Indiana University Athletics
Hoosier Football Celebrates Thanks
11/26/2015 3:54:00 PM | Football
By: Sam Beishuizen | Twitter
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Thanksgiving Day is always a little hectic for the Indiana football team.
While the general student population is on a week-long break, the players and coaches spend the week in Bloomington preparing for a matchup against Purdue. The nature of the tight schedule doesn't allow all the players to have a traditional Thanksgiving celebration with family.
But that doesn't mean they didn't celebrate just the same.
Indiana head coach Kevin Wilson invited his staff, their families and players to Memorial Stadium for a Thanksgiving meal Tuesday night before players were dismissed after Wednesday's practice to spend 24 hours with their families before returning to work Thursday evening.
"We want the kids to spend some time with family, parents, grandparents," Wilson said. "We try to work it so that we give our guys a quick, 24-hour break."
The brief break away from football is status quo for the Hoosiers. Wilson doesn't downplay the importance of being with family or friends during the holidays.
Players who live within driving distance will typically head home to be with their families during the off day. Others will pair up with teammates, coaches or friends on campus to have their own celebrations away from home.
"I live pretty close, so I usually take a bunch of people to my house," said fifth-year center Jake Reed, a Columbus, Ind., native. "People try to either go sit down with a teammate's family or have their family come in."
Sophomore receiver Simmie Cobbs, Jr., who will be playing in his second Old Oaken Bucket game, admitted he'll miss a home cooked Thanksgiving meal this year, but it's part of the job.
"I sometimes fantasize about my grandmother's cooking, but it's alright," Cobbs said. "You get to hang out with the guys and bond a bit more. You get some extra treatment and rest. A couple of guys who's families live close around, you can just shack up with them and enjoy dinner."
Wilson told a story Tuesday about his former high school football coach Tom Brown, who coached Wilson's Maiden High School to a 2A North Carolina State championship in 1978.
Brown used to tell his team that practicing during Thanksgiving was a good thing because it normally meant you were about to play an important game.
"Coach Brown used to say, 'The great teams get to eat a little turkey and practice a little football," Wilson said.
Indiana will do just that.
