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Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. - Brandon Shelby is dialed in. Can his cornerbacks match him? Can they help stop a surging Indiana offense as a recent practice winds down?
We’re about to find out.
Shelby watches steely eyed from IU’s football practice fields sidelines. Headphones are in place. Intensity is high. It’s offense against defense and Shelby wants his guys dominating.
A play is about to be run and Shelby is on alert.
“Eyes! Eyes!” he shouts. And then, when a cornerback seems uncertain, “What are you going to do?”
Shelby knows. Does the player?
The answer varies as practice progresses, and situations and plays change. Teaching never ends and Shelby, in his 13th Hoosier season, is passionate to ensure his guys know their assignments.
“Down and distance!” Shelby shouts, wanting his players fully aware. “You know what I want!”
And then, when a cornerback doesn’t know, Shelby doesn’t give him the answer. “What do I want you to do?”
This is crucial. Shelby wants the player to figure it out, to understand the defense well enough to do his job, even if the offense does something unexpected, so that during a game, he can make the necessary adjustment at the decisive moment.
They have gone over this in meetings, film study sessions, installations, and practices. They will go over it again and again until -- ideally -- everyone is on the same page all the time.
“At the end of the day, coaching is about the corrections of errors and teaching,” Shelby says. “It has been a great deal for me to do that. I have a really good room; guys who want to learn.”
Only three other assistant football coaches have been at IU longer than Shelby, who in 2021 was also named assistant head coach. He’s the longest tenured cornerbacks coach in the Big Ten East, and the second longest in the conference overall.
Four of his players have led the Big Ten in pass breakups, and three have led in passes defended.
Every season brings challenges and this one starts with youth and inexperience. Last year’s starting cornerbacks Tiawan Mullen and Jaylin Williams are gone. New leaders and difference makers must emerge.
The group has speed, length and athleticism, crucial in covering elite receivers dominating college football. There’s a mix of Hoosier veterans such as Noah Pierre and James Monds III, with college transfers such as JoJo Johnson, who played a year at Notre Dame before spending last season at Iowa Western Community College, Jamier Johnson from Texas, and Nic Toomer from Stanford.
“It is a little different because the past four or five years, I have had guys come back with some type of experience (in our system),” Shelby says. “It’s great for me to go back to the fundamentals of coaching.”
Practice continues and so does offensive success. Depending on perspective, this is rewarding or troubling.
“You’ve got to finish, defense!” head coach Tom Allen shouts. “Way to execute, offense.”
When a cornerback doesn’t know his assignment, Shelby pulls him to the side for a conversation. Teaching never ends and Shelby never tires of it.
“Although you have some guys that have transferred in from other universities, who have played a fair amount, they are learning our terminology, how we do things, how we communicate, so you start from the very beginning: this is football, this is where you line up,” Shelby says. “Then, you get into not only knowing the schemes and checks, but thinking through the game like we want you to think and how (co-defensive coordinator Matt Guerrieri) thinks it out. Why are we calling this? When are we calling this?”
More and more, the Hoosiers are figuring it out.
“You bring guys from different universities who had different goals and try to get them to be cohesive,” Shelby says. “I'll tell you; this summer has probably been one of the best summers. Kudos to those guys.”
Johnson shows potential, but he had to finish classes at Iowa Western Iowa and couldn’t come to Bloomington until just before the start of fall camp. He has a lot to learn in a short amount of time.
“He has all the athletic tools,” Shelby says. “He is spending extra time getting into the playbook and understanding (our defense).
“We’ve got to get it where he can play fast, think, make the checks, and be confident in what we are doing. I expect him to be a contributor this year.”
Takeaways are again a priority. The focus is on simplicity and consistency.
“It’s making it where our checks are simple and guys are playing fast,” Shelby says. “Where are my eyes? What am I thinking? Make sure our checks aren’t all over the place.
“We have to group them better. We have to get that better as coaches. We have done that this offseason, so hopefully those guys understand that the things that were challenging a year ago, we have made it a lot simpler.”
Last season, IU forced 14 takeaways -- seven interceptions, seven fumble recoveries. In 2021, it was just nine -- five interceptions, four fumble recoveries. In 2020, when IU went 6-2 and made the Outback Bowl, it had a Big Ten-leading 17 interceptions and three fumble recoveries.
Hoosier coaches seek to return to that level, and perhaps a little more.
“We have made it where when they see this, they can make a check,” Shelby says. “It won't change. Then they know where the challenges are. It’s not changing every week.
“In this day and age, offenses do so many different things with formations and shifts, motion and movement. You can't make (the defensive call) difficult. We want these guys to relax and run around and do what they have been blessed to do: play football.”
The 6-foot-2, 190-pound Toomer could help with that. He totaled 29 tackles and five pass breakups in his last two seasons at Stanford.
“It’s a big thing right now at every level to have long corners who can guard bigger receivers,” Toomer says. “I can bring length and physicality to the outside, and experience on defense. Knowing the game and bringing a different sense of intelligence to the DB unit.”
Practice winds down. Fatigue kicks in. The offense makes plays. The defense counters.
“Play your tails off!,” Allen shouts. “Gotta finish, defense! Gotta finish, offense!”
On this day, the offense finishes better, a reversal from what happened in Saturday’s scrimmage. Allen is pleased with the offensive response, and wants to see how the defense will respond in the next practice. Shelby is just as curious about his unit, and the entire defense, in its quest to regain 2020’s takeaway form. He wants them to understand, whether it’s practice or game, every play matters.
“We are trying to get it back there,” he says. “I think we are close. We’re working hard to get these guys to play fast.
“We have a long way to go, but I’m excited for the future."