Graham Notebook: Running Backs Faster and Smoother
3/29/2018 9:42:00 PM | Football
By Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Morgan Ellison looked shot out of a cannon on an 80-yard TD run during Indiana football practice Tuesday.
And that's Cole Gest's default look, too, pretty much whenever he carries the ball.
But both sophomore running backs look faster and smoother than ever this spring. And there is a clear reason why.
New Director of Athletic Performance David Ballou and "speed specialist" Dr. Matt Rhea are now on the scene orchestrating IU football's strength and conditioning program.
Ellison already looked like a good physical specimen as a freshman last fall but has dropped six percent body fat since Jan. 8, when Ballou and Rhea took over.
"He was fat! He needed to lose weight!" IU running backs coach Mike Hart quipped in jest about Ellison, after Thursday's practice, then quickly added: "No, honestly, that's a great (stat). Coach Ballou and Dr. Rhea, those guys have come in here and done a tremendous job.
"With Morgan, with Cole, you can really see the movement. They're moving a lot better. They're faster on the field. They have a lot better burst. Those are two guys who played a lot for us last year, but you can see what the eight or 10 weeks (with the new conditioning program) have done for them. They feel better. They look better. And they're definitely playing faster."
Ellison led Hoosier rushers last season with 143 carries for 704 yards (4.9 average) and Gest was second at 93 for 428 (4.6). Fifth-year senior Ricky Brookins only carried 11 times but had a healthy 8.0 average. Mike Majette, a senior who entered 2017 as the starter before injuries derailed his season, is back. Redshirt freshmen Craig Nelson and true freshman Ronnie Walker Jr., a January enrollee, are also in Hart's running backs room.
"Everyone is always trying to hop in there first," Hart said of the current competition amidst his corps. "Whether it's Cole or Mike or Ricky or Morgan. We've got a lot of competition, some true competition, this year. Obviously, it's a really young room. Mike and Ricky are the old heads. Then we've got the two sophomores and the two freshmen.
"Those guys are all doing a great job and they love competing. But they want to get in there. They're battling every day. They're rotating in there. It's fun. We have a really good room."
Majette is healthy again and showcasing his versatility. He has always shown the ability to catch balls out of the backfield, a valuable asset to the offense with the receiver spots a bit shy on depth this spring. Former receivers Isaac James and Jonah Morris are in the defensive backfield now, and erstwhile starting wideouts Nick Westbrook and Donavan Hale are still limited as they come back from injuries.
"Mike's had some injuries himself, but he's obviously a dynamic player," Hart said of Majette. "He's one of the best athletes we have on this team. He does a great job.
"Obviously, you're going to lose your job when you get hurt. But he's played in a lot of games, played a lot of snaps at tailback for us. He's not a 30-carry-a-game guy. He'll never be that. But he can do some things the other guys can't do. He gives us a lot of options.
He's back healthy. He's explosive. He's a guy that you want to get the ball in his hands, because you'll get a lot of yards after contact. He's a guy you want to get in space. He's hard to guard."
GETTING VERTICAL. AND FAST.
Isaac James, in his new role at Husky back, made a fine leaping interception late in the end zone during Thursday's 11-on-11 work.
Rhea tweeted this Thursday afternoon about James:
"Isaac James making a 36-inch (vertical) single-leg box jump look easy yesterday. No surprise he hit a new speed PR in practice today (22.33, up 2 MPH from his 2017 best). His single leg power profile up 24 percent since January. Definitely transferring to football speed."
PICKERINGTON PIPELINE?
Morgan Ellison found time to attend an Indiana boys' basketball game with IU classmate and wideout Ty Fryfogle this winter. Ellison acknowledged he saw a bit of why Indiana high school basketball has the reputation it enjoys. But the proud Pickerington (Ohio) Central graduate also stuck up for the hoops scene back home.
"My team back home, Pick Central, hey, we got some dawgs, too … we got a point guard going to North Carolina (2019 commit Jeremiah Francis) and another friend (6-10 UNC freshman Sterling Manley) already there.
"And Jerome Hunter, out of Pick North, is coming here next year. I talk to him a lot. Jerome is good, one of the best in Ohio right now, so I'm excited about that. He's going to be good. I want that Pickerington pipeline to Indiana."
And himself.
Thrown into action as a true freshman after Mike Majette's injury, Ellison responded well, even while battling some injury issues of his own. Now the young man – who grew accustomed to playing with older and bigger athletes with his elder brother's crowd back home – said he feels better prepared for the Big Ten fray.
