Hoosier Huddle's 2019 Big Ten Media Days Primer

Written by: TJ Inman (@TJHoosierHuddle)

What: 2019 Big Ten Media Days

When: July 18 and July 19

Where: Chicago, Illinois

How to Watch: Big Ten Network

The 2019 Big Ten Media Days begin at noon on Thursday, July 18. This annual rite of passage signals that the college football season is right around the corner as coaches, players and media converge to discuss the upcoming campaign.

Coaches and players from Illinois, Indiana, Maryland, Michigan State, Minnesota, Nebraska and Ohio State will be the focus on Thursday. Friday brings Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern, Penn State, Purdue, Rutgers and Wisconsin to the forefront.

The Indiana player representatives will be seniors Coy Cronk (LT), Nick Westbrook (WR) and Reakwon Jones (LB). Players of note from other squads include: Anthony McFarland (Maryland), Khaleke Hudson (Michigan), Joe Bachie (Michigan State), Adrian Martinez (QB), Paddy Fisher (Northwestern), Rondale Moore (Purdue) and Jonathan Taylor (Wisconsin). There are several intriguing questions facing the Indiana Hoosiers for the 2019 season. We won’t get any definitive answers this week but we will get to hear from Tom Allen and the three selected players and begin to get an idea of what those answers will end up being.

Questions and Storylines

-How will the change at both coordinator spots impact the Hoosiers?

Tom Allen turned over defensive play-calling duties to Kane Wommack. This will allow him to focus on both sides of the ball and be more of a complete head coach. IU also invested heavily in bringing in their top target at offensive coordinator, attracting Kalen DeBoer from Fresno State. It will be interesting to hear Allen and his players talk about the changes and what role they feel this will play on the 2019 season.

-How can the Hoosiers turn close losses into wins?

As Hoosier fans know all too well, IU has been close to pulling off big upsets on many, many occasions in the past several years. However, they have fallen just short pretty much every time. A play here, a bounce of the ball there, or wearing down late because of a lack of depth are all reasons for the shortcomings. The Hoosiers need to turn those close losses around and they need to get “over the hump”. A difficult schedule is going to give IU plenty of chances to take on marquee opponents. Hearing how the squad plans to turn those critical junctures of games around will at least be somewhat enlightening.

-Commissioner’s Last Rodeo

Jim Delany has been one of the most influential people in college athletics over the past two-plus decades.  For the bulk of my lifetime, he has been the commissioner of the Big Ten. Beginning in 1989, Delany has overseen the league: creating the Big Ten Network, added Penn State, Nebraska, Maryland and Rutgers to the conference, developed and implemented the first instant replay review system and secured massive television contracts for the conference members. This season is his final one at the head of the conference. This could be one of the last major chances for the media to ask questions to the leader of the conference.

-Big Picture Changes

Scott Frost and Adrian Martinez have Nebraska on the rise and they will be representing the Cornhuskers in Illinois. This will be Ryan Day’s first season in charge at Ohio State after the “retirement” of Urban Meyer. The rivalry between Michigan rages on and UM’s Jim Harbaugh needs a conference championship as badly as any coach in the country. Both will certainly be asked about the expectations surrounding their teams this fall. Can Jonathan Taylor mount a Heisman campaign if Wisconsin gets back to dominance in the West? Can Northwestern repeat their surprising 2018 West title? There are a lot of storylines surrounding the conference from top to bottom and they will all be gathered in one place to unofficially “kick off” the 2019 season.