2023 Countdown to IUFB Kickoff: 43 Days (Matt Hohlt)

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

The 2023 edition of the Hoosier Huddle Countdown is officially underway! We are counting down from 100 to the beginning of the 2023 Indiana University football season. Each day, we will take a look at one (or two) players on the current Indiana football roster and highlight the player’s role in the upcoming season. Today’s countdown player is a walk-on linebacker that has already made an impact on the field: Matt Hohlt.

Name: Matt Hohlt

Hometown: Greenwood, IN (Center Grove High School)

Position: Linebacker

Year: Redshirt Sophomore

Height/Weight: 6’2”/222 pounds

Walk-ons have a special place in college athletics. These are players that have not been given a scholarship but are instead choosing to “walk-on” to the team as a non-scholarship athlete. Most of the time, those players work incredibly hard in practice and help the team improve but they don’t see the field. Sometimes, they prove to be good enough to earn playing time and shine in a role on the field. Matt Hohlt is looking like a very good example of the latter after he played in all ten games in which he was healthy in 2022.

Matt Hohlt played for Center Grove High School and chose to walk-on at Indiana University, redshirting the 2021 season after joining the program during fall camp. Hohlt impressed all offseason and worked his way into the rotation at linebacker for the 2022 season. Hohlt made his first tackle in the second game of the season and really started to get noticed two weeks later at Cincinnati. He had three tackles against the Bearcats including one tackle for loss. Hohlt made a key stop late in the game against Western Kentucky that helped the Hoosiers get the Hilltoppers to overtime and eventually prevail. Hohlt started one contest before missing the final two games of the season with a shoulder injury. The walk-on proved to be a sure tackler and hard-hitter against the run, the definition of a solid depth piece in the linebacker corps.

He enters 2023 healthy and likely to be a member of the rotation again in 2023. If there are extra scholarships available, Hohlt seems like one of the first guys the staff would look to reward with a “full ride” for the season. He won’t be a full-time starter unless there are a substantial amount of injuries but Matt Hohlt should continue to be a valuable role player that has far exceeded whatever expectations were placed on him coming into his time in Bloomington.

The countdown continues with a new profile each and every day so come back to hoosierhuddle.com daily!