"My working out," he said. "Muscle. Speed. Dr. Rhea. Coach Ballou. And Coach Hart wanting me to be more mature on the field, learning the game, being able to see stuff better. So I'm able to know what's going on with the defense. So my mind isn't racing like it was my freshman year.
"Now, I've settled down. Time to go now."
"MOSSING" IS A VERB
Nick Westbrook, IU's leading returning receiver heading into 2017 but lost on the season's opening kickoff due to an ACL knee injury, is back and looking spry. He's wearing a blue "no contact" jersey but, if anything, looks ahead of schedule regarding his rehabilitation.
"It's going well," Westbrook said Thursday. "Obviously, just trying to get back to normal, back to how it used to be. Make sure I trust that I can make the cuts, trust the routes, and everything is coming along fine.
"… I'd gone six months without running an out route off my left foot. You don't forget how to do it, but it's something that you've just got to get back into. You've got to trust the knee is going to hold up. The doctor did a great job. The surgery went perfect. The rehab went great … soreness is going to happen. That's part of it. I'm just battling to get back to where I was and actually be better than where I was before."
Better enough to be "Mossing" some foes this fall.
That's a reference to NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss, a 6-foot-4 freak athlete who helped revolutionize perceptions of the position's capacities. Westbrook, 6-3 and pretty athletic himself, said "Mossing" is common parlance among wideouts now.
"Oh, yeah, that's been a verb for many years," Westbrook said. "Just making those big-time plays. Those SportsCenter Top 10 plays. 'Mossing' people. Making those plays where people say 'Wow' when they watch it."
Westbrook is hungry. Asked about the toughest ramification of sustaining the injury last August, he replied:
"It wasn't the pain associated with the surgery or the pain of the actual injury. It was just watching the whole season go by without having any impact on how the team performed. Not being out there with my guys and watching away games from home, was probably the toughest thing for me.
"It was a humbling experience. You realize anything, regardless of football, can be taken away in one split second. So now I'm appreciating just practices. You don't appreciate practices when everything's good and peachy and healthy. So I just appreciate, right now, being around the guys and having fun and not thinking of practice as a chore. Enjoying every minute, every workout."
Westbrook wants to become "the best receiver in the Big Ten" and hopes his guys in the wide receiver room will constitute a corps that will help IU's offense fully flower next fall.
"I'm hoping with all the weapons we have, with me, Luke (Timian), Donavan (Hale), Whop (Philyor), everybody that we have, that we can spread the field and have no limits on our offense," he said. "That's what I really want to see from our receivers, and from myself to be the leader of this group and the leader on the field."
STILL PEYTON'S PLACE?
True freshman Michael Penix Jr., a January enrollee, has already made a good impression and has bolstered the competition in the quarterback room this spring. And graduate transfers are always a possibility at any position, quarterback included, these days (the Hoosiers already brought in one of those this spring with former Miami center Nick Linder).
But redshirt sophomore quarterback Peyton Ramsey completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,252 yards and twice as many touchdowns (10) as interceptions while playing nine games last fall, including four starts, before injuries curtailed his campaign. He also ran for two TDs. And he isn't just going to step aside, for Penix or anybody else.
"That's one thing I think is very important for any quarterback, I think, to be a competitive person," IU quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan said Thursday. "We promote that. We want every position on our team to have competition and our job, as coaches, is to try to enhance that every single year. We're trying to do that.
"I think Peyton recognizes that, and I think it makes him a better player. There's more urgency. He's doing a good job with that."
Sheridan has seen a healthy version of Ramsey this spring.
"He's healthy. That's that biggest thing," Sheridan said. "He's healthy and running around normally again. As a player, you're never fully 100 percent after the first day of practice, but I know he wasn't his normal self (as last season wore on). And I know he's excited to have this offseason of strength and conditioning to get bigger, faster, stronger. And, most important for him, just to feel fully healthy and normal again.
"I think he's increased his leadership role. I think he has more comfortability in the role he's in, being an upperclassman, having been here a few years, having played. He's earned the respect of his teammates through how he works. I've been pleased with that.
There's still room for improvement and growth, but he's taken a step forward in his leadership."
Ramsey, according to offensive coordinator Mike DeBord, also went 21-of-24 threw the air "with two drops" during an early scrimmage this spring. And Sheridan hopes to see Ramsey's experience come into play regarding protecting the football and moving the offense.
