‘Embrace the Mundane’ – Carter Smith Helps Show the IU Way
By Pete DiPrimio | IUHoosiers.com
BLOOMINGTON, Ind. -- Carter Smith looms large in the Don Croftcheck Team Room of Merchants Bank Field at Memorial Stadium -- no surprise given his 6-foot-5, 313-pound stature -- offering perspective honed by five seasons of major college football, some bad years, some great ones, all memorable.
Smith is a dominant offensive lineman on Indiana’s projected dominant offensive line. He’s endured his final preseason camp, and now that the season opener against North Texas has arrived, he’s asked about the lessons derived from a month of preparation.
“Embrace the mundane,” he says. “It’s a lot of the same things every day -- working on the same footwork, the same schemes, doing a lot of the same drills.
“Sometimes it might be tough to focus because it might be mundane and a little boring. You need to embrace it and realize this is really what you want to do to be great. You have to hammer these drills out every day.”
He pauses. It’s a can-you-handle-the-truth moment.
“Embracing the mundane is the biggest part of being an offensive lineman.”
Another part is embracing change. Veteran Bray Lynch epitomizes that as he transitions to center. Smith is impressed.
“He’s been filling the gap really well. I would say from A-gap to A-gap he’s done a great job. He’s very vocal. He’s doing a great job of staying in the playbook and understanding the scheme. He makes good calls. He’s a very confident leader out there. It’s something that we needed.”
Adds head coach Curt Cignetti: “(Lynch is) a veteran guy. He’s smart. He snaps the ball well. I feel good about it.”
IU is 27-2 under Cignetti, peaking with last season’s 16-0 national title. It reflects his winning culture that every Hoosier must embrace, even amid brutal heat conditions. Veteran players such as Smith share the responsibility of getting the newcomers on board.
“It was a hot one today,” he says about a recent practice. “A lot of people were starting to feel the woes of the heat. It’s about realizing that nobody cares how you’re feeling out there. That’s something that needs to be ingrained into the young guys and ingrained into some of the transfers, not that some of them have that issue.
“It’s understanding that this is what our culture is and you really have to embrace it if you want to be a part of it."
North Texas was 12-2 last season, but with a new coaching staff and 70 new players, including 50 college transfers, nothing is certain but this -- Smith is ready to play anybody other than IU’s highly regarded defense.
“I’m so excited to hit another color other than red. It’s been a long fall camp. It’s been very competitive. There’s nothing like iron sharpens iron. They have great dudes in that (defensive) room.”
That includes a defensive line led by returning veterans Tyrique Tucker and Mario Landino, and Kansas State transfers Chiddi Obiazor and Tobi Osunsanmi.
“The two K-State guys are really quick, really strong guys,” Smith says. “They’re both really tall and lean dudes. They do a great job of rushing off the edge. They are very disruptive when they want to spike and ruin the gap-to-gap run.
“Then, having guys like Squeak (Tucker) and Mario, and even guys like (Tulsa transfer) Hjelle, guys rotating like that, it doesn’t get much better.”