2017 Spring Practice Preview: Wide Receivers

Richard Lagow and the IU quarterbacks should have plenty of weapons to go around. Image: Cam Koenig HoosierHuddle.com

Written By David Sugarman (@David_Sugarman2)

One play. That’s it. After getting suspended for the season opener vs Florida International one play is what Simmie Cobbs ended up playing after suffering an injury against Ball State that would require season ending ankle surgery. All of a sudden Hoosier quarterback Richard Lagow, in just his second career Division I start, was down his best receiver and looking towards a former walk-on in Mitchell Paige and to Ricky Jones, a big-play threat who had been inconsistent in Big Ten play the year before. A wave of fear washed over the crowd, this is Indiana football’s luck and this is how it’s destined to stay. Like a bully on the playground the injury bug had pushed Indiana to the unforgiving blacktop just as it looked like they were beginning to get back up.

Starters

That player to step up was Nick Westbrook who caught a 43-yard touchdown pass midway through the first quarter. After making just six catches for sixty-nine yards and touchdown his freshman year, Westbrook caught three balls for 133 yards and two touchdowns against the Cardinals that day. This would just be the beginning of Westbrook’s coming out party as he would go on to catch 54 passes for 995 yards and six touchdowns. Westbrook proved to be a reliable threat all year long catching passes in all but one game and hauling in five catches for 80 yards and a score in the Foster Farms Bowl.

Paige and Jones would go onto have solid years as well and the trio would help lead Indiana to have the second best passing offense in the Big Ten despite a quarterback who struggled for big portions of the season. Now with Paige and Jones graduated it’s debatable whether Indiana will be as deep at receiver at this point, but their top two wideouts could be two of the best in the Big Ten. That’s only if Simmie Cobbs can return to his 2015 form. Before his injury Cobbs was climbing up NFL Draft boards, terrorizing the Big Ten as a sophomore and doing it in a different air. With a 6-foot-4 frame and a solid vertical, Cobbs has big play ability and showed that to the tune of 67 catches and 1,149 yards in his last full season, 2015-16.

With Cobbs and Westbrook potentially being a solid 1-2 punch the question really is, who’s going to be IU’s next Mitchell Paige? It’ll be hard to replace Pagie’s production, but Indiana fans may be able to look towards Luke Timian as a solid third option. After scoring Indiana’s first touchdown of the Pinstripe Bowl in 2015, Timian had everyone looking at their programs trying to figure out who number 82 is. That was only Timian’s second reception of the season, but Indiana fans got much more familiar with the number 82 this past year. Timian finished 2016-17 with 21 catches and one touchdown and now will likely be the starting slot receiver responsible for picking up more yards on intermediate routes and drawing some attention away from the obvious targets of Cobbs and and Westbrook.

Key Reserves

As we get further into the depth chart, understandably the experience at the position begins to thin out. That’ll make junior Donavan Hale’s role that much more important. Another big target at 6-foot-4, the junior from Florida caught passes in all but one game in the regular season last year. He also showed some ability to stretch the defense with three receptions of over 25 yards including a 49 yard touchdown grab against Wake Forest.

Hale will be surrounded by a supporting cast of mainly younger wideouts that includes namely redshirt freshman Taysir Mack and Jonah Morris. Both earned scout team player of the week once last year and add more size to an already big WR core, standing at 6-foot-2 and 6-foot-4 respectively. Both have the chance to see some decent time in relief this year and if Hale could take them under his wing a bit, hopefully they can make some solid contributions. On a team where the tight ends didn’t play a big factor in the receiving game last year, making just 10 catches all season, depth at the wide receiver position could prove even more important than usual.

Depth Guys

Football is a game filled with injuries and Indiana is well aware of that particularly at the wide receiver position. Some names you may see sparingly throughout 2017-18 if need be are Justin Berry, Phil Benker and Leon Thornton III. IU fans may be somewhat familiar with Thornton, the most experienced of the three, is a rising junior who made the switch from cornerback to wide out this past season. He saw little action at his new position and made just one catch for 11 yards. Benker and Berry both redshirted last season and Berry, a walk-on, earned scout player of the week twice. That can be taken with a grain of salt or even altogether dismissed, but we’ve seen in the past how good practice and scout team players can be important on game day, like a Zander Diamont.

Wildcard

A receiver that IU fans may have forgotten about since he has not seen the field since 2014 is on the mend and could be a welcome piece to help replace Mitchell Paige in the slot. J-Shun Harris, who has missed the last two full seasons with knee injuries, is on the mend and could be ready to go when the season rolls around. Harris missed 2015 after tearing up his knee in summer workouts and then missed last season after getting hurt early in fall camp. If Harris can return to form, which is not a guarantee, he adds another dynamic receiver to the mix. The Fishers, Ind. native had a promising freshman year when he hauled in 19 passes for 168 yards. 

The Whole World is Not in Their Hands

There’s no question Indiana has talent in their wide receiver corps. Frankly, the questions begin to pile up when it comes to who is the one slinging it to them. Richard Lagow showed flashes, but struggled in his first year under center for IU. The sentence that was his season ended with an ugly exclamation point after he went 14-39 in the Foster Farms Bowl. Whether it’s Lagow or somebody else, Indiana has the size, experience and hopefully the health to give secondaries around the Big Ten headaches in 2017.

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