"Football is a pretty simple game, really," Sheridan said. "From the quarterback position, we want guys who make great decisions with the football, take care of the football, and then ultimately move your unit and help them score. Those are the two things that great quarterbacks do. They make great decisions. They don't put you in tough spots. And when they're on the field, the guys around them are better and we move the football and score.
"Peyton is a very studious player. Wants to be a good player. He studies. Puts in the time. Comes prepared. Asks good questions. And he executes. He's had some throws and plays he'd probably want back, like any other player, but he cares. A whole lot. He puts a lot of time and effort into it. And when you do that, you have a chance to improve."
PICKERINGTON PIPELINE?
Morgan Ellison, when not bolstering his body this off-season, found time to attend a sold-out Indiana high school basketball game.
Ellison, who went along with IU classmate and wideout Ty Fryfogle, acknowledged he saw a bit of why Indiana high school basketball has the reputation it enjoys. But the proud Pickerington (Ohio) Central graduate also stuck up for the hoops scene back home.
"My team back home, Pick Central, hey, we got some dawgs, too … we got a point guard going to North Carolina (2019 commit Jeremiah Francis) and another friend (6-10 UNC freshman Sterling Manley) already there.
"And Jerome Hunter, out of Pick North, is coming here next year. I talk to him a lot. Jerome is good, one of the best in Ohio right now, so I'm excited about that. He's going to be good. I want that Pickerington pipeline to Indiana. I want to get as much guys here as I can. I'm working on the younger guys (including) the D ends we both offered here. I'm working on everybody."
And himself.
Thrown into action as a true freshman after Mike Majette's injury, Ellison responded well, even while battling some injury issues of his own. Now the young man – who grew accustomed to playing with older and bigger athletes with his elder brother's crowd back home – said he feels better prepared for the Big Ten fray.
"My working-out," he said. "Muscle. Speed. Dr. Rhea. Coach Ballou. And Coach Hart wanting me to be more mature on the field, learning the game, being able to see stuff better. So
I'm able to know what's going on with the defense. So my mind isn't racing like it was my freshman year.
"Now, I've settled down. Time to go now."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Morgan Ellison looked shot out of a cannon on an 80-yard TD run during Indiana football practice Tuesday.
And that's Cole Gest's default look, too, pretty much whenever he carries the ball.
But both sophomore running backs look faster and smoother than ever this spring. And there is a clear reason why.
New Director of Athletic Performance David Ballou and "speed specialist" Dr. Matt Rhea are now on the scene orchestrating IU football's strength and conditioning program.
Ellison already looked like a good physical specimen as a freshman last fall but has dropped six percent body fat since Jan. 8, when Ballou and Rhea took over.
"He was fat! He needed to lose weight!" IU running backs coach Mike Hart quipped in jest about Ellison, after Thursday's practice, then quickly added: "No, honestly, that's a great (stat). Coach Ballou and Dr. Rhea, those guys have come in here and done a tremendous job.
"With Morgan, with Cole, you can really see the movement. They're moving a lot better. They're faster on the field. They have a lot better burst. Those are two guys who played a lot for us last year, but you can see what the eight or 10 weeks (with the new conditioning program) have done for them. They feel better. They look better. And they're definitely playing faster."
Ellison led Hoosier rushers last season with 143 carries for 704 yards (4.9 average) and Gest was second at 93 for 428 (4.6). Fifth-year senior Ricky Brookins only carried 11 times but had a healthy 8.0 average. Mike Majette, a senior who entered 2017 as the starter before injuries derailed his season, is back. Redshirt freshmen Craig Nelson and true freshman Ronnie Walker Jr., a January enrollee, are also in Hart's running backs room.
"Everyone is always trying to hop in there first," Hart said of the current competition amidst his corps. "Whether it's Cole or Mike or Ricky or Morgan. We've got a lot of competition, some true competition, this year. Obviously, it's a really young room. Mike and Ricky are the old heads. Then we've got the two sophomores and the two freshmen.
"Those guys are all doing a great job and they love competing. But they want to get in there. They're battling every day. They're rotating in there. It's fun. We have a really good room."
Majette is healthy again and showcasing his versatility. He has always shown the ability to catch balls out of the backfield, a valuable asset to the offense with the receiver spots a bit shy on depth this spring. Former receivers Isaac James and Jonah Morris are in the defensive backfield now, and erstwhile starting wideouts Nick Westbrook and Donavan Hale are still limited as they come back from injuries.
