Indiana University Athletics
COACH CAMERON AT BIG TEN MEDIA DAY
8/6/1998 12:00:00 AM | Football
COACH CAMERON AT BIG TEN MEDIA DAY
Chicago, Ill. – Indiana head football coach Cam Cameron addressed the media at the annual Big Ten Kickoff Meeting in here on Thursday morning. These are his words from the morning interview session.
"We are going to be a young, young football team. We have five seniors on this team. In looking at our depth chart today we can look at two players who will start on defense for us in linebacker Jabar Robinson and defensive lineman Adawalye Ogulenye.. Those are the only two guys, today, we could name as starters.
On offense, Chris Gall will be our starting fullback and a kid who started 11 games for us last season, Craig Robeen, will be our starting right tackle. If we played Western Michigan today, we would also start Jay Rodgers at quarterback. He started 11 game last year and has really improved throughout the spring and stepped it up a notch in summer conditioning.
The one thing we have been able to do this spring is have an influx of guys that we redshirted last season to give us some competition at the other 18 positions. I don't think anyone is going to win a position by default. A starter with Indiana football will earn that position. We have some good young players. Guys that I really think be the kind of players that you need to compete in this league, to play against the teams that we do every week.
There are 30-40 guys that are competing for 18 spots. We also don't know who our punter would be today and we would like create some competition for our kicker Andy Payne.
The No. 1 thing that you are looking for is you got to get players and create competition. And we were able to do that this spring. Now we have to let this thing work itself out at the same time.
I think our team will be better and better every week for at least the next 22 games. I'm excited where Indiana football is headed. I know what we've got, I know what we got coming in and if we do our jobs, we got some guys that could be pretty good. We have a situation where we have to find out how committed we are at Indiana University and what kind of team we want to become and we'll find that out starting Sept. 12."
Q. Could you comment on Antwaan Randle El?
"Many of you are familiar with Antwaan (Randle El) and he has a chance to win the starting quarterback job. We are going to play him somewhere and we'll find that out in the next four weeks. He could be our starting flanker, our punt returner or our starting wide corner. He could be a lot of things. We need him and Jay to play at a high level."
Q. Could you address the receivers?
"We had two freshman who basically play last year by default. O.J. Conner and Tyrone Browning our the two returning starters. The two guys I think will get into the mix are Derek Graham and Levron Williams. Those two guys, as well as the others including Versie Gaddis, will be a group that we rotate around every play. There is some talent there. They are five guys with three years of eligibility remaining that should be pretty good will all is said and done."
Q. Starting tailback?
"Marcus Floyd came in and really did a nice job for us. We moved him from wide receiver back to tailback and he is our most productive player coming out of the spring. I think De'Wayne Hogan is a good player too. But academically he is not where he needs to be at this point so we are going to have and wait with him. Glynn Johnson is a good player and we have Frankie Franklin as a junior college player coming in as well."
Q. Experience of first season?
"Anytime you get a new staff it's difficult on the players, especially when they played for a quality man like Bill Mallory. So that was tough for our guys but I think we are all over that now. We are all moving forward. We all learned a lot last season. We have the best coaches in the nation in this league. We have to try and outwork everyone else. Have we done that? No. But what we did learn was what it takes and I'm satisfied we are headed in the right direction at this point."
Q. Any problem with playing with a freshman quarterback?
"We have to let this thing evolve. I would one day like to stand up here and say Antwaan is our starting quarterback because he has talent. But he hasn't played a down in this league and it's the toughest conference in the nation from top to bottom. We are just going to wait and see. Let's just see what he is all about."
Q. Reaction to the possibility of Notre Dame joining the league?
"I think it is positive. I'd listen to Joe (Paterno), John (Cooper) and Lloyd (Carr) about what they think about it. They are the ones that would know. This is a great league right now and it is going to get nothing but better and better with the coaches and players we have in it right now. If they join the league we'll be just as excited about as they are."
Q. Comment on scholarships?
"We had 26 seniors last year and they all graduated and that means you won't have a lot the next year. We will have three guys who will be on scholarship that will not be on the football team. But that has no bearing on this senior class. Anytime you come into a new program in this league you have to have everyone committed to what you are trying to get done. As the head coach you have to make some difficult decisions. You have to have young men understand the commitment it takes to compete in this league and for a few that didn't work out so we made that decision which will benefit Indiana football."
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