Written By: Nate Comp (@NathanComp1)

It has now been almost a month since Indiana’s season disappointingly ended with a loss in the Outback Bowl. Now that the dust has settled and all players that were on the fence for the 2021 season have declared the intentions for their future, it’s time to look ahead to next season. Here is our list of what the Hoosiers need to accomplish this offseason in order to replicate a similar level of success in the upcoming season.

Get Healthy

Much of the optimism surrounding the 2021 season will hinge upon the recovery of star quarterback Michael Penix Jr. Penix exited the Hoosiers November win over Maryland in the third quarter with what was later to be revealed as a torn ACL. This was his third season with Indiana and his third season-ending injury, having also suffered a torn ACL in his freshman season and injuring his right sternoclavicular joint the year after that.

Tom Allen is optimistic that Penix should not miss any time in 2021 but getting Penix back on the field and strong enough to last an entire season is critical moving forward.

Not to mention that Jack Tuttle, Penix’s backup and his replacement for the final two games of the season, also played most of the Outback Bowl with a separated shoulder. Health will be a priority for the Hoosiers’ quarterback room, as Allen would like to have at least one of his two quarterbacks on the roster with any collegiate experience behind center come September.

Second Year Jump

Kane Wommack went through growing pains a couple years ago when he took over full-time defensive coordinator duties. The defense was good, but certainly not as stifling as it proved to be last season when his swarm defense dialed up creative blitz packages and forced a Big Ten high in sacks (25) and nation-best in interceptions (17). Wommack became a significantly better play caller and earned his way onto the Broyles Award watch list, an award given annually to the nation’s top assistant coach.

Now, Indiana has to hope a similar jump comes for second-year offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan. Sheridan had an inconsistent start to his opening season calling plays. Indiana flashed its explosiveness at times, but too often it started games slowly and looked uncomfortable. He certainly faced his fair share of adversity, coaching in a COVID season and losing Penix in late November, but he will need to be better in year two. I bet even Allen wouldn’t complain if he had to hire another offensive coordinator next offseason because Sheridan was so successful in 2021.

Find a Run Game

One of Sheridan’s first tasks to make his job easier? Indiana must find a way to reestablish a run game that struggled all season. Allen admitted after the season that run schemes were often kept “vanilla” in case any running back was ruled ineligible late in the week due to COVID protocols, but 2021 will have to add some layers of complexity to ease the burden off of Sheridan and whoever is behind center. Hopefully the fall will bring more control over the pandemic and grant a normal offseason, but that is yet to be seen.

Two key departures will make this a bit more of a challenge. January’s postseason announcements saw running backs coach Mike Hart leave the program to take the same position at his alma mater Michigan, and stalwart running back Stevie Scott opted to forego his senior year of eligibility and declare for the NFL Draft. The large burden of improving the run game will instead fall on the backs of Sampson James, Tim Baldwin, David Ellis, and whoever is ultimately hired to replace Hart.

Defensive Coordinator

Who doesn’t like to add an item to a checklist that they’ve already completed just to feel more productive? Tom Allen needed to replace Kane Wommack as DC after he took the head coaching gig at South Alabama, and Allen identified Charlton Warren as his man to welcome to the Indiana family. Warren has over sixteen years of coaching experience under his belt, six of which he served as a defensive coordinator, but most recently comes from the University of Georgia where he served as a defensive backs coach. He is highly regarded as one of the nation’s top recruiters, which leads perfectly in to the final to-do list item for the 2021 offseason…

Recruit!

For the first time in a long time, Tom Allen has a positive aura around the Indiana football program. In his early years of coaching the Hoosiers, he was selling a message of “what if.” What if Indiana could compete for Big Ten titles, what if Indiana could play in January bowl games, what if College Gameday was running features on LEO and Indiana football. Now, what if has become remember when. The excitement for Indiana football has never been higher, and now is the time to capitalize and continue pushing what has been Allen’s vision since the day he stepped on campus – love, family, football, and on-field success. After a smaller class in 2020, Indiana will likely be loading up a bit more this coming year and Allen will have more recruiting ammunition than ever before.

The Huddle

Indiana’s Offseason To-Do List

Hoosier Huddle