The early success of the 2017 recruiting class points to a new direction of defensive focus and in-state control.
Indiana Football has been on an upward trend for the past two years, competing with some of the strongest teams in the country and falling just shy of some massive program building victories.
Indiana has seemingly been one play away a remarkably frustrating amount of times in these past two seasons, and what has been holding them back has been a lack of unity and talent along the defensive side of the ball. In an attempt to eradicate this problem, Indiana hired veteran defensive coordinator Tom Allen this past offseason.
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Since Allen’s hire we have seen little signs of progress, here and there, but it’s difficult to judge anything before Indiana steps on the field for its first game of the season on September 1st. With that said, if we take a look at Indiana’s 2017 recruiting class, it’s beyond clear that Tom Allen is already taking this program in a new and improved direction.
Entering the 2016 school year, Indiana will be bringing in a class of over 20 recruits. Within that class there are some great talents, but most of them will be lining up on the offensive side of the ball. To be specific, Indiana will only be adding two defensive lineman in the entire recruiting class.
Allen Stallings and Jerome Johnson will both be looking to bolster an IU defensive line that lost a lot of talent this year, but it’s important to note that Coach Kevin Wilson didn’t even have commitments from them until the last two weeks of the recruiting season.
A recruiting class of only two defensive lineman speaks to the need for Coach Tom Allen at this program. With that said, we now fast forward to Indiana’s first recruiting class with Tom Allen controlling the defense, and before even entering August, the Hoosiers already have six committed defensive lineman for the class of 2017. In addition to that, three of their top four recruits are defensive tackles.
The most recent and arguably the most talented of these defensive commitments come from Derrius Mullins, a 3-star defensive tackle that Kevin Wilson successfully plucked away from hometown favorite Ohio State. Now when I say hometown, I genuinely mean hometown, as Mullins was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio. Mullins isn’t just from the state of Ohio, he lives almost too close for comfort from the Ohio State campus. That fact alone makes this a remarkable grab for the Hoosiers as it continues to portray how Indiana has started successfully competing with other major schools in the Big Ten.
Alongside Mullins, 3-star commitments Juan Harris, LeShaun Minor, Alfred Bryant, Britt Beery, and Tramar Reece will all be looking to produce for this Indiana defensive line.
In addition to the added defensive focus in the class of 2017, there is also another major key to Indiana’s success so far on the recruiting trail. Kevin Wilson has started to establish Indiana University as one of the elite schools for in-state prospects.
In the class of 2016, Indiana was only able to bring in two recruits from within the state. This remained consistent with many of the issues that this program has had in the years prior, losing out to Notre Dame and other out of state competitors for key players.
The class of 2017 is shaping up to be remarkably different, as five of IU’s 13 commits are from the state of Indiana. This includes recent offensive line commitment Caleb Jones from Indianapolis. Jones brings incredible size and strength to the program thanks to his 6 foot 9 inch 380 pound frame.
Jones will be joining Britt Beery, Bryant Fitzgerald, LeShaun Minor, and Peyton Hendershot as the five of them will be making the short in-state trip to Bloomington in 2017.
Jones could potentially be joining a few more major in-state prospects that remain on Indiana’s radar as Coach Kevin Wilson looks to continue building momentum on his already strong recruiting class.
Some players to watch moving forward include:
R.J. Potts, a 4-star safety from Fishers, Indiana that also holds offers from Notre Dame and Michigan. According to 247Sports, Potts is the third best player in the state of Indiana, and one of the 25 best safeties in the country. Potts has been on IU’s radar for a long time now and has taken a few unofficial visits to the school over the past few years. His commitment is particularly crucial for this Indiana University football program because of what it means towards in-state recruiting as Michigan has been known for swooping up some of Indiana’s best prospects. This includes Brandon Peters of the class of 2016. Peters was the sixth best quarterback in the country and an Avon, Indiana product.
Mac Hippenhammer, a 3-star receiver from Fort Wayne, Indiana that brings great speed and potential deep threat ability. Hippenhammer has interest in Iowa, Penn State, and Michigan State so his recruitment will focus on protecting in-state talent from other Big Ten competitors.
Ahman Ross a 3-star safety from Jacksonville, Florida that has interest in Indiana due to Tom Allen’s strong Florida connection, as Allen previously coached at USF.
Chinedu Ogbonna, a 3-star outside linebacker from Marietta, Georgia that has been seen tweeting out multiple congratulations to other Hoosier prospects after they made their commitments, and that has recently taken a trip to Bloomington for an unofficial visit on June 18th.
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No matter what happens with any of these recruits, there is reason to be excited if you’re a Hoosier fan. Defense has moved to the forefront of recruiting as Indiana continues to bring in major talent in the class of 2017. Most importantly, this program has shown rapid improvement year after year on the recruiting front which should hopefully lead to similar improvement on the field.