"Mike's had some injuries himself, but he's obviously a dynamic player," Hart said of Majette. "He's one of the best athletes we have on this team. He does a great job.
"Obviously, you're going to lose your job when you get hurt. But he's played in a lot of games, played a lot of snaps at tailback for us. He's not a 30-carry-a-game guy. He'll never be that. But he can do some things the other guys can't do. He gives us a lot of options.
He's back healthy. He's explosive. He's a guy that you want to get the ball in his hands, because you'll get a lot of yards after contact. He's a guy you want to get in space. He's hard to guard."
GETTING VERTICAL. AND FAST.
Isaac James, in his new role at Husky back, made a fine leaping interception late in the end zone during Thursday's 11-on-11 work.
Rhea tweeted this Thursday afternoon about James:
"Isaac James making a 36-inch (vertical) single-leg box jump look easy yesterday. No surprise he hit a new speed PR in practice today (22.33, up 2 MPH from his 2017 best). His single leg power profile up 24 percent since January. Definitely transferring to football speed."
PICKERINGTON PIPELINE?
Morgan Ellison found time to attend an Indiana boys' basketball game with IU classmate and wideout Ty Fryfogle this winter. Ellison acknowledged he saw a bit of why Indiana high school basketball has the reputation it enjoys. But the proud Pickerington (Ohio) Central graduate also stuck up for the hoops scene back home.
"My team back home, Pick Central, hey, we got some dawgs, too … we got a point guard going to North Carolina (2019 commit Jeremiah Francis) and another friend (6-10 UNC freshman Sterling Manley) already there.
"And Jerome Hunter, out of Pick North, is coming here next year. I talk to him a lot. Jerome is good, one of the best in Ohio right now, so I'm excited about that. He's going to be good. I want that Pickerington pipeline to Indiana."
And himself.
Thrown into action as a true freshman after Mike Majette's injury, Ellison responded well, even while battling some injury issues of his own. Now the young man – who grew accustomed to playing with older and bigger athletes with his elder brother's crowd back home – said he feels better prepared for the Big Ten fray.
"My working out," he said. "Muscle. Speed. Dr. Rhea. Coach Ballou. And Coach Hart wanting me to be more mature on the field, learning the game, being able to see stuff better. So I'm able to know what's going on with the defense. So my mind isn't racing like it was my freshman year.
"Now, I've settled down. Time to go now."
"MOSSING" IS A VERB
Nick Westbrook, IU's leading returning receiver heading into 2017 but lost on the season's opening kickoff due to an ACL knee injury, is back and looking spry. He's wearing a blue "no contact" jersey but, if anything, looks ahead of schedule regarding his rehabilitation.
"It's going well," Westbrook said Thursday. "Obviously, just trying to get back to normal, back to how it used to be. Make sure I trust that I can make the cuts, trust the routes, and everything is coming along fine.
"… I'd gone six months without running an out route off my left foot. You don't forget how to do it, but it's something that you've just got to get back into. You've got to trust the knee is going to hold up. The doctor did a great job. The surgery went perfect. The rehab went great … soreness is going to happen. That's part of it. I'm just battling to get back to where I was and actually be better than where I was before."
Better enough to be "Mossing" some foes this fall.
That's a reference to NFL Hall of Famer Randy Moss, a 6-foot-4 freak athlete who helped revolutionize perceptions of the position's capacities. Westbrook, 6-3 and pretty athletic himself, said "Mossing" is common parlance among wideouts now.
"Oh, yeah, that's been a verb for many years," Westbrook said. "Just making those big-time plays. Those SportsCenter Top 10 plays. 'Mossing' people. Making those plays where people say 'Wow' when they watch it."
Westbrook is hungry. Asked about the toughest ramification of sustaining the injury last August, he replied:
"It wasn't the pain associated with the surgery or the pain of the actual injury. It was just watching the whole season go by without having any impact on how the team performed. Not being out there with my guys and watching away games from home, was probably the toughest thing for me.
"It was a humbling experience. You realize anything, regardless of football, can be taken away in one split second. So now I'm appreciating just practices. You don't appreciate practices when everything's good and peachy and healthy. So I just appreciate, right now, being around the guys and having fun and not thinking of practice as a chore. Enjoying every minute, every workout."
Westbrook wants to become "the best receiver in the Big Ten" and hopes his guys in the wide receiver room will constitute a corps that will help IU's offense fully flower next fall.
"I'm hoping with all the weapons we have, with me, Luke (Timian), Donavan (Hale), Whop (Philyor), everybody that we have, that we can spread the field and have no limits on our offense," he said. "That's what I really want to see from our receivers, and from myself to be the leader of this group and the leader on the field."
STILL PEYTON'S PLACE?
True freshman Michael Penix Jr., a January enrollee, has already made a good impression and has bolstered the competition in the quarterback room this spring. And graduate transfers are always a possibility at any position, quarterback included, these days (the Hoosiers already brought in one of those this spring with former Miami center Nick Linder).
But redshirt sophomore quarterback Peyton Ramsey completed 65 percent of his passes for 1,252 yards and twice as many touchdowns (10) as interceptions while playing nine games last fall, including four starts, before injuries curtailed his campaign. He also ran for two TDs. And he isn't just going to step aside, for Penix or anybody else.
"That's one thing I think is very important for any quarterback, I think, to be a competitive person," IU quarterbacks coach Nick Sheridan said Thursday. "We promote that. We want every position on our team to have competition and our job, as coaches, is to try to enhance that every single year. We're trying to do that.
"I think Peyton recognizes that, and I think it makes him a better player. There's more urgency. He's doing a good job with that."
Sheridan has seen a healthy version of Ramsey this spring.
"He's healthy. That's that biggest thing," Sheridan said. "He's healthy and running around normally again. As a player, you're never fully 100 percent after the first day of practice, but I know he wasn't his normal self (as last season wore on). And I know he's excited to have this offseason of strength and conditioning to get bigger, faster, stronger. And, most important for him, just to feel fully healthy and normal again.
"I think he's increased his leadership role. I think he has more comfortability in the role he's in, being an upperclassman, having been here a few years, having played. He's earned the respect of his teammates through how he works. I've been pleased with that.
There's still room for improvement and growth, but he's taken a step forward in his leadership."
Ramsey, according to offensive coordinator Mike DeBord, also went 21-of-24 threw the air "with two drops" during an early scrimmage this spring. And Sheridan hopes to see Ramsey's experience come into play regarding protecting the football and moving the offense.
"Football is a pretty simple game, really," Sheridan said. "From the quarterback position, we want guys who make great decisions with the football, take care of the football, and then ultimately move your unit and help them score. Those are the two things that great quarterbacks do. They make great decisions. They don't put you in tough spots. And when they're on the field, the guys around them are better and we move the football and score.
"Peyton is a very studious player. Wants to be a good player. He studies. Puts in the time. Comes prepared. Asks good questions. And he executes. He's had some throws and plays he'd probably want back, like any other player, but he cares. A whole lot. He puts a lot of time and effort into it. And when you do that, you have a chance to improve."
PICKERINGTON PIPELINE?
Morgan Ellison, when not bolstering his body this off-season, found time to attend a sold-out Indiana high school basketball game.
Ellison, who went along with IU classmate and wideout Ty Fryfogle, acknowledged he saw a bit of why Indiana high school basketball has the reputation it enjoys. But the proud Pickerington (Ohio) Central graduate also stuck up for the hoops scene back home.
"My team back home, Pick Central, hey, we got some dawgs, too … we got a point guard going to North Carolina (2019 commit Jeremiah Francis) and another friend (6-10 UNC freshman Sterling Manley) already there.
"And Jerome Hunter, out of Pick North, is coming here next year. I talk to him a lot. Jerome is good, one of the best in Ohio right now, so I'm excited about that. He's going to be good. I want that Pickerington pipeline to Indiana. I want to get as much guys here as I can. I'm working on the younger guys (including) the D ends we both offered here. I'm working on everybody."
And himself.
Thrown into action as a true freshman after Mike Majette's injury, Ellison responded well, even while battling some injury issues of his own. Now the young man – who grew accustomed to playing with older and bigger athletes with his elder brother's crowd back home – said he feels better prepared for the Big Ten fray.
"My working-out," he said. "Muscle. Speed. Dr. Rhea. Coach Ballou. And Coach Hart wanting me to be more mature on the field, learning the game, being able to see stuff better. So
I'm able to know what's going on with the defense. So my mind isn't racing like it was my freshman year.
"Now, I've settled down. Time to go now."
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