Indiana University Athletics
Coaches Pick as Hoosiers Click
3/3/2018 9:48:00 PM | Football
By Andy Graham
IUHoosiers.com
The new guy among the safeties reacted to the ball well, snagged it for an interception, and showed good technique during the return.
And he did all that while holding sheets of paper listing calls and sets.
Because he's new Indiana safeties coach Kasey Teegardin, who added the impromptu interception to his staff duties during IU's first spring practice session Saturday.
"He got a pick today, so that was impressive on his first day," Hoosier head coach Tom Allen quipped after practice, then elaborated on Teegardin's hiring announced earlier in the week:
"As we went through and brought multiple guys in to interview, and placed many, many phone calls, and looked at a lot of young guys with this experience or that experience, it came down to finding the best fit for us."
Allen already had a sense of that with Teegardin, who spent 2014 through 2016 with IU as a defensive graduate assistant before spending last season as the program's director of on-campus recruiting.
Teegardin, who played at the University of Charleston, was the youngest defensive coordinator in the NCAA at his alma mater at age 24 in 2010, then coached at Northwood and Valparaiso before beginning his first IU stint. He had signed on as defensive coordinator at Wheeling (W.Va.) Jesuit before Allen's call brought a quick return to Bloomington.
"I am extremely thankful for the chance to work with an incredible group of young men and staff whom I have gotten to know," Teegardin said in the press release announcing his new IU gig. "I believe in Coach Allen, his program and Indiana University."
The belief is clearly mutual.
"He's so respected here by the players and the coaching staff," Allen said of Teegardin. "He loves this place. But it's not just about that. It's about his technical understanding of the game.
"He's a great student of the game. Studies it. Very smart. And he's a team guy. He's a 'we' guy. It's not about him. He fits with us and our philosophy. I just want a whole bunch of guys around here who care more about the people that are next to them than themselves. And I feel he is completely bought into that."
PICK 'EM
Teegardin's secondary coaching colleague Brandon Shelby, the cornerbacks mentor, also came up with an on-field pick of his own as Saturday's practice wound down.
"Yeah, two takeaways by the coaching staff," Allen said. "The kids (on defense) wanted them to count so they wouldn't have to run after practice."
Allen's goal is three defensive takeaways per day and, if achieved, the Hoosier defenders are exempt from post-practice springs. Redshirt freshman linebacker Mo Burnam's interception would have made three, had the coaches' picks counted.
But the Hoosier defenders ran Saturday.
YOUTH SERVED
Among the 89 players on IU's spring practice roster – listed by their 2018 class eligibility, with walk-ons included – there are 17 seniors, 21 juniors, 23 sophomores and 28 freshmen. So there are a combined 51 players with at least three years of eligibility remaining heading into next fall.
"We have a lot of new faces and young guys, but the one variable they can completely control is their effort," Allen said. "And I thought we did a great job of that on both sides of the ball and special teams.
"Typical first day … we'll watch the film and evaluate the technical part. But loved the effort, loved the energy, loved the enthusiasm. And there were a lot of new guys out there getting a lot of good reps … it was a good, long practice. Lot of fundamentals (emphasized). The weather was gorgeous. You couldn't ask for a better day."
OUTLOOK SUNNY
There was not even a hint of a cloud in Bloomington's Saturday afternoon sky.
And there was considerable pep in the Hoosier step.
Sophomore running back Morgan Ellison came out to start practice, spun a football on the artificial turf, and danced around it to the hip-hop soundtrack blaring from the speaker system.
Ellison then saw redshirt freshman Juwan Burgess literally skipping with delight onto the field and hollered to Burgess, "You can play! You can play!"
Burgess, by all accounts, can indeed play. He was the highest-rated recruit in IU's 2017 class – having chosen the Hoosiers over Southern California, Florida, Florida State, Michigan, Ohio State and other such programs – after a standout prep career at Tampa (Fla.) Plant High School, where he was a teammate of IU's Whop Philyor and Thomas Allen.
During the final hydration break Saturday, Burgess and fellow redshirt freshman safety Bryant Fitzgerald saluted each other by clicking their Gatorade bottles together. Fitzgerald, from Avon, was another highly-rated recruit who redshirted last season.
They and other young Hoosiers looked hungry and happy to be back on the field.
THE NUMBERS DON'T LIE
Fitzgerald and Burgess have experienced mentors in the secondary such as senior safety Jonathan Crawford, who earned honorable mention All-Big Ten accolades last season, and redshirt sophomore husky standout Marcelino Ball, an All-Freshman Big Ten performer in 2016 before missing almost all of last season due to injury.
Crawford and Ball have made some serious strides physically, too, under the auspices of new strength and conditional coach David Ballou – like Fitzgerald, who started working with the Hoosier squad Jan. 8.
Crawford now weighs 196 pounds, up from his Jan. 8 weight of 188. Ball is up to 219 from 208 and has only four percent body fat.
Ellison is up to 226 from 221 and has dropped his body fat quotient by six percent and fellow running back Ronnie Walker Jr., one of four true freshmen January enrollees, has gone from 184 to 200.8. Another of those true freshmen, quarterback Michael Penix Jr., has gone from 186 to 200.6. Another of the freshmen, wideout Jacolby Hewitt, has gone from 196 to 208.
Defensive ends Brandon Wilson and Michael Ziemba are up 14 pounds apiece.
All of IU's returning offensive line starters are now over 300 pounds, and it reflects added muscle.
There are many other such examples among the Hoosiers. The differences in physiques are overt.
Seeing is believing for Allen.
"I had a guy ask me about it yesterday and I said, 'If you come out and watch us practice tomorrow, you'll notice the difference," Allen said. "I see them all the time, but I know that when I first came back after being on the road (recruiting), I noticed it right then. The work and progress has been impressive, for sure, and it's got to continue.
"We're going to lift more this spring than we ever have, and we will continue to go three days a week through the entire spring cycle. (Ballou) has been a huge hire for us. And I don't expect to see anything but continuing to climb to being where we need to be. We'll be a different team, in that sense, by Sept. 1 (for the season opener at Florida International)."
Indiana will conduct 14 more spring practices in the interim. Three more are scheduled this week – Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday, before spring break ensues. IU's spring workouts will conclude with the annual Cream & Crimson Game on Saturday, April 14.
