The Secret To Indiana’s Run Game Success

Indiana’s offense has been dominant throughout the first six games of the season, particularly on the ground. The Hoosiers have gained 1,328 yards and 11 touchdowns on the ground this season, with a best-in-the-Big 10 average of 6.1 yards per carry. While running backs Turbo Richard and Lee Beebe Jr. certainly deserve praise, the Hoosiers have a secret weapon in their rush game: their receivers.

While the veteran presence of Indiana’s offensive line in run-blocking game has been well-documented over the past two seasons, the Hoosier wide receivers are just now starting to receive their well-deserved flowers.

There is no play where this was more evident than late in the Northwestern game. Late in the fourth quarter, Indiana was nursing a 22-20 lead over the Wildcats. After going in motion, redshirt senior receiver Shazz Preston had a great crack-back block on the Wildcat safety, springing Lee Beebe for a 70-yard run, their longest of the season, setting up the game-winning touchdown.

Speaking about this after the game, head coach Curt Cignetti said, “I think our receivers in general have done a pretty good job…. Blocking can still improve. Shazz Preston, you saw a key block on [Beebe Jr.’s 70-yard run].”

Shazz Preston is not the only transfer receiver who has been making waves with his blocking, so too has Michigan State transfer Nick Marsh. Brought in primarily for his downfield abilities, Marsh has been turning heads with his blocking.

As Coach Cignetti explains, “Nick is improving every week. We’re using him in a lot of different ways. He’s a threat in the pass game, and he’s also an excellent blocker. I’m really encouraged by the way Nick is trending.”

Marsh himself echoed this, saying, “My job is to do the best I can for my teammates,” he said. “Downfield blocking is one of the things I’m good at, so I just try to elevate that in my game and make it part of my character.”

The fact that an NFL talent like Marsh is willing to get gritty in the trenches is emblematic of just how deep the culture buy-in is in Bloomington.

“That’s something we emphasize. Mike [Shanahan] does, and me being an ex-receiver coach at Alabama, where all we did was block when I was there, I kind of drive that point home hard to the receivers as we get close to game day. I give them credit; they’ve responded.” Cignetti said.

Marsh isn’t the only NFL-caliber receiver that has bought in in the run-blocking game. Charlie Becker also prides himself on his blocking ability. “I mean the first question I asked Coach Shanny [Shanahan] when we got into the locker room was ‘How did my blocking look?’ and ‘Did I improve at all?’” Becker said after the Western Kentucky game.

Now, the rest of the college football world is starting to take notice.  “[The wide receivers] are the best blocking receivers I have seen in a decade,” former Ohio State head coach Urban Meyer said recently on The Triple Option show.

Responding to this, Coach Cignetti said, “I think that gets reinforced a little stronger from me, cause when I was at Bama we were a running team…back then you could de-cleat a guy and not get called, and our guys, they bought in.”

Indiana’s receivers have certainly bought in, just as the Alabama receivers did all those years ago, and it is helping the Hoosiers play to a standard that matches those Crimson Tide teams.