2021 Countdown to Kickoff: 76 Days (Matthew Bedford)

Written by Evan Orris

The 2021 Countdown is on! Only 76 days left until the Hoosiers travel to Iowa City to take on the No. 16 ranked Iowa Hawkeyes. Today we will profile Matthew Bedford, third-year player and two-year starter at left and right tackle. @Matthewbedfor14

Matthew Bedford

Hometown: Cordova, Tenn.

Position; Offensive Lineman

Year: Junior

Height/ Weight: 6’6”/ 304 LBS

It is hard to imagine, but when offensive lineman Matthew Bedford came to Bloomington, Ind., he was half the man he is today. After a hard-working two years, Bedford has quickly become one of the anchors of the Hoosiers’ offensive line.

Bedford arrived at Bloomington as a raw 260-pound lineman. The young Bedford joined the Hoosiers as a mid-year enrollee in January 2019 at the age of 17. In his first set of spring practices, Bedford worked with David Ballou. Ballou was Indiana’s Director of Athletic Performance at the time and helped mold Bedford into the physical lineman that we see today.

"I came in about 260 and benching nothing. By the end of spring, I was weighing 305 and my strength level was on a different level,'' Bedford said in an interview with Sports Illustrated in 2019. "I was squatting 605 and benching 450. When I got here, I could barely bench the 225s.”

Many of the coaches saw the potential in Bedford, however, he was thought of more as the future of the program. But because of an unfortunate injury to then starting tackle Coy Cronk, Bedford was forced to start as a true freshman. Bedford replaced Cronk and appeared in nine games at left tackle, starting eight of them. His performance in the 2019 season earned him IU’s Offensive Newcomer of the Year award.

Last season, Bedford made the transition to right tackle as Caleb Jones manned the left side. The former three-star recruit started all of IU’s eight games.

It was a very up-and-down season for Bedford. In the run game, PFF rated Bedford as one of the best tackles in the Big Ten. Pass protection was a whole other story for the Hoosiers’ offensive line. Bedford alone allowed the most quarterback pressures (35), quarterback hurries (26), and quarterback hits (eight) of any tackle in the Big Ten.

Bedford figures to slot in at right tackle next season with Caleb Jones back at left tackle. But, with quarterback Michael Penix coming off an ACL injury, the pass protection needs to be close to perfection.