Written by Rylie Kyhn

Coming into the 2018 season, it was well known that there were a few key position battles to look at and the last two weeks of practice has only proven that they are still prominent and not going anywhere. The questions are not getting answered anytime soon and the competition only seems to get tighter day-by-day. Coming off the first full pads scrimmage on Sunday, one could have thought things may get a bit clearer but for Tom Allen and his crew but after seeing everyone perform clarity has not come quite yet and it most likely will not until the week leading up to kickoff in Miami.

The quarterback battle remains with a huge question mark over it. They got to see the different abilities and strengths and what each quarterback does well but Coach Allen made it clear that they don’t expect to make a decision until the week of the game.

“As they have played in the first week, I think they showed their strengths. You got three guys that all have ability and all have things they can do well. I thought that each one of their strengths showed out in the scrimmage,” said Coach Allen. “After the next scrimmage, we will have to make some decisions, going into week three. I feel like we will know some more by then.”

This quarterback position group has been discussed since the spring and it will continue to be throughout the season. In practice everyday they are making sure all three get good reps and that they all get the chance to go with the ones group because there is a difference between the ones, twos, and threes at each position. The coaching staff puts them with different groups and rotates them in and out quite a bit.

“At the end of the day, it’s a tight race so to me you are gonna just have to make the decision and go,” said Coach Allen but made it clear that nothing has been decided and they are all competing.

The quarterback battle is not the only one the Hoosiers are watching closely as there are a number of others that Coach Allen also noted and another intense one is kicker. After Sunday’s scrimmage and Monday morning practice, it seems that two have created some distance from the others and stand out.

“Coming out of the scrimmage I felt like Logan and Charles had kind of become the front runners for that position for field goals,” said Allen. “We are charting every kick, and continuing to apply pressure in a couple situations today. We want to see someone separate themselves there, too. Matter of fact, that was our one word two days ago, the word “separate”.”

Separate is exactly what these players need to do within not only this one, but all the position battles, in order to show that they are ready to play on that field. Both Logan Justus and Charles Campbell have strong legs and accuracy and it sounds as though it will be a decision made around the same time as the one with quarterbacks.

“I think we will probably be in that similar time-table (as the quarterbacks). My goal is to make sure no matter who we choose, they are going to be ready and they are going to be prepared. That’s the one thing we told Coach Allen. We are going to be confident in who we put out there and the next man is going to be ready because you never know how things go during the game and during the season,” said Coach Inge.

After the first few weeks and the scrimmage on Sunday, Coach Inge believes that they are all pushing each other which only increases the level of competition. “Our competition is very healthy. Especially from a punting stand point. Drew Conrad is definitely doing a great job of pushing Haydon Whitehead and he’s doing an awesome job. From a kicking standpoint, we have been very consistent and those guys delivered yesterday,” said Coach Inge.

The special teams unit played a big role in Monday’s practice and helped the offense out quite a bit when they couldn’t finish their drive in the end zone. During practice it seemed to be all offense at first. At one point they had the score for the series at 6-0 over the defense but the next time around, defense came up with a tipped ball that ended as an interception by Andre Brown.

It was the same situation in the beginning of doing red zone work. At first, they were going through the drill without the offensive and defensive lines and the offense was controlling the ball for the majority of it. Considering the problems the offense struggled with last season and the trouble they had converting in the red zone, this is definitely a positive thing to see. At one point the offense was two out of three on the series. Ty Fryfogle helped out, coming up with a big day after securing three touchdown catches.

As the end of the drill neared, A’shon Riggins came up with an interception and a huge takeaway that the defense needed. Coach Allen has repeatedly highlighted the importance of takeaways and this was a big one heading into more red zone work. They continued to work through the drill but brought in the lines. As soon as they brought in the offense and defensive lines, the defense turned the entire drill around. The first two series the defense forced a field goal before the offense was able to convert a touchdown.

One thing they that the offense seemed to really struggle with was catching passes. Some were well defended but others, not so much. There were quite a few tipped balls by the defense and quite a number of drops by the receivers which is something Coach Allen made clear while doing a two minute drill as practice was winding down. ”Lots of drops. Lots of drops by the receivers,” said Coach Allen over his mega-phone at the end of practice.

From a defensive perspective, getting the tipped balls is huge and Coach Allen continues to discuss the importance of takeaways. Coming off the scrimmage, one aspect that he discussed was a bit of a concern was execution of the twos and threes on defense. Coach Allen has repeatedly discussed how important depth is going to be for them this year and how they want to be able to depend on a number of different guys.

“I want a defense where we can rotate a lot of guys in and in order to do that, we have to be able to execute,” said Allen.

In order to have this rotation, there has to be consistency in play across all the levels and this is going to be crucial for them to develop over the next few weeks. Because the defense is so young, it has been a longer process getting the younger guys acclimated and settled into the defensive scheme. They are still learning which is why the execution is a bit less than the group of ones.

“We have a lot more experience on the offensive side of the ball and as I have challenged them, they gotta rise up, they have to carry this football team early on just like the defense had to carry the team early on last year. I challenged them that way and I figured that was going to be the case. Anytime you have a more mature side of the ball, that side has to rise-up and be a great foundation for the opposite side to lean on while they grow and develop,” said Coach Allen which is exactly what the offense seems to be doing.

The first few weeks of practice have given the coaches information about player strengths to work with and it seems that Sunday’s scrimmage only made the competition tighter. That week leading up to the Hoosiers kickoff in Miami seems to hold some answers and until then they still have some things to get sorted out.

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