Cameron and Lagow Take Control of Hoosiers' QB Battle
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Danny Cameron (18) and Richard Lagow have seperated themselves from the other quarterbacks halfway through spring practice. Image: IUHoosiers.com
Written By Sammy Jacobs (@Hoosier_Huddle)
Kevin Wilson and the Hoosiers took a forward in narrowing the search for Nate Sudfeld's replacement at quarterback. After saying Saturday that the staff was, "giving the bulk of the work right now to (Danny) Cameron and (Richard) Lagow and to Austin King", head coach Kevin Wilson narrowed down the battle to just Lagow and Cameron on Tuesday morning. Wilson added that "we did a little bit more today with Danny and Richard Lagow getting the bulk of the work."
With Zander Diamont out for the spring with an injury, Cameron and Lagow are the only quarterbacks on the roster with any kind of collegiate experience, Cameron filling in at Penn State (6 for 16 passing) and Lagow throwing for 2,285 yards and 21 touchdowns at a Junior College. Giving them the bulk of the reps with the one's and two's just makes sense. Wilson said that teams can be caught being too fair to the younger players.
"From what I've seen in six practices, those other two kind of deserve some work. If the young guys don't pick it up, we've got to start moving a little bit. Being fair is one thing, be we can be so fair it actually hurts the team. There's a point in time you have to make some decisions and get moving."
The most important thing for the Hoosiers this spring, at least offensively, is to get the quarterbacks up to speed with the rest of the skill positions. Lagow and Cameron need the bulk of the reps because they are most likely the ones that will be leading this offense onto the field Sept. 1 at Florida International.
Coming out of the most recent practices Wilson likes what he sees from Cameron and Lagow but as always there is room for improvement, "right now, Danny's been very, very competent because he's got more time on task. Richard shows some things, but again, there's enough thinking and moving parts, (so) he's not as good as he needs to be."
The worst thing that could happen, and what Wilson is trying to avoid, is sacrificing the 'right now' for a few extra snaps for two quarterbacks, Austin King and Donovan Hale, that still need tons of development.
"We're going to keep developing hard," Wilson said of Hale and King, "They're talented. We've got to keep developing them, but we have to have two we can win with."
Indiana has had its share of injuries at quarterback, and even behind an outstanding line Nate Sudfeld was forced out of the second half against Ohio State and missed the entire contest at Penn State.
Even with narrowing down his candidates at quarterback, Wilson is not rushing to judgement saying, "I'm not in a hurry, like I think we have to have one. It'd be nice to have one. And we need more than one...even though we need a starter, we need two we can win with, if not three."
The Hoosiers will play their annual spring game at 7pm on April 15th at Memorial Stadium. They open the season on Thursday Sept. 1 in Miami against Florida International.
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