Indiana University Athletics
Cameron Addresses the Hoosier Defense
4/25/2001 12:00:00 AM | Football
April 25, 2001
Bloomington, Ind. -- The following text is a Bloomington Herald-Times interview with IU head football coach Cam Cameron that was published on April 18. This installment discusses the IU defense:
Cameron elaborated on his evaluation of the defensive line and other units on the defense, in addition to the kicking game.
DEFENSIVE LINE "I think of the guys who were able to get through the 15 practices, No. 1 was Kemp Rasmussen. I watched the spring game film this morning, and he was going 100 miles-per-hour. And that was the third scrimmage that week. He was still in overdrive. "The second guy is Dominique Smith. As his knee gets more and more healthy, and if he stays healthy, I think we're going to have a great year out of him. So that gives us two solid guys inside. "The guy who was having a great spring before we pulled him out, because we just didn't want to reinjure that shoulder, was Sean Nelson. If we keep him healthy, he can make an impact. And then there is Steve Williams, who is really coming on. Those four guys made play after play, the entire spring. "Derek Barnett has played a lot, and is one of the fastest guys we have, and we just have to get him playing as consistently fast as he is. Herman Fowler really showed us something this spring at end. He's got two more years, and could be an excellent end. The other guys are (South's) Jamil Frink and (Martinsville's) Jeremy Belcher, and those two guys did some good things this spring. Frink just continues to get better and better. He's starting to look like a football player out there. "Now, that doesn't even include Jason Fryar, who will be back (from knee surgery, and who moved from offensive tackle) at 6-foot-9, 320, and give us another big guy inside who is an athlete. We'll get John Lumpkin, who is probably very similar to a Steve Williams-type guy. If Courtney Young does the job academically (to qualify out of junior college) -- and he's done a good job so far -- he's another guy who can make an impact. "So now you've not only got a situation where you get guys performing at a pretty high level, your developing some depth."
LINEBACKERS "The guy who came out of the spring who had us feeling really good about him was Herana-Daze Jones. Justin Smith had an excellent spring. Devin Schaffer did some really good things. Both have gotten better. And Jones is a guy who'll get bigger and stronger this summer, but he's shown the ability to cover people, he can run and he's a play-maker. "If Jones stays healthy, he is going to help us. He's just like Justin (in terms of size, and having switched spot from the secondary), and probably a little more instinctive than Justin at an early age. "Scott Genord, who has played some (middle-)linebacker, has moved outside with Devin. I think that will help him. "The inside-linebacker spot, we don't know about, yet. We'll have Brandonn Baker, Martin Lapostolle and Robert Brown. They've all done some good things. You've got three guys who are bright, and three guys who really enjoy playing football, but all three have been hurt. "Brandonn had a knee (injury) in the fall, then got the other knee hurt this spring. But he didn't need an operation. Lapostolle missed the whole winter conditioning with a broken foot, probably came into the spring a little out of shape as a consequence, then hurt his knee. Robert Brown had some family issues which had him missing some spring practice, and had some 'burners' (muscle/nerve trauma) and that sort of thing. We're expecting all of them to come back healthy."
SECONDARY "When you look at the safeties, I think you have four pretty good ones, in terms of ability, who are going to get better with every snap -- Joe Gonzalez, Ron Bethel, Willie Northern and Antonio Watson. They all can run. They all have size. They can tackle. It's just a matter of continually spending time, through the summer, mastering the system. And Clarence Young did some nice things, before he got hurt, so you really have a fifth guy. "Bethel will play up (at outside-linebacker) in our 'nickel-back' set, so you need some depth at safety. "At corner, we have to create some competition there. Sharrod (Wallace) and Michael (Hanley) did some nice things -- just like A.C. Carter, Duane Stone and Marcus Floyd did some things, but those guys probably aren't as (advanced). They're really going to help us in the kicking game, but obviously people took advantage of them from a size standpoint, at times, last fall. "We signed seven defensive backs with our recruiting class, five freshmen to go along with the two JUCO safeties (Watson and Northern). So we expect to get some help from some of those young guys coming in. They can probably help us at corner. And Michael Hanley could always move inside in a dime package, if we needed him to.
KICKING GAME "Consistency is the whole thing we need there. We've got talent. And I'd rather have talent, and have to work them through some things, than have a guy you're just trying to get every ounce from and a guy you just know isn't the long-term answer. These guys, long-term, have potential. "Adam Braucher has potential both as the kickoff guy and the field goal kicker. And Hamre certainly has potential as a punter. He could very well do the same thing as (Drew) Hagan (which was, after struggling early, set a school record). You never know how potential plays out, but I think if we do a good job coaching them and get them focused. "We're not going to wait around. Ryan Hamre will be out there punting on his own next week. We can't coach him right now. He has to do it on his own, and he has to come on fast. And it'll be nice to have some competition at kicker next fall with (Seymour All-Stater) Bryan Robertson coming in."
