Out of the Box -- Whop Philyor Set For Big Finish
8/10/2020 8:35:00 AM | Football
By Pete DiPrimio
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A symbolic box doesn't suit Whop Philyor. Not even close.
Put Indiana's senior receiver in one -- either because of pandemic restrictions or defensive attention -- and watch imagination and creativity go into overdrive. He sees himself morphing into a cartoon classic:
The Tasmanian Devil.
"You know the Tasmanian Devil, when they put him in a box?" Philyor asks via Zoom press conference. "He can't do nothing. He's just spinning in a box."
The result – misery.
"I'm like the Tasmanian Devil, all Looney Tunes," he says. "I'm in a box."
For those who missed the Warner Brothers cartoon classic, Taz as the devil was called was short tempered and impatient. When feisty -- and he always seemed feisty unless music was playing -- he would spin like a tornado and bite through everything with unstoppable frenzy.
Anyway, Philyor's boxed-in feelings started in his mother's Florida house where he stayed during the coronavirus lockdown.
Now, with the Hoosiers back on campus preparing for the season, the box in Philyor's mind becomes opposing defenses trying to stop him and fellow IU receivers.
"(Defensive backs are) in some trouble because they let us out of the box," he says. "They're in trouble this year because we're all Tasmanian devils, basically."
Philyor is the leader of a potentially dynamic receiving corp. He's coming off a breakthrough junior season of 70 catches for 1,002 yards and five touchdowns. In his first two seasons, he had a combined 56 catches for 570 yards and four TDs.
First-year offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan plans to fully utilize Philyor's ability.
"Whop is a guy that has earned touches," Sheridan says. "He is a guy that is explosive with the football. He loves to play. He is a guy we plan to feature."
Add Ty Fryfogle (45 catches, 604 yards), Miles Marshall (16 catches, 196) and promising young receivers Da'Shawn Brown, Jordan Jakes and Jacolby Hewitt, plus tight end Peyton Hendershot (52 catches, 622 yards, 4 touchdowns), and athlete David Ellis (16 catches, 173 yards) and you have a treasure chest of weapons at quarterback Michael Penix Jr.'s disposal.
"We are developing the guys around (Philyor)," Sheridan says. "We are expecting big things from Ty Fryfogle and Miles Marshall and some of the other young wideouts who are still to be developed. We fully expect those guys to step up and create some even distribution on offense so that we are more difficult to defend."
That's crucial to IU's spread-the-wealth offensive plans.
"There are ways to take things away," Sheridan says. "When we are a difficult offense to stop, it is because there are other pieces of our offense that are difficult to stop. That will open things up.
"If we only have one person that can get open or create a mismatch, there are ways for our opponent to focus in on that. The challenge is for us to develop depth to where if they want to double Whop or tilt the coverage towards Whop, other people can separate, get open and get the football."
Philyor can help by becoming a better leader.
"I'm working on my leadership, getting my words out so everybody can understand," he says. "It won't be directed to one person so the whole team can hear it."
Philyor used his Florida time to stay connected with Penix, who is, like Philyor, from the Tampa area.
"We are always going to see each other," Philyor says. "Either he is at my house or we are outside throwing the football. We are always together. Our relationship is always going to be brother and brother. That is my brother. Not much more to explain. We are brothers."
Penix, meanwhile, is the definitive starter. His weight and strength gains are designed to reduce the injuries that have sidelined him in his first two seasons.
In six games last season, Penix threw for 1,394 yards, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 68.8 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 119 yards and two TDs.
As far as what he wants to bring to the offense, Penix says, "Consistency, moving the ball and making great reads. Always getting ahead of the chains and putting us in great situations. It makes everybody else's job easier."
A big off-season emphasis involved the position's mental side.
"Just knowing the plays and being ahead of the game," Penix says. "Knowing what the defense is going to do so I can check to a better play if necessary.
"That is basically it. Just continue to lead and continue to motivate the whole offense to work hard. Coach (Tom Allen) always tells us, it does not matter if the defense doesn't know the play, we have got to execute. No matter what, we have got to find a way to make it happen, and that is what we have been doing."
Junior running back Stevie Scott III, who has nearly 2,000 rushing yards in his first two seasons, sees an improved Penix.
"I can tell that he has stepped up. When we were able to come together on the campus (in June), he would get all the guys together to throw. He was trying to keep us together and build that chemistry.
"Then as workouts started, he was always in the front of the line. He was trying to help better guys in certain ways and areas. Mike is still learning, but (by the end of the season), he will be where he should be as a leader."
Scott also is impressed with Ellis, who will be utilized more at running back, but still has receiver and returner duties.
"David is a great player, very versatile. He has great speed, great hands, and can run between the tackles.
"He can use his speed to get past you. He is definitely one of those playmakers that you can put anywhere and whenever his name is called, you can trust that he can make a play."
Through it all, Sheridan hopes to improve upon the balance and explosiveness IU displayed last season under then offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer, when it averaged 31.8 points with nine games of 31-or-more points.
"We are trying our best to keep the terminology the same for (players') ability to retain and build off of what we did last year," Sheridan says. "The biggest change, and the biggest challenge for each coach each year, is that it is not the same group. You have different pieces.
"Certainly, we have a bunch of guys that are returning, but at the same time, there are still new pieces that you are trying to integrate. Guys that had smaller roles last year could have bigger roles this year. We are trying to emphasize what those strengths are, we are trying to highlight those strengths of each player.
"The guys that had big roles last year, we are looking to push them to improve and expand their roles even more. That is really the challenge. We are going to put our guys in the best position to be successful."
IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – A symbolic box doesn't suit Whop Philyor. Not even close.
Put Indiana's senior receiver in one -- either because of pandemic restrictions or defensive attention -- and watch imagination and creativity go into overdrive. He sees himself morphing into a cartoon classic:
The Tasmanian Devil.
"You know the Tasmanian Devil, when they put him in a box?" Philyor asks via Zoom press conference. "He can't do nothing. He's just spinning in a box."
The result – misery.
"I'm like the Tasmanian Devil, all Looney Tunes," he says. "I'm in a box."
For those who missed the Warner Brothers cartoon classic, Taz as the devil was called was short tempered and impatient. When feisty -- and he always seemed feisty unless music was playing -- he would spin like a tornado and bite through everything with unstoppable frenzy.
Anyway, Philyor's boxed-in feelings started in his mother's Florida house where he stayed during the coronavirus lockdown.
Now, with the Hoosiers back on campus preparing for the season, the box in Philyor's mind becomes opposing defenses trying to stop him and fellow IU receivers.
"(Defensive backs are) in some trouble because they let us out of the box," he says. "They're in trouble this year because we're all Tasmanian devils, basically."
Philyor is the leader of a potentially dynamic receiving corp. He's coming off a breakthrough junior season of 70 catches for 1,002 yards and five touchdowns. In his first two seasons, he had a combined 56 catches for 570 yards and four TDs.
First-year offensive coordinator Nick Sheridan plans to fully utilize Philyor's ability.
"Whop is a guy that has earned touches," Sheridan says. "He is a guy that is explosive with the football. He loves to play. He is a guy we plan to feature."
Add Ty Fryfogle (45 catches, 604 yards), Miles Marshall (16 catches, 196) and promising young receivers Da'Shawn Brown, Jordan Jakes and Jacolby Hewitt, plus tight end Peyton Hendershot (52 catches, 622 yards, 4 touchdowns), and athlete David Ellis (16 catches, 173 yards) and you have a treasure chest of weapons at quarterback Michael Penix Jr.'s disposal.
"We are developing the guys around (Philyor)," Sheridan says. "We are expecting big things from Ty Fryfogle and Miles Marshall and some of the other young wideouts who are still to be developed. We fully expect those guys to step up and create some even distribution on offense so that we are more difficult to defend."
That's crucial to IU's spread-the-wealth offensive plans.
"There are ways to take things away," Sheridan says. "When we are a difficult offense to stop, it is because there are other pieces of our offense that are difficult to stop. That will open things up.
"If we only have one person that can get open or create a mismatch, there are ways for our opponent to focus in on that. The challenge is for us to develop depth to where if they want to double Whop or tilt the coverage towards Whop, other people can separate, get open and get the football."
Philyor can help by becoming a better leader.
"I'm working on my leadership, getting my words out so everybody can understand," he says. "It won't be directed to one person so the whole team can hear it."
Philyor used his Florida time to stay connected with Penix, who is, like Philyor, from the Tampa area.
"We are always going to see each other," Philyor says. "Either he is at my house or we are outside throwing the football. We are always together. Our relationship is always going to be brother and brother. That is my brother. Not much more to explain. We are brothers."
Penix, meanwhile, is the definitive starter. His weight and strength gains are designed to reduce the injuries that have sidelined him in his first two seasons.
In six games last season, Penix threw for 1,394 yards, 10 touchdowns and four interceptions while completing 68.8 percent of his passes. He also rushed for 119 yards and two TDs.
As far as what he wants to bring to the offense, Penix says, "Consistency, moving the ball and making great reads. Always getting ahead of the chains and putting us in great situations. It makes everybody else's job easier."
A big off-season emphasis involved the position's mental side.
"Just knowing the plays and being ahead of the game," Penix says. "Knowing what the defense is going to do so I can check to a better play if necessary.
"That is basically it. Just continue to lead and continue to motivate the whole offense to work hard. Coach (Tom Allen) always tells us, it does not matter if the defense doesn't know the play, we have got to execute. No matter what, we have got to find a way to make it happen, and that is what we have been doing."
Junior running back Stevie Scott III, who has nearly 2,000 rushing yards in his first two seasons, sees an improved Penix.
"I can tell that he has stepped up. When we were able to come together on the campus (in June), he would get all the guys together to throw. He was trying to keep us together and build that chemistry.
"Then as workouts started, he was always in the front of the line. He was trying to help better guys in certain ways and areas. Mike is still learning, but (by the end of the season), he will be where he should be as a leader."
Scott also is impressed with Ellis, who will be utilized more at running back, but still has receiver and returner duties.
"David is a great player, very versatile. He has great speed, great hands, and can run between the tackles.
"He can use his speed to get past you. He is definitely one of those playmakers that you can put anywhere and whenever his name is called, you can trust that he can make a play."
Through it all, Sheridan hopes to improve upon the balance and explosiveness IU displayed last season under then offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer, when it averaged 31.8 points with nine games of 31-or-more points.
"We are trying our best to keep the terminology the same for (players') ability to retain and build off of what we did last year," Sheridan says. "The biggest change, and the biggest challenge for each coach each year, is that it is not the same group. You have different pieces.
"Certainly, we have a bunch of guys that are returning, but at the same time, there are still new pieces that you are trying to integrate. Guys that had smaller roles last year could have bigger roles this year. We are trying to emphasize what those strengths are, we are trying to highlight those strengths of each player.
"The guys that had big roles last year, we are looking to push them to improve and expand their roles even more. That is really the challenge. We are going to put our guys in the best position to be successful."
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