Five Hoosiers Earn 2018 Big Ten Accolades on Defense and Special Teams
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IU Athletics Release
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana redshirt junior kicker Logan Justus earned second team All-Big Ten honors as selected by the conference coaches, the Big Ten announced today. Fifth-year safety return specialist J-Shun Harris II, senior safety Jonathan Crawford and redshirt sophomore husky Marcelino Ball carded honorable mention recognition from both the league's coaches and media.
Senior defensive tackle Jacob Robinson was named the team's Big Ten Sportsmanship Award winner.
Justus continues the Hoosiers run of all-conference kickers as Griffin Oakes earned Bakken-Andersen Kicker of the Year and first team accolades in 2015 and 2017, and Mitch Ewald collected second team laurels in 2013.
One of 20 semifinalists for the Lou Groza Award, Justus finished the campaign 15-of-18 on field goals (83.3 percent) and 32-of-33 on extra points. His 15 makes share eighth in school history.
The left-footer, who also garnered third team honors from the media, concluded the regular season third in the B1G in percentage (T-20th nationally) and tied fourth in field goals made (T-28th).
In league games only, Justus was 13-of-15 (86.7) on three-pointers and 20-of-20 on PATs. The McCordsville, Ind., native shared the second spot in field goals, was second in percentage and seventh among kickers in scoring (6.6 ppg).
Harris is one of 20 semifinalists for the Jason Witten Collegiate Man of the Year Award and a nominee for the Mayo Clinic Comeback Player of the Year Award. He returned from his third ACL injury (right), which he sustained in game eight at Maryland last year. Harris came back to action in 2017 after he tore his right ACL during 2015 summer workouts and his left ACL in 2016 preseason camp.
The Fishers, Ind., native matched IU's program record with his third punt return touchdown against Ball State in week three, an 86-yarder, en route to his third career Big Ten Special Teams Player of the Week accolade. His 9.2 average claimed fourth in the conference (31st nationally), while his 147 punt return yards were fourth.
Crawford became the first Hoosier and the 12th Big Ten player to start 50 games (50). He closed out his career with 275 tackles, 182 solos, 7.5 for loss, two sacks, 19 pass breakups, nine interceptions (T-8th in program history), seven fumble recoveries, three forced fumbles, 19 takeaways and two blocked kicks.
The Largo, Fla, native led the team lead this year with 66 stops and 47 solos in addition to one sack, 3.5 TFLs, four takeaways (T-2nd), two fumble recoveries (T-1st, T-2nd in B1G, T-21st nationally), one INT (T-2nd) and one forced fumble (T-3rd).
Ball led the team with 7.5 tackles for loss, was second in solo tackles (40), and third in sacks (2.5) and total stops (59) in 2018. The 19-year old started all 12 games and added his first career forced fumble, one interception and three pass breakups.
With 10-tackle efforts against Iowa and at No. 4 Michigan, Ball pushed his career double-digit total to four.
The Big Ten will announce award winners from the offensive side of the ball tomorrow.