Indiana Football: Kalen DeBoer has high expectations for IU’s offense

New offensive coordinator Kalen DeBoer had a lot of good things to say about the Indiana football offense during Media Day.

Indiana football has a new feel to it in 2019. Now Tom Allen’s third season, the Hoosiers enter this season with a lot of lofty expectations, some set by themselves, and others by some of their Big Ten opponents.

Kalen DeBoer enters his first season as the offensive coordinator for Indiana and there is no shortage of talent around the field to utilize.

At Indiana’s Media Day on Thursday, DeBoer touched on why he is so excited for 2019.

"“And so the pieces are here. I watched the guys this spring, and just continued to — went back after the spring and this summer, watched last year’s games again, and you just have a good feeling that another year of experience underneath all these guys’ belt, and a few tweaks here and there, and we could be off and rolling.”"

While the running backs are extremely talented on the ground, they are some of their best playmakers and DeBoer wants to get them the ball as much as possible, something they lacked at times last season.

"“The running backs I hope are very involved in the receiving game. You’ve always got to protect first, but if they’re a threat to have the ball in their hands in more than just a way of handing it to them, I just think that those are some of your best athletes that you have on the football team, not just here but in a lot of programs. And so they’re explosive kids, and I think they’ve really seen that they’re going to get their touches if they run their routes right and can gel with the quarterback and understand their assignments and the timing.”"

We see more and more the best running backs in the country and in the NFL are the dual threat kinds that can be every down backs and catch the ball out of the backfield. Why not take advantage of that and get them the ball as much as possible.

Last season, the running backs averaged just 3.4 catches per game. With guys like Cole Gest, Stevie Scott, and now Sampson James coming out of the backfield, that is something that you must take advantage of.

Tight ends are also another part of the passing attack that haven’t always been utilized.

Peyton Hendershot looks to be one of those guys to have a breakout season and Kalen DeBoer wants him and the whole crew to be a big part of the offense in multiple ways.

"“Yeah, I think hopefully our tight ends, and they’re all still young, but they’re all now a year older, too. So I think they’re capable of doing the things that I like to do, and the tight ends have been a heavy involvement in the offense. It isn’t always in receiving yards, but a lot of times it is. It’s just having guys that understand the blocking schemes, the protections, the routes.”"

Last year at Fresno State, DeBoer saw his tight end Jared Rice go for 55 catches and 664 yards, both second on the team. Back at his time with Eastern Michigan, their tight end Tyreese Russell led the team in receptions and yards in 2014, a pair of tight ends in 2015 combined for 57 catches for 674 yards and the year after saw his third leading receiver come from the tight end position. With much more talent around the field than he’s had in the past, there is no reason to not see that jump with the tight end position.

Whoever is under center for Indiana, DeBoer will put him in a great position to succeed, I have no doubt. When looking at the past couple of seasons, DeBoer could be the missing link to taking this program to the next level.