Indiana University Athletics
Press Release
8/17/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
Press Release
First-time football participants at Indiana University began practice on Saturday, August 15. They will conclude their practices as a group this evening. The IU varsity reports Tuesday, April 18, and media day is Wednesday, August 19. IU fans are invited to meet the team in the Mellencamp Pavilion from 1:00-2:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
Cam Cameron quotes after the first several practices:
An overlook of the first-time participants: "We've made progress (recruiting). They're good guys to work with. (Junior college transfer) Pita (Elisara) is a good athlete, a good looking guy. Enoch (Demar) is a good athlete. Brett Taylor is big; a good athlete. Trevor Abbs is big and a good athlete. And then those four defensive linemen (Derek Barnett, Jamil Frink, A.C. Myler, and Sean Nelson) look good. Now we've just got to find out how bad they want to play."
On depth along the offensive line: "It's harder for first-year guys. Now obviously Pita has to come in and contribute right away. There is a guy every now and then who can do it. It just depends how smart they are. We're going to have to find out. Ideally you wouldn't want to play any of them but we may have to play a freshman."
On how much he assumes what freshmen know about football when they report to camp: "Zero. Every kid is coming from a different program. A guy like Gibran Hamdan really hasn't played much football at all. He didn't grow up in the United States. You bring him in and you want to teach him your system and things that we believe in. You don't take anything for granted and you don't assume anything. You can't even assume that this afternoon they're going to remember what we told them this morning."
On wide receivers Derin Graham and Levron Williams: "I can't tell yet (how much they've lost by not being able to play last season). I'll now more within the next week. It's difficult for anybody, at any level, to try to perform having not played for a year. We're going to be patient with those two guys. It's hard because we want them to do so well. We need them to do well but at the same time we have to be patient with those two guys and not expect too much too soon because they both have high expectations. I know Levron does and I know Derin does. We've got to make sure we bring them along just like we would anybody else."
On the 1.5 mile run test that was run on Friday, August 14: "Well, the one that is going to count is Wednesday. I thought the freshmen ran pretty well. We don't put a required time on them. Wednesday is the day that all the upperclassmen run and some of these guys will run on Wednesday morning. There are some guys that are really going to want to win it."
On freshman quarterback Gibran Hamdan and freshman safety Greg Yeldell: "Thank (IU baseball coach) Bob Morgan for him. Thank (former IU track and field coach) Sam Bell for (freshman safety Greg) Yeldell. He just broke the national high school record in the triple jump this summer in France."
On the number of incoming players who will be looked upon to contribute in 1998: "The receivers (Graham and Williams) are the first guys who have to contribute. We just don't have any numbers there. You've still got (sophomore) O.J. (Conner) who missed the entire spring, Tyrone (Browning), and then Versie Gaddis who missed all of last year. One, two, or three of these guys have to come out of this group (of incoming players). We have no choice. On the offensive line we have to get one guy (Elisara). Two would be a bonus out of this group. On defense, we've got to have at least two of these guy help us in the secondary and at linebacker it would be nice to get one guy out of this group. That's a nice looking group of defensive linemen. Now they're not in shape yet but there's some guys there. If the older guys don't come back ready to go there's three of four of those guys who might help us. You don't want to do that but we're going to play the guys who go the hardest."
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