2017 Indiana Hoosiers Signing Day Notebook
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Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
This will not be your traditional post-press conference notebook. Today I want to look at some of the players who could have an impact on the field for IU in 2017 while also looking at some of the more interesting quotes from Indiana Head Coach Tom Allen.
2017 Signees Who Could Have Immediate Impact on the Field
1. Mike McGinnis, LB- Indiana was dealt a blow to their linebacking depth when red shirt junior Marcus Oliver decided to declare for the NFL Draft. The Hoosiers needed an immediate plug-and-play answer in this class and they got it in JUCO transfer Mike McGinnis. Coach Allen had this to say about his new linebacker. He's "a guy that we had an immediate need there with Marcus' (Oliver) departure as an early guy to the League, so it gave us a chance to attract a guy that's a team captain and an All-American as a JC player and really excited about getting him here. He's on campus now, enrolled, working out with our team and getting him in position to be able to compete for that Mike linebacker position. Mike is a guy that works out a lot, love his work and toughness and he comes every day and has around edge about him. So he's going to fit in well here."
Indiana returns All-American Tegray Scales, but McGinnis should give Chris Covington, Damien Willis, and Raekwon Jones a run for the other starting spot. He has the experience and production capability to step right in and being an early enrollee will help his cause immensely.
2. Haydon Whitehead, Punter- Tom Allen will make special teams a priority, something that was overlooked and pushed aside by Kevin Wilson. The Hoosiers tapped into the Australian punter pipeline in order to upgrade at the position. While incumbent punter Joseph Gedeon has the edge in experience, his performance is 2016 was sub-par and far from consistent enough.
Whitehead is from the Prokick Australia program, which helps place punter into colleges in the United States. It's a program that Allen became familiar with during his time at Ole Miss. According to Allen this is what Whitehead brings to the table. "He brings that versatility of an Australian punter where he can punt traditional. He's a left-footed punter. He will run to his left and he can punt with his right foot as well. Most kids from there can do that, not like it's equal, but they do have the ability to that. It's a whole different approach because as it was explained to me when I was studying all this, the way we were raised throwing the football they're raised kicking it to each other. So they're comfortable with the ball and that's just one reason why you have seen so many of those in our game collegiately and it's been a big push and that's not going to change."
3. Juan Harris, DL- The defensive line was a priority for this signing class. IU has probably found their replacement for Ralph Green in Harris, who is a large human being who likes to destroy ball carriers. At 6-foot-3 and 370-pounds (maybe more), Harris has the size to go up against Big Ten offensive linemen. As an early enrollee, Harris can work on fine turning his skills and get stronger in a college strength program.
"He is a very large individual, big, strong athletic guy that we're thrilled to have." Allen said, "All-state player, throws the shot and discus in high school, multi-sport guy like we like to get, but he's here with us and that was a big deal for him to get on campus, being part of our strength and conditioning programming and allow him to be able to prepare himself. He's a guy that has the skill set to be an elite football player in this conference and excited about Juan and excited to see him develop here in our program."
4. Juwan Burgess, ATH- Burgess became IU's highest-rated signee in the class after flipping his college choice from Southern California. Burgess was helped to IU by being familiar with Coach Allen and his son Thomas. Thomas Allen and Burgess were teammates at Plant H.S. in Florida and the elder Allen got to see a lot of Burgess by just being a football dad. "Obviously had a connection with him with he being on any son's team and had a chance as a dad to go watch a lot of practices just because you can do that through the NCAA rules when you are a parent and I got a chance to see him a lot." Allen said, "close relationship with my son obviously and heck of a football player. He returns punts, going to be a safety for us, physical, can run extremely well, highly competitive, tough guy."
Even if Burgess does not break into the starting lineup on defense, he should be able to be a key reserve in the secondary and have a major impact in the return game.
5. Whop Philyor, WR- The Hoosiers will have the luxury of potentially redshirting some of the receivers they brought in with this class, especially since Simmie Cobbs will be good to go after playing just one play in 2016. However, the Hoosiers have a giant question mark at the slot receiver position. IU does return J-Shun Harris, who has missed the last two seasons with knee injuries, and Luke Timian, who has become a nice second unit player after walking on. Philyor will have the chance to crack the rotation if he lives up to the hype. Philyor had 91 catches, 20 touchdowns and is "another plant product, national-type of guy we had to compete against a lot of teams for, explosive, slot receiver, kick return, played corner." Says Allen.
The head coach said, "He's going to be a receiver for us, a slot for us and dynamic player and a dynamic personality. He takes over the whole room. He's a fun kid, just a really, really neat young man. Couldn't be more fired up to have both Juwan and Whop here with us."
6. LaDamion Hunt and Raheem Layne, CB- Indiana's depth at corner is thin at best after A'Shonn Riggins, Rashard Fant, and Tyler Green, so one or both of these freshman defensive backs are going to get a chance. Allen said, "it was an emphasis for this class, and both guys corners we signed are six-foot plus."
Of Hunt, Allen said, "LaDamion is a high-character young man been raised the right way, coming from Carrollton High School, which is just west of Atlanta and Coach Calhoun has done a great job with that program taking over. Day Day (LaDamion's nickname) was a leader for them as the new coach came in and they played at a high level this season, finished 11-2, and won a bunch of games and he was the leader of that crew and they were excited about his physicality and ability to make plays in the secondary."
Layne was a late add to the class after de-committing from Minnesota and Allen said, " we had to fight to the bitter end for him." Hunt is "another 6-foot corner that has the ability to return kicks and punts and another talented athlete I feel is another high-ceiling, high academics, good family, a lot of good people in his life that care a lot about him and enjoyed meeting his family throughout the process."
Quotes
A lot of effort and research goes into recruiting classes year in and year out and no stone is left unturned. One of my biggest gripes with IU football recently has been the non-conference schedule, however there is some reason behind IU scheduling road games at Florida International, Georgia Southern, and Virginia. When asked how this helped recruiting Allen responded:
I think it's important. Even last year we played down at FIU and coaches stayed down there and recruited after the game, played on a Thursday night, stayed and recruited on Friday, the high school games. I just think that -- we invited those area kids to come watch us play. That's just kind of what you want to do.
I think that without question, you have a chance to play teams from that part of the country it helps with getting them -- getting their interest in us. We have a really good brand, we really do, you get down in the south we have a great alumni base, we really do and it helps us as we're going through and from a post collegiate perspective and their job placement, those are all big parts of it and that helps us and IU has done a great job marketing that and the IU symbol, when you walk into a school, they know who you are.
Another popular question and comment, maybe even a concern, from both media members and fans is the fact that IU finished 13th in the Big Ten in recruiting and 63rd nationally. While you always want to have a top-10 rated class, sometimes it's not going to be possible. Allen shared his philosophy on recruiting rankings and stars.
Honestly, I couldn't tell you what we're ranked. It really doesn't bother me. I know that the bottom line for me is -- you know who makes those rankings up, it's not coaches, okay? So the bottom line is that you go through and you -- I didn't even know how many stars some of these guys were when we recruited them. I tell our guys, don't look at the stars and don't look at who has offered them. Watch the film and trust your evaluation. There is no question we want to be able to recruit the best players we can get. I get that and sometimes those rankings are more accurate than others, but I will say this: It takes a disciplined coach to be able to say I like this guy, I don't care if anybody else liked him, trust your eval. If we think he's a good player go recruit him, if we don't, I don't care how many stars he has in the other direction, because I've been in those meetings where that gets you in trouble, where you're trying to pick a guy because of what somebody else thinks of him and that's the reality. I just know that you have to trust your eval on your guys and get guys that fit your program.