tayven jackson

Indiana comes to town this weekend coming off a bye week, a much-needed one for the Hoosiers to lick their wounds. Riding a three game losing streak, sitting at 2-3 on the season and having recently replaced their offensive coordinator, a lot has gone wrong for Indiana. Is there anything to fear on offense? Today we will find out: 

The Film: Indiana's P5 opponents to this point are Ohio State, Louisville, and Maryland. The OSU meeting was week one and thus for recency purposes, I wanted to avoid that game. That left me with a choice between Louisville and Maryland. A quick check at SP+ ratings revealed that the metrics deem these teams nearly identical in quality, so with that in mind, I opted to pick Louisville due to the result of the game. Indiana was blown out by Maryland, while they hung in there until the end against Louisville. I believe in scouting teams at their best rather than their worst, because you'd always rather overestimate an opponent than underestimate, so let's take a look at Louisville and see how Indiana nearly went to OT with a currently unbeaten, top 25 opponent. 

Personnel: Click for big. 

Indiana's starting QB remains Tayven Jackson, as Tom Allen stated at a press conference this week. The Tennessee transfer and younger brother of Trayce Jackson-Davis was locked in a battle with Brendan Sorsby through much of fall camp. Sorsby was on last year's Indiana team but somehow could not see the field despite the apocalyptic QB situation Indiana had, which ought to tell you a lot. Jackson and Sorsby both played against OSU and Indiana State to begin the season, Sorsby looking better against OSU and Jackson better against Indiana State. Jackson got the nod and played the entirety of the game I charted, as well as the following game against Akron. He started again against Maryland, but was lifted for Sorsby after a brutal performance. It sounds like Jackson will be the guy on Saturday, but both he and Sorsby are major limiting factors for this offense. 

Walt Bell is no longer the OC, so I cannot say exactly how this will change the schemes for Indiana, but what they've been running most of this season should be familiar to people who recall Indiana last season (I'm sorry). That means many sets with two RBs on the field, both of whom can be weapons in the passing game. The first of these to mention is the piece's Dangerman, Jaylin Lucas. A speedy and shifty back, the 5'9"/170 RB first made himself known last year as an expert kickoff returner and this season has become the focal point of the offense, leading the team in both carries and catches(!). He often lines up in the slot on passing downs and they run a ton of screens for Lucas. The other two RBs of note are our old friend Christian Turner, now on his third school, and Josh Henderson, the one-time UNC transfer who was on the team last year. Turner is the most traditional RB, while Henderson is bigger than Lucas but is still a back with receiving capabilities. 

At the WR position Indiana still has Cam Camper, who is a pretty good player. I left him below star status much to Seth's dismay, so if Camper goes off against Michigan, he has bragging rights. A 6'2" outside receiver with an average yards per reception of 19.2 this season, Camper is the lone deep ball threat the Hoosiers have. The other primary outside WR is Donaven McCulley, who you may remember as the Wildcat QB Indiana used against Michigan the last time these two teams faced each other in the Big House. McCulley was a talented true freshman athlete without a position back then. Now he's an okay wide receiver. If IU goes with three WRs, they will put Dequece Carter or Omar Cooper Jr. out there, but I don't have too many notes on either of them. 

Indiana does have TEs but you definitely get the sense they would love to have AJ Barner still on the roster. The Hoosiers have cycled between James Bomba, Bradley Archer, Trey Walker, and Aaron Steinfeldt, but none of these players have looked any good to me or to PFF. Indiana majorly struggled with tight end blocking in the game I charted and the TEs are a non-factor in the passing game, 13 total catches between these players on 19 targets, so less than four targets per game combined. Most of the passing focus goes to the RBs and WRs in this offense. 

The offensive line for Indiana was the worst in the B1G last season. So far this year it has improved, but based on their showing against Louisville, it is still far from a strength. The IU rushing attack has been impotent and though Louisville wasn't unleashing an all out assault on Jackson, there was some pressure in the passing game. The Hoosiers return two starters from last year's line, Mike Katic at LG and old friend Zach Carpenter at C. We gave Katic a cyan last year, but he narrowly avoids it this year. Carpenter has not been good either but also refraining from a cyan there. One-time RT Matthew Bedford has now moved to RG, while two new tackles have entered the picture, Carter Smith at LT and Khalil Benson at RT. Benson was the weakest on the line and gets the cyan but no one here was good. If they use a sixth OL, it's Joshua Sales Jr.. 

[AFTER THE JUMP: finding ways to get the ball to Jaylin Lucas]

We’re catching up on the shape of 2022 recruiting, which has morphed some since the staff shakeup this offseason. I covered defense last week but there have been some significant moves on the offense too.

Summary:

QB: New board, best two options are a couple of Midwest 3-stars Cincy and Iowa were after.
RB: Hart is going to gun for some 5-stars.
WR: Bellamy’s added some long and tall prospects (one an ATH from Groves) to the longtime pursuits of Gattis-beloved targets Brown/Morris.
TE: Klein solid, the other GA prospect is now a 4-star with SEC suitors, other-other GA prospect recently decommitted from PSU.
OL: The commit may move up the rankings, one impending commit is gonna hold off to get to know Moore better, one impending commit already does, and a number of Sherrone’s top targets have replaced guys who liked Warinner.

Most Likely Warinner OL to Stick

CO 4* commit Connor Jones hasn’t wavered with Sherrone Moore taking over as position coach, and Brice Marich got us some recent scouting from Jones’s coach:

“…a point of improvement was his footwork in pass-pro. It really got better and moving lateral with quickness. He’s violent with his hands and all those things really improved significantly during last off-season through the end of the 2020 season. He’s always been a very physical run blocker and always been very demanding of himself. He punishes people and finishes blocks, but that’s how he’s always been. I think his lateral speed, quickness and violent hands in pass-pro have really gotten better.”

Colorado doesn’t have any naturally large bodies of water, so that coach can be forgiven for mangling a maritime Keynesian economics metaphor…

“He’s a guy that puts water in the harbor.”

…to say Jones is a great teammate. But he also reports Jones is up to 6-7/290, so it could also mean the kid literally lifts all boats.

We thought we’d have a second guy from the state in the class, as CO 3* Braden Miller, Reece Atteberry’s teammate and SixZero Academy partner($), was really close to committing our people tell us (and EJ’s people tell him($)). Clearly the Warinner divorce held off Miller’s announcement, which is great news for those of us who were procrastinating on that Hello post.

MN 4* Lucas Heyer is a top priority for a lot of Big Ten schools. Warinner was in early($) thanks to his Minnesota connections, but it waits to be seen if Michigan surrendered their slim lead there when they surrendered Ed. We may not have to wait long; 247’s Brice Marich put in a Crystal Ball to Michigan this week($).

[After THE JUMP: lock up yo five-stars]