Shivers Lowers His Shoulder into a Hoosiers Victory
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Image: Indiana University Athletics
Written by Matt Smith
Indiana began their second game against Idaho very sluggish. The Hoosiers offense looked bad following a 35 minute rain delay to begin the game. This led to the Hoosiers trailing 10-0 at halftime.
This led to the Hoosiers first offensive play of the second half, a handoff to Shaun Shivers sparked the Hoosiers comeback. Shivers saw an opening to his left, and turned on the jets.
Shivers didn’t encounter a defender until 11 yards from the line of scrimmage. Well, the defender felt the offense’s frustration as Shivers lowered his shoulder and ran through the Idaho Safety.
31 yards later, Shivers went down and the hoosiers never looked back as they outscored the Vandals 23-0 in the third quarter.
With Shivers running hard throughout the second half, it ignited the offense and helped the Hoosiers avoid disaster.
Tom Allen spoke very highly of Shivers' ability to hype up his teammates following the game Saturday night.
The Auburn transfer brings a new energy to the locker room, that isn’t the energy you would expect.
“We were doing a perimeter drill (at practice), and he about had his guys into a brawl, which was a good thing from his perspective,” Allen said. “He has an edge about him. He practices with that edge. He has a lot of, I would say, South Florida confidence. Sometimes that brings a little chippiness and a little bit of chirpiness to the situation, if you know what I’m talking about.”
Shivers is the shortest player on the Hoosiers roster. However, that brings a chip on his shoulder that brings a ton of passion on the field.
“That’s something I’ve always had since I was a kid. Since I was four years old,” Shivers said. “That was when I first started playing sports. I always kind of had that edge about me.”
Last night, Allen compared Shivers to another Florida product from 2020, Whop Philyor.
“Whop had that about him. He wasn’t here last year. We lost that edge on the offensive side of the football, and Shaun Shivers has that. To me that’s what you got to have,” Allen said.
Shivers likes to talk a lot, but has a big edge to him. The fifth year running back rushed for 155 yards last night on 20 carries.
Following the hit Shiver took on the first play of the game against Illinois, Shivers wanted to spark his team this week.
“It’s a fine line. We talk about just having that controlled rage that you should be able to be under control but have an intensity and toughness to you and edge about you, and Shaun brings that on our team.”