confidence, know our keys, and get the job done.”
One of the major keys for the offensive line in the season opener will be how they respond to Old Dominion’s unique three through-five defensive scheme. When asked about how they are preparing for the opener, Smith said, “They have a couple of big guys on the edges, nothing that I haven’t really seen before, but always something important to key into. It’s just all targets. All of our assignments are pretty much the same, other than one guy being off the line maybe. So it’s just something that we have to prepare for a little bit more in the film room, and that’ll translate onto the field.”
While it is extremely important to pay attention to every little detail in the film room, one place where the Hoosiers cannot afford to pay attention is to the noise on social media. Curt Cignetti famously refers to social media noise as “rat poison,” and this sentiment has permeated through every level of the program.
Smith touched on this briefly on Tuesday, saying, “A big part for us is to just stay off of social media. Everyone likes to talk, whether it’s trash talk or they’re hyping us up. You’ve just got to stay away from it. We know what we have to do, and the more you watch your opponent, the more confident that you become, because knowing who you are going to play really helps you when you’re out on the field.”
Smith and the Hoosiers look to keep the momentum from last season rolling when they step onto the field for the season opener